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.
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The Clancy Brothers And Tommy Makem Lyrics
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They're moving it regardless of expense.
They're moving his remains to lay down nine-inch
drains
To irrigate some rich bloke's residence.
Now what's the use of having a religion?
If when you're dead you cannot get some peace
'Cause some society chap wants a pipeline to his
And moves you from your place of rest and peace...
Now father in his life was not a quitter
And I'm sure that he'll not be a quitter now.
And in his winding sheet, he will haunt that privy
seat
And only let them go when he'll allow.
Now won't there be some bleedin' consternation,
And won't those city toffs begin to rave!
But it's no more than they deserve, 'cause they had
the bleedin' nerve
To muck about a British workman's grave.
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem's "They're Moving Father's Grave to Build a Sewer" is a powerful protest song that explores the themes of Indignity, Greed, and Protest. The lyrics are a commentary on the destructive power of urbanization and capitalism. They describe the heartlessness of society that uproots a man's grave to build a sewer. The song's opening line, "They're moving father's grave to build a sewer," describes the heartbroken singer's anger after hearing that his father's final resting place is being destroyed to make way for a sewer system for a rich person's property. The song laments the ruthless greed that propels individuals and institutions to perpetrate such deeds without any consideration of human emotions.
The song's chorus highlights the song's central theme of religion's futility when societal values of greed, wealth, and power dominate. The lyrics read, "Now what's the use of having a religion? If when you're dead you cannot get some peace 'Cause some society chap wants a pipeline to his tank And moves you from your place of rest and peace." The singer is disgusted by the hypocrisy of society's leaders, who claim to embrace religion, yet show no kindness, empathy, or respect for the dead.
The song's resolution is radical and subversive, with the singer imagining his father's ghost haunting the privy seat, ensuring that no one can use it until he allows it. The lyrics read, "And in his winding sheet, he will haunt that privy seat And only let them go when he'll allow." This ending is a powerful representation of how even when capitalism, urbanization, and societal greed destroy our past, our loved ones, and our environment, the subaltern can resist in their spiritual existence.
Line by Line Meaning
They're moving father's grave to build a sewer
Father's grave is being dug up to create a sewer
They're moving it regardless of expense.
The expense of moving the grave is irrelevant
They're moving his remains to lay down nine-inch drains
The grave is being moved to create space for nine-inch drains
To irrigate some rich bloke's residence.
The created sewer is going to benefit a wealthy individual's property
Now what's the use of having a religion?
What's the point of having a religion if the dead can't rest in peace?
If when you're dead you cannot get some peace
Dead people deserve to find peace and rest
'Cause some society chap wants a pipeline to his tank
The sewer is being built to benefit a person of high society
And moves you from your place of rest and peace...
The person's grave is being disturbed, taking away their peace and rest
Now father in his life was not a quitter
Father was a determined person during his life
And I'm sure that he'll not be a quitter now.
He won't give up even in death
And in his winding sheet, he will haunt that privy seat
He will come back to haunt the sewer created on his grave
And only let them go when he'll allow.
He will only rest once he lets go of those who disturbed his grave
Now won't there be some bleedin' consternation,
There will be chaos and confusion
And won't those city toffs begin to rave!
The wealthy will be angry and frustrated
But it's no more than they deserve, 'cause they had the bleedin' nerve
Their deserved punishment because they had no respect for the working man's grave
To muck about a British workman's grave.
They rudely interfered with the resting place of a British worker
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
James Moran
Thanks for the memory/reminder!
Started singing rebel and drinking songs to my youngest at bed time when he was 2.
The men behind the wire
Patriot Game
Kevin Barry
The parting glass
The foggy dew
The valley of Knockanure
Usually by then he would be asleep, but i would often go on.
Grew up listening to them, and have listened to and sung them on three continents.
Kaycee Bingham
Liam's version of "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" gives me chills every time.
Betty Sue Hernandez
Liam's version is much better than the one who wrote it. He makes it an entirely different story, very moving. Hearing it for the first time, I had to listen to every word and play it over and over again. Amazing!
chris colgan
The greatest waltzing matilda💚🇮🇪
alex thegreat
@Betty Sue Hernandez😊😊😊😊
Marily McCann
When the Clancy brothers were learning their trade, in the fifties, they were very regular visitors to our house. Dr Kevin McCann, my dad, had an astounding knowledge of Irish traditional music, and the brothers wished to know more about their craft. Such wonderful memories of their music, songs, wit, and laughter. Feeling nostalgic...💚
heather mcdougall
I notice as a knitting woman, those men's jumpers are all different Aran patterns. Everyone of them is different.
it's time that great hand knitting, and patterns are kept alive. My has created a great pattern of her own, for children.
Mary Lunecke
Saoirse Eireann Google
Dawn Johnson
Marily, what a wonderful story. To think your father helped with their knowledge. Just fantastic. Such memories. Your name is beautiful. Is it Irish? It reminds me of a Scottish name I love, Mairi. "All for Mairi's Wedding'
Dawn Johnson
@heather mcdougall yes definitely! With You all the way. I've also been knitting aran and fair isle since 4 yrs. Not for long time though. Been thinking of it lately. What's more classic than an aron jumper.
Dawn Johnson
Saoirse Eireann the tragedy we have to watch unfold