Thomas "Tommy" Makem (November 4, 1932 – August 1, 2007) was an internation… Read Full Bio ↴Thomas "Tommy" Makem (November 4, 1932 – August 1, 2007) was an internationally celebrated Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of The Clancy Brothers And Tommy Makem during the 1950s and 60s. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo, guitar, tin whistle, and bagpipes, and sang in a distinctive baritone. He was sometimes known as "The Bard of Armagh" (taken from a traditional song of the same name) and "The Godfather of Irish Music".
Makem was born and raised in Keady, County Armagh (the "Hub of the Universe" as Makem always said), in Northern Ireland. His mother, Sarah Makem, was an important source of traditional Irish music, who was visited and recorded by, among others, Diane Guggenheim Hamilton, Jean Ritchie, Peter Kennedy and Sean O'Boyle. His father, Peter Makem, was a fiddler who also played the bass drum in a local pipe band named "Oliver Plunkett", after a martyr of the Cromwell age. His brother and sister were folk musicians also. Young Tommy Makem, from the age of 8, was member of the St. Patrick's church choir for 15 years where he sang Gregorian chant and motets. He didn't learn to read music but he made it in his "own way".
He started to work at 14 as a clerk in a garage and later he worked for a while as a barman at Mone's Bar, a local pub and as a local correspondent for The Armagh Observer.
He emigrated to the United States in 1955, carrying his few possessions and a set of bagpipes (from his time in a pipe band). Arriving in Dover, New Hampshire, he worked at Kidder Press, where in 1956 his hand was accidentally crushed by a press.[4] With his arm in a sling, he left Dover for New York to pursue an acting career.
The Clancys and Makem were signed to Columbia Records in 1961. The same year, at the Newport Folk Festival, Makem and Joan Baez were named the most promising newcomers on the American folk scene. During the 1960s, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem performed sellout concerts at such venues as Carnegie Hall, and made television appearances on shows like The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show. The group performed for President Kennedy. They also played in smaller venues such as the Gate of Horn in Chicago. They appeared jointly in the UK Albums Chart in April 1966, when Isn't It Grand Boys reached number 22.
Makem left the group in 1969 to pursue a solo career. In 1975, he and Liam Clancy were both booked to play a folk festival in Cleveland, Ohio, and were persuaded to do a set together. Thereafter they often performed as Makem and Clancy, recording several albums together. At a concert in 1977, Tommy noticed an audience member having a good time and exclaimed, "What have you been smoking? Good whatever you have, pass it around to the rest of them we'll all get goin'!" He once again went solo in 1988. Throughout the 70's and 80's Makem performed both solo and with Liam Clancy on The Irish Rovers various television shows, which were filming both in Canada and Ireland.
In the 1980-90s, Makem was a principal in a well-known Irish music venue in New York City, "Tommy Makem's Irish Pavilion." This East 57th Street club was a prominent and well-loved performance spot for a wide range of musicians. Among the performers and visitors were Paddy Reilly, Joe Burke, and Ronnie Gilbert. Makem was a regular performer, often solo and often as part of Makem & Clancy, particularly in the late fall and holiday season. The club was also used for warm-up performances in the weeks before the 1984 reunion concert of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem at Lincoln Center. In addition, the after-party for Bob Dylan's legendary 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration at Madison Square Garden in 1992 was held at the Irish Pavilion.
In 1997 he wrote a book, Tommy Makem's Secret Ireland, and in 1999 premiered his own one-man theatre show, Invasions and Legacies, in New York. His career includes various other acting, video, composition, and writing credits. He also established the Tommy Makem International Festival of Song in South Armagh in 2000.
Makem was married to Mary Shanahan, a native of Chicago, for 37 years, and had four children - daughter Katie Makem-Boucher, and sons Shane, Conor and Rory. They also had two grandchildren, Molly (Dickerman) Makem and Robert Boucher. Mary died in 2001.
Makem's three sons (who perform as "The Makem Brothers") and nephews Tom & Jimmy Sweeney continue the family folk music tradition.
Makem died in Dover, New Hampshire on August 1, 2007, following a lengthy battle with lung cancer. He continued to record and perform until very close to the end. Paying tribute to him after his death, Liam Clancy said, "He was my brother in every way" He is buried next to his wife at New Saint Mary Cemetery in Dover.
Makem was a prolific composer/songwriter. His performances were always full of his compositions, many of which became standards in the repertoire. Some, notably "Four Green Fields", became so well known that they were sometimes described as anonymous folk songs. During the fall of the Iron Curtain, Makem often proudly told the story that his song "The Winds Are Singing Freedom" had become a sort of folk anthem among Eastern Europeans seeing a new future opening before them.
Makem's best-known songs include "Four Green Fields", "Gentle Annie", "The Rambles of Spring", "The Winds Are Singing Freedom", "The Town of Ballybay", "Winds of the Morning", "Mary Mack", and "Farewell to Carlingford". Even though many people mistakenly believe that Makem wrote "Red is the Rose", it is a traditional Irish folk song.
Makem had a gripping stage presence – the result of years of public performance, a charismatic personality, and a bard's voice. An army of friends and fans attended his frequent concerts, many recognizing each other at far-flung venues. Performances frequently included the following familiar elements:
Original Makem compositions; the first set often began with "The Rambles of Spring"
The standard repertoire of folk and Irish music, both well-known and little-known (but never "Danny Boy", "When Irish Eyes are Smiling", "Toorah Loorah Looral", or other forbidden requests)
Oddball songs, such as "Bridie Murphy and the Kamikaze Pilot" (Colm Gallagher) or "William Bloat" (Raymond Calvert)
Poetic recitations, often as introductions to songs; a frequent source was William Butler Yeats. (Thus "Gentle Annie" usually began with "When You Are Old and Grey", and Four Green Fields usually began with Seamus Heaney's "Requiem for the Croppies".)
Jokes, often silly, made funnier through repetition:
"If your nose is running and your feet smell, you're upside down."
Rarely: monologues, such as Marriott Edgar's "The Lion and Albert"
Exhortations, nearly always successful, for the audience to join in the singing
He received many awards and honours, including three honorary doctorates: one from the University of New Hampshire in 1998, one from the University of Limerick in 2001, and one from the University of Ulster in 2007; as well as the World Folk Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. With the Clancy Brothers he was listed among the top 100 Irish-Americans of the 20th century in 1999.[10]
A bridge over the Cocheco River on Washington Street in Makem's long-time home of Dover, New Hampshire, was named the Tommy and Mary Makem Memorial Bridge in 2010.
Makem was born and raised in Keady, County Armagh (the "Hub of the Universe" as Makem always said), in Northern Ireland. His mother, Sarah Makem, was an important source of traditional Irish music, who was visited and recorded by, among others, Diane Guggenheim Hamilton, Jean Ritchie, Peter Kennedy and Sean O'Boyle. His father, Peter Makem, was a fiddler who also played the bass drum in a local pipe band named "Oliver Plunkett", after a martyr of the Cromwell age. His brother and sister were folk musicians also. Young Tommy Makem, from the age of 8, was member of the St. Patrick's church choir for 15 years where he sang Gregorian chant and motets. He didn't learn to read music but he made it in his "own way".
He started to work at 14 as a clerk in a garage and later he worked for a while as a barman at Mone's Bar, a local pub and as a local correspondent for The Armagh Observer.
He emigrated to the United States in 1955, carrying his few possessions and a set of bagpipes (from his time in a pipe band). Arriving in Dover, New Hampshire, he worked at Kidder Press, where in 1956 his hand was accidentally crushed by a press.[4] With his arm in a sling, he left Dover for New York to pursue an acting career.
The Clancys and Makem were signed to Columbia Records in 1961. The same year, at the Newport Folk Festival, Makem and Joan Baez were named the most promising newcomers on the American folk scene. During the 1960s, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem performed sellout concerts at such venues as Carnegie Hall, and made television appearances on shows like The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show. The group performed for President Kennedy. They also played in smaller venues such as the Gate of Horn in Chicago. They appeared jointly in the UK Albums Chart in April 1966, when Isn't It Grand Boys reached number 22.
Makem left the group in 1969 to pursue a solo career. In 1975, he and Liam Clancy were both booked to play a folk festival in Cleveland, Ohio, and were persuaded to do a set together. Thereafter they often performed as Makem and Clancy, recording several albums together. At a concert in 1977, Tommy noticed an audience member having a good time and exclaimed, "What have you been smoking? Good whatever you have, pass it around to the rest of them we'll all get goin'!" He once again went solo in 1988. Throughout the 70's and 80's Makem performed both solo and with Liam Clancy on The Irish Rovers various television shows, which were filming both in Canada and Ireland.
In the 1980-90s, Makem was a principal in a well-known Irish music venue in New York City, "Tommy Makem's Irish Pavilion." This East 57th Street club was a prominent and well-loved performance spot for a wide range of musicians. Among the performers and visitors were Paddy Reilly, Joe Burke, and Ronnie Gilbert. Makem was a regular performer, often solo and often as part of Makem & Clancy, particularly in the late fall and holiday season. The club was also used for warm-up performances in the weeks before the 1984 reunion concert of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem at Lincoln Center. In addition, the after-party for Bob Dylan's legendary 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration at Madison Square Garden in 1992 was held at the Irish Pavilion.
In 1997 he wrote a book, Tommy Makem's Secret Ireland, and in 1999 premiered his own one-man theatre show, Invasions and Legacies, in New York. His career includes various other acting, video, composition, and writing credits. He also established the Tommy Makem International Festival of Song in South Armagh in 2000.
Makem was married to Mary Shanahan, a native of Chicago, for 37 years, and had four children - daughter Katie Makem-Boucher, and sons Shane, Conor and Rory. They also had two grandchildren, Molly (Dickerman) Makem and Robert Boucher. Mary died in 2001.
Makem's three sons (who perform as "The Makem Brothers") and nephews Tom & Jimmy Sweeney continue the family folk music tradition.
Makem died in Dover, New Hampshire on August 1, 2007, following a lengthy battle with lung cancer. He continued to record and perform until very close to the end. Paying tribute to him after his death, Liam Clancy said, "He was my brother in every way" He is buried next to his wife at New Saint Mary Cemetery in Dover.
Makem was a prolific composer/songwriter. His performances were always full of his compositions, many of which became standards in the repertoire. Some, notably "Four Green Fields", became so well known that they were sometimes described as anonymous folk songs. During the fall of the Iron Curtain, Makem often proudly told the story that his song "The Winds Are Singing Freedom" had become a sort of folk anthem among Eastern Europeans seeing a new future opening before them.
Makem's best-known songs include "Four Green Fields", "Gentle Annie", "The Rambles of Spring", "The Winds Are Singing Freedom", "The Town of Ballybay", "Winds of the Morning", "Mary Mack", and "Farewell to Carlingford". Even though many people mistakenly believe that Makem wrote "Red is the Rose", it is a traditional Irish folk song.
Makem had a gripping stage presence – the result of years of public performance, a charismatic personality, and a bard's voice. An army of friends and fans attended his frequent concerts, many recognizing each other at far-flung venues. Performances frequently included the following familiar elements:
Original Makem compositions; the first set often began with "The Rambles of Spring"
The standard repertoire of folk and Irish music, both well-known and little-known (but never "Danny Boy", "When Irish Eyes are Smiling", "Toorah Loorah Looral", or other forbidden requests)
Oddball songs, such as "Bridie Murphy and the Kamikaze Pilot" (Colm Gallagher) or "William Bloat" (Raymond Calvert)
Poetic recitations, often as introductions to songs; a frequent source was William Butler Yeats. (Thus "Gentle Annie" usually began with "When You Are Old and Grey", and Four Green Fields usually began with Seamus Heaney's "Requiem for the Croppies".)
Jokes, often silly, made funnier through repetition:
"If your nose is running and your feet smell, you're upside down."
Rarely: monologues, such as Marriott Edgar's "The Lion and Albert"
Exhortations, nearly always successful, for the audience to join in the singing
He received many awards and honours, including three honorary doctorates: one from the University of New Hampshire in 1998, one from the University of Limerick in 2001, and one from the University of Ulster in 2007; as well as the World Folk Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. With the Clancy Brothers he was listed among the top 100 Irish-Americans of the 20th century in 1999.[10]
A bridge over the Cocheco River on Washington Street in Makem's long-time home of Dover, New Hampshire, was named the Tommy and Mary Makem Memorial Bridge in 2010.
South Australia
Tommy Makem Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In South Australia I was born!
Heave away! Haul away!
In South Australia round Cape Horn!
We're bound for South Australia!
Haul away, you rolling king,
Heave away! Haul away!
Haul away and hear me sing
We're bound for South Australia!
As I walked out one morning fair,
Heave away! Haul away!
'Twas there I met Miss Nancy Blair.
We're bound for South Australia!
Haul away, you rolling king,
Heave away! Haul away!
Haul away and hear me sing
We're bound for South Australia!
I sher up, I sher down,
Heave away! Haul away!
I sher round and round the town.
We're bound for South Australia!
Haul away, you rolling king,
Heave away! Haul away!
Haul away and hear me sing
We're bound for South Australia!
There ain't but one thing grieves my mind,
Heave away! Haul away!
To leave Miss Nancy Blair behind.
We're bound for South Australia!
Haul away, you rolling king,
Heave away! Haul away!
Haul away and hear me sing
We're bound for South Australia!
And as you lollop round Cape Horn,
Heave away! Haul away!
You'll wish to Christ you'd never been born!
We're bound for South Australia!
Haul away, you rolling king,
Heave away! Haul away!
Haul away and hear me sing
We're bound for South Australia!
Heave away! Haul away!
In South Australia round Cape Horn!
We're bound for South Australia!
Haul away, you rolling king,
Heave away! Haul away!
Haul away and hear me sing
As I walked out one morning fair,
Heave away! Haul away!
'Twas there I met Miss Nancy Blair.
We're bound for South Australia!
Haul away, you rolling king,
Heave away! Haul away!
Haul away and hear me sing
We're bound for South Australia!
I sher up, I sher down,
Heave away! Haul away!
I sher round and round the town.
We're bound for South Australia!
Haul away, you rolling king,
Heave away! Haul away!
Haul away and hear me sing
We're bound for South Australia!
There ain't but one thing grieves my mind,
Heave away! Haul away!
To leave Miss Nancy Blair behind.
We're bound for South Australia!
Haul away, you rolling king,
Heave away! Haul away!
Haul away and hear me sing
We're bound for South Australia!
And as you lollop round Cape Horn,
Heave away! Haul away!
You'll wish to Christ you'd never been born!
We're bound for South Australia!
Haul away, you rolling king,
Heave away! Haul away!
Haul away and hear me sing
We're bound for South Australia!
Tommy Makem's song "South Australia" is a sea shanty that tells the story of a sailor who was born in South Australia and is embarking on a journey to that place after rounding Cape Horn. The song is in the form of a work song, with a call-and-response structure where the singer calls out a line and the crew responds.
The song starts with the singer proudly proclaiming his birthplace and the crew shouting out "Heave away! Haul away!" in response. The crew then joins in singing the chorus "We're bound for South Australia!" which is repeated throughout the song. The singer talks about meeting Miss Nancy Blair and how leaving her behind is the only thing that grieves his mind. The song ends with a warning to anyone rounding Cape Horn, that they'll wish they were never born.
The song's lyrics are an ode to the sea and the hard life of sailors who spend their lives on the ocean. It captures the spirit of adventure and the longing to return home, which is a common theme in sea shanties. The repetitive structure of the song was designed to keep the crew focused on their work, as they hoisted the sails and worked the ship.
Line by Line Meaning
In South Australia I was born!
I was born in South Australia!
Heave away! Haul away!
Let's get to work and pull the ropes!
In South Australia round Cape Horn!
We're headed to South Australia by way of Cape Horn!
We're bound for South Australia!
We're on our way to South Australia!
Haul away, you rolling king,
Pull harder, you majestic sea waves!
Haul away and hear me sing
Sing with me while we work and pull the ropes!
As I walked out one morning fair,
One day I went for a walk in the beautiful morning sunlight,
'Twas there I met Miss Nancy Blair.
And it was there that I met Miss Nancy Blair.
I sher up, I sher down,
I danced and frolicked up and down the streets,
I sher round and round the town.
And I danced all around the town!
There ain't but one thing grieves my mind,
There's only one thing that makes me sad,
To leave Miss Nancy Blair behind.
Which is having to leave Miss Nancy Blair behind.
And as you lollop round Cape Horn,
And as we travel around Cape Horn,
You'll wish to Christ you'd never been born!
We'll wish we were never born because of the harsh conditions we'll face!
Contributed by Lincoln B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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Sally Coffey
Brilliant song really lifts the spirits!!!!
sorensb4
There's also another version of this song. Really fun to sing while you're rowing a long boat.
Mcscotty
Absolutely love it. This is one of the most covered sea shantys in my hometown of St.John's Newfoundland.
Don Brynelsen
We had this album when I was a kid. Remember how I loved to sing along with this song!
Ron O'Toole
Same here my Aunt gave us this album in 1963.
hkeddieme
The clipper route went from Britain to Australia via Good Cape but returned to Britain round Cape Horn, thus using the prevailing winds on both legs of the journey. The song is describing the route of the whole voyage bound for South Australia, (then) round the Horn and back to Britain.
Bartoniusz
i didn't hear this before but i love it! Their gaelic accent is very pleasant to my ears :)
poltergoose420
This is a really good version of this shanty. The Clancy brothers also have a really good version of Red Haired Mary.
Theophrastus Bombastus
Many people try and make it "poignant" with slow melody and fancy harmonic hymns etc.
This is the best version. A shanty for what it was.
There is a sad message in there, yes...
... but there's also a happy one in there too!
Jo the Snoop
I remember singing this in, with family in the car travelling from Sydney to Adelaide for a one week holiday back in 1988 (went to the Grand Prix that year).