Formed while the members were working in America, the initial impetus was to record an album of Irish rebel songs (released as "The Rising of the Moon") as one of the first releases in 1956 of new folk label, Tradition Records. Paddy Clancy's harmonica provided the only musical accompaniment for this debut album.
Little thought was given at that point to continuing as a singing group. The four were all were busy establishing careers (in the theatre) for themselves, in addition to their work at Tradition Records. With the album being a local success, requests were often demanded for the brothers and Makem to sing some of their songs at parties and informal pub settings. Slowly, the singing gigs began to outweigh the acting gigs and by 1959, serious thought was given to a new album. Liam had developed some guitar skills, Tommy's hand, which hasd been injured, had healed enough that he was again able to play tin whistle and Uilleann pipes, and the times spent singing together had improved their style. No longer were they the rough, mostly unaccompanied group of actors singing for an album to jump-start a record label; they were becoming a professional singing group.
The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music singing group. Most popular in the 1960s, they were famed for their woolly Aran jumpers and are widely credited with popularizing Irish traditional music in the United States. The brothers were Patrick "Paddy" Clancy, Tom Clancy, Bobby Clancy and Liam Clancy. Paddy, Tom, Bob, and Liam are best known for their work with Tommy Makem, recording dozens of albums together as The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. They were a primary influence on a young Bob Dylan and on many other emerging artists.
The release of their second album, this one of Irish drinking songs called "Come Fill Your Glass with Us", solidified their new careers as singers. The album was a success, and they made many appearances on the pub circuit in New York, Chicago, and Boston. It was at their first official gig after "Come Fill Your Glass With Us" that the group finally found a name for themselves. The nightclub owner asked for a name to put on the marquee, but they had not decided on one yet. Unable to agree on a name (which included suggestions like "The Beggermen", "The Tinkers", and even "The Chieftains") the owner decided for them, simply billing them as "The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem". The name stuck. They decided to try singing full-time for six months. If their singing was successful, they would continue with it; if not, then they would return to acting. The Clancy brothers and Tommy Makem proved successful as a singing group and in early 1961, they attracted the attention of scouts from The Ed Sullivan Show.
The Clancy Brothers' mother read news of the terrible ice and snow storms in New York City so she sent Aran sweaters for her sons and Tommy Makem to keep them warm. Paddy and Liam Clancy stated they wore the sweaters for the first time in the Blue Angel club. When Marty Erlichman, their manager, saw the sweaters, he was beside himself! "That's it!" he exclaimed. I've been looking for a special costume for the group. It was also the night that Barbra Streisand sang in the Blue Angel for the first time. The sweaters became the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem's trademark. When back in their hometown, the band purchased their Aran jumpers from Babington, on the main street. Babington had a local woman by the name of Betty McGillivray née Duggan knit the jumpers and supply the shop on regular occasions.
On 12 March 1961, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem performed for 16 minutes in front of a televised audience of 80 million people on The Ed Sullivan Show. As Pearl Bailey did not show that night, the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem were given her time. The televised performance instantly attracted the attention of John Hammond of Columbia Records. The group was offered a five-year contract with an advance of $100,000, a huge sum in 1961. For their first album with Columbia, they enlisted Pete Seeger as backup banjo player for the live album A Spontaneous Performance Recording It included songs that would soon become classics, such as "Brennan on the Moor," "Jug of Punch," "Reilly's Daughter," "Finnegan's Wake," "Haul Away Joe," "Roddy McCorley," "Portlairge" and "Moonshiner." The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1961.
By the end of 1961, they had released two more albums, one final one with Tradition Records, and another with Columbia, Hearty and Hellish: A Live Nightclub Performance, and they were playing Carnegie Hall. Additionally, they were making appearances on major radio and television talk-shows in America.
1962 proved to be an even better year. Ciarán MacMathuna, a popular radio personality in Ireland, was visiting America when he heard of the group. He collected the few albums they had out at the time, brought them back home to Ireland and played them on his radio show. The broadcasts skyrocketed the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem to fame in Ireland, where they were still unknown. In Ireland, songs like "Roddy McCorley," "Kevin Barry" and "Brennan on the Moor" were slow, depressing songs full of melancholy, but the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem had transformed those songs (the disgruntled purists in Ireland said "commercialized") and made them lively. For generations the songs had been a reminder of the troubles in Ireland and therefore they weren't anything anybody sang proudly. The Clancy Brothers changed all that, and the transformed songs reinvigorated Ireland's pride in her music. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were brought over for a sold-out tour of Ireland in late 1962. Popularity in England and other parts of Europe soon followed, as well as Australia and Canada. By 1963, appearing on major talk-shows in America, Canada, England, Australia and Ireland, as well as their own TV specials, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were "the most famous four Irishmen in the world" as said by Ireland's Late Late Show host, Gay Byrne, in a retrospective interview in 1984. In 1964, one third of all the albums sold in Ireland were Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem records.
The 1960s continued to be a successful decade with the release of approximately two albums per year, all of which sold millions of copies. They continued to peak with television appearances in front of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
Their popularity is the result of several factors. There was already an American folk revival beginning in the United States, and men such as Ewan MacColl popularizing old songs on the other side of the Atlantic. But it was the Clancys' boisterous performances that set them apart, taking placid classics and giving them a boost of energy and spirit (not that they took this approach with all their songs; they would still sing the true mournful ballads with due reverence).
But by the late 1960s, rock music had taken full swing, and the ballad and folk boom was waning. To keep the band at the top, Teo Macero began producing their records for Columbia. Macero introduced new instrumentation to their music, including Louis Killen coming in to play concertina on backup, particularly on their 1968 album of sea songs, Sing of the Sea. But their last three albums for Columbia Record in 1969 and 1970 are considered by many to be overproduced, with a multitude of string instruments and synthesizers added to the simpler traditional Clancy mix of guitar, banjo, tin whistle and harmonica.
In 1969, the group recorded a song for a two-minute-long TV ad for Gulf Oil: "Bringin' Home the Oil". They adapted a traditional Scottish tune they had recorded, "The Gallant Forty Twa," with new words about large-capacity supertankers. The song and commercial featured the then-largest supertanker in the world, the Universe Ireland, which operated with sister ships Universe Kuwait, Universe Japan and Universe Portugal, all mentioned in the song and which operated from the seaport at Bantry Bay.
1969 marked the amicable departure of Tommy Makem from the group. Giving them a year's notice, Makem left in April 1969 to pursue a solo career armed with such recent compositions as "Four Green Fields", debuted on 1968's Clancy Brothers album, Home Boys Home.
The "other brother", Bobby Clancy, filled Tommy Makem's vacancy and the band became The Clancy Brothers.
Johnny McEldoo
The Clancy Brothers And Tommy Makem Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And a couple of two or three went on the spree one day
We had a bob or two, which we knew how to blew
And the beer and whiskey flew and we all felt gay
We visited McCann's, Maclaman's, Humpty Dan's
We then went into Swan's, our stomachs for to pack
We ordered out a feed, which indeed, we did need
And we finished it with speed, but we still felt slack
Johnny McEldoo turned as blue as a Jew
And a plate of Irish stew he soon put out of sight
He shouted out "Encore!" with a roar for some more
That he'd never felt before such a keen appetite
He ordered eggs and ham, bread and jam, what a cram
But him, we couldn't ram, though we tried our level best
For everything we brought, cold or hot, mattered not
It went down him like a shot but he still stood the test
He swallowed tripe and lard by the yard, we got scarred
We thought it would go hard when the waiter brought the bill
We told him to give o'er, but he swore he could lower
Twice as much again and more before he had his fill
He nearly supped a trough full of broth says McGragh
"He'll devour the tablecloth if you don't hold him in"
When the waiter brought the charge, McEldoo felt so large
He began to shout and barge and his blood went on fire
He began to curse and swear, tear his hair in despair
And to finish the affair, called the shop man a liar
The shop man, he through out and no doubt, he did clout
McEldoo he kicked about like an old football
Tattered all his clothes, broke his nose, I suppose
He would have killed him with a few blows in no time at all
Mceldoo began to howl and to growl, by my soul
He threw an empty bowl at the shop keepers head
It struck poor Mickey Flynn, peeled his skin off his chin
And eruptions did begin and we all fought and bled
The peelers did arrive, man alive, four or five
At us they made a dive for us all to march away
We paid for all the mate that we ate, stood a trait
And went home to ruminate on the spree that day
The Clancy Brothers And Tommy Makem's song Johnny McEldoo tells the story of a wild day out with friends. Johnny McEldoo, McGee, and the singer go out drinking and eating at various establishments, including McCann's, Maclaman's, Humpty Dan's, and Swan's. They order large amounts of food and drink, but Johnny McEldoo surprises them all by consuming an incredible amount of each. He eats everything the group brings to the table, including tripe and lard, and orders even more. When the bill comes, Johnny McEldoo becomes enraged and starts a fight with the shopkeeper. This escalates into a brawl that ends with the arrival of the police.
The song is a humorous representation of the excessive behavior that sometimes comes with a night out. The lyrics showcase the gluttony and recklessness that can accompany drinking and socializing. The character of Johnny McEldoo is larger than life, almost to a cartoonish extent. The song's tone is jovial and light-hearted, despite the violent ending.
Line by Line Meaning
There was Johnny McEldoo and McGee and me
The singer, Johnny McEldoo, and McGee went out together
And a couple of two or three went on the spree one day
Two or three more people joined them for a day of drinking and partying
We had a bob or two, which we knew how to blew
They had some money to spend, and they knew how to spend it
And the beer and whiskey flew and we all felt gay
They drank a lot of beer and whiskey and were happy about it
We visited McCann's, Maclaman's, Humpty Dan's
They went to several different bars and pubs
We then went into Swan's, our stomachs for to pack
They went to a place called Swan's to get some food
We ordered out a feed, which indeed, we did need
They ordered a lot of food because they were hungry
And we finished it with speed, but we still felt slack
They ate quickly but still felt sluggish
Johnny McEldoo turned red, white and blue
Johnny McEldoo's face changed color from eating a lot of food
As a plate of Irish stew he soon put out of sight
He quickly finished a plate of Irish stew
He shouted out 'Encore!' with a roar for some more
He asked for more food
That he'd never felt before such a keen appetite
He had never been so hungry before
We ordered eggs and ham, bread and jam, what a cram
They ordered a lot of different kinds of food
But him, we couldn't ram, though we tried our level best
They tried to make him eat more, but he couldn't fit any more food in his stomach
For everything we brought, cold or hot, mattered not
He could eat anything, whether it was hot or cold
He swallowed tripe and lard by the yard, we got scarred
He ate a lot of tripe and lard and they were worried about how much he could eat
We thought it would go hard when the waiter brought the bill
They were worried about how much the bill would be
We told him to give o'er, but he swore he could lower
They asked the waiter to lower the bill, but he refused
Twice as much again and more before he had his fill
The waiter said they had to pay twice as much again before Johnny was done eating
He nearly supped a trough full of broth says McGragh
Johnny almost finished a whole trough of broth, according to McGragh
'He'll devour the tablecloth if you don't hold him in'
McGragh said Johnny would eat anything, even the tablecloth, if they didn't stop him
When the waiter brought the charge, McEldoo felt so large
When they got the bill, Johnny felt very important
He began to shout and barge and his blood went on fire
Johnny got angry and started shouting and hitting things
He began to curse and swear, tear his hair in despair
Johnny started using bad language and getting upset
To finish the affair, called the shop man a liar
Johnny accused the shopkeeper of lying
The shop man, he through out and no doubt, he did clout
The shopkeeper threw them out and hit Johnny
McEldoo he kicked about like an old football
The shopkeeper kicked Johnny like a football
Tattered all his clothes, broke his nose, I suppose
The shopkeeper tore Johnny's clothes and broke his nose
He would have killed him with a few blows in no time at all
The shopkeeper could have killed Johnny with only a few punches
Mceldoo began to howl and to growl, by my soul
Johnny started howling and growling
Through an empty bowl at the shop keepers head
Johnny threw an empty bowl at the shopkeeper's head
It struck poor Mickey Flynn, took the skin from his chin
The bowl hit someone named Mickey Flynn and cut him
An erection did begin and we all fought and bled
A fight started, and they all got hurt
The peelers did arrive, man alive, four or five
The police arrived
At us they made a dive for us all to march away
The police came after them and told them to leave
We paid for all the mate that we ate, stood a trait
They paid for all the food they ate and left
And went home to ruminate on the spree that day
They went home to think about the day they had
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Liam Clancy, Pat Clancy, Tom Clancy, Tommy Makem
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind