The band has recorded many albums of instrumental Irish folk music, as well as multiple collaborations with popular musicians of many genres, including Country music, Galician traditional music, Cape Breton and Newfoundland music, and rock and roll. They have performed with Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, Sting, Roger Daltrey, Elvis Costello, Tom Jones, Sinéad O'Connor, James Galway, Jackson Browne, Nancy Griffith and numerous Country-western artists. In 1975, the group won praise for their playing of "Women of Ireland" for Stanley Kubrick's movie Barry Lyndon.
They have won six Grammy Awards and have been nominated eighteen times. In 2002 they were given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the UK's BBC Radio 2. The front covers of the first four albums were designed by Edward Delaney.
Paddy Moloney is the band's leader, and composes or arranges most of the band's music. While the band's members changed numerous times in the band's early history, the membership solidified in 1979 when Matt Molloy replaced Michael Tubridy.
From then until 2002, members included:
Paddy Moloney (uilleann pipes, tin whistle, button accordion, bodhrán)
Matt Molloy (flute, tin whistle)
Kevin Conneff (bodhrán, vocals)
Seán Keane (fiddle, tin whistle)
Martin Fay (fiddle, bones) (born 1938; died 14 November 2012)
Derek Bell (Irish harp, keyboard instruments, oboe) (born 21 October 1935; died 17 October 2002)
In 2002, Fay retired from active membership. In the same year, Bell died due to complications following a minor operation. Fay died on 14 November 2012.
The long black veil
The Chieftains Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Someone was killed 'neath the town hall light
Just a few at the scene, and they all did agree
That the man who ran looked a lot like me
The judge said "Son, what's your alibi?
If you were somewheres else, then you won't have to die"
But I spoke not a word, tho' it meant my life
Chorus:
She walks these hills in a long black veil
Visits my grave when the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody knows, but me
The scaffold is high, eternity near
She stands in the crowd, she sheds not a tear
But sometimes at night when the cold winds moan
In a long black veil, she cries o'er my bones
Chorus
The Chieftains' song "The Long Black Veil" tells a haunting story of a man who has been wrongly accused of murder and refuses to speak up to save his own life because he was having an affair with his best friend's wife. The song is narrated by the accused man, who explains that ten years ago, someone was killed under the town hall lights and the witnesses all believed that the killer looked like him. When the judge asks for his alibi, the man refuses to speak, as it would mean revealing his illicit relationship with his friend's wife. The chorus is sung from the perspective of the woman, who comes to visit the man's grave in a long black veil, mourning the secret they shared.
The song is a powerful exploration of guilt, shame, and the weight of secrets. The man's silence condemns him to death, but it also allows him to keep his secret hidden. Meanwhile, the woman is forced to live with the knowledge of what they did, and her grief and guilt are reflected in the mournful imagery of the long black veil and the crying over bones. The song is a testament to the power of secrets to shape and destroy lives, and the way that even after death, those secrets can continue to haunt us.
Line by Line Meaning
Ten years ago on a cold dark night
10 years ago, late at night it was very cold and dark
Someone was killed 'neath the town hall light
Someone was murdered under the light of the town hall that night
Just a few at the scene, and they all did agree
Only a small number of people witnessed the murder, but they all believe the same thing
That the man who ran looked a lot like me
The witnesses believe that the person who fled the scene resembled the artist of the song
The judge said "Son, what's your alibi?
The judge asked the artist for their alibi
If you were somewheres else, then you won't have to die"
If the singer was in a different location during the murder, they will not be sentenced to death
But I spoke not a word, tho' it meant my life
The singer chose to remain silent despite the gravity of situation, even though it could lead to their own death
For I'd been in the arms of my best friend's wife
The artist did not have an alibi because they were in a romantic relationship with their best friend's wife
Chorus: She walks these hills in a long black veil
The woman is seen walking around the hills wearing a black veil
Visits my grave when the night winds wail
The woman visits the artist's grave when the wind is particularly strong at night
Nobody knows, nobody sees
No one except the woman knows about her visits to the singer's grave
Nobody knows, but me
The only person who knows about the woman's visits is the artist
The scaffold is high, eternity near
The singer's execution is coming soon as they stand on a tall scaffold
She stands in the crowd, she sheds not a tear
The woman is present in the crowd at the singer's execution but does not cry
But sometimes at night when the cold winds moan
At times when the wind is cold and makes a moaning sound
In a long black veil, she cries o'er my bones
The woman cries over the artist's grave wearing a long black veil
Lyrics © DistroKid, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Danny Dill, Marijohn Wilkin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
tom canterbury
on North Amerikay
the great accapella version by kevin on tribute to their harpist