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.
The Winds Are Singing Freedom
Tommy Makem Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Tommy Makem:
A Jug of Punch One pleasant evening in the month of June As I was…
Apples In The Basket The sun comes over the top of the hill Shines on…
As I Roved Out As I roved out on a May morning On a May…
Away To Mary Ann I heard the rain on my window pane And ever as…
Bard Of Armagh Oh list to the lay of a poor Irish harper And…
Black Velvet Band It was in the town of Tralee, an apprentice to…
Blow Ye Winds Dark and stormy was the night when first I met…
Blue Eyed Mary There's a black crow sitting on a bare oak tree And…
Bold O'Donoghue Well here I am from Paddy's land, a land of…
Boulavogue BOULAVOGUE (P.J.McCall) At Boulavogue, as the sun was settin…
Butcher Boy In London city where I did dwell A butcher boy, I…
Canada My Own Land The sun it comes up on the green fields of…
Cobbler Oh, me name is Dick Darby, I'm a cobbler I served…
Connemara Cradle Song On the wings of the wind o'er the dark rolling…
Courtin' In the Kitchen Come single belle and beau, unto me pay attention Don't ever…
Erie Canal We were forty miles from Albany, Forget it, I never shall! W…
Farewell to Carlingford When I was young and in my prime And could wander…
Farewell to Nova Scotia [Chorus] Farewell to Nova Scotia, you sea bound coast Let yo…
Foggy Dew It was down the glen one Easter morn, to a…
Four Green Fields "What did I have?" said the fine old woman "What did…
Galloway Hills I'll tak' my plaidie contented to be, A wee bittie…
Galway Bay Maybe someday, I'll go back again to Ireland If only my…
Gentle Annie Fair and lovely Annie, Your gentle ways have won me. You…
Henry Joy An Ulster man I am proud to be From the Antrim…
I'll Tell Me Ma [Chorus] I'll tell me Ma when I go home, The boys…
I'll Tell My Ma [Chorus] I'll tell me Ma when I go home, The boys…
In the Month of January It was in the month of January, the hills were…
Irish Rover In the year of our Lord, eighteen hundred and six, We…
Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye While goin' the road to sweet Athy, hurroo, hurroo While goi…
Johnny McEldoo There was Johnny McEldoo and McGee and me And a couple…
Jug of Punch One pleasant evening in the month of June As I was…
Kelly The Boy From Killane Kelly, The Boy from Killanne What's the news? What's the new…
Killyburn Brae Is it true that the women are worse than the…
Kitty Bawn O'Brien A I O I A I O I A A…
Kitty Magee I've kissed and courted them all, gentle and simple, short…
Leatherwing Bat "I" said the little leatherwing bat "I'll tell you the reaso…
Legion Of The Rearguard Up the Republic, they raise their battle cry, Pearse and McD…
Little Beggarman I am a little beggarman and begging I have been For…
Lolly Toodum As I went out one morning to take the pleasant…
Lowlands of Holland The Lowlands of Holland The love that I have chosen was…
Men of the West The Men of the West (William Rooney) When you honor in song…
Minstrel Boy The minstrel boy to the war is gone In the ranks…
Month of January It was in the month of January, the hills were…
Moonshiner I've been a moonshiner for many a year And I've…
Morning Glory At the end of the day, I like a little…
Mountain Dew The Real Old Mountain Dew Beside a hill there is a…
Mrs Mcgrath "Oh, Mrs. McGrath," the sergeant said "Would you like to mak…
My Lagan Love Where Lagan stream sings lullaby There grows a lily fair The…
New York Girls As I walked down the Broadway One evening in July I met…
O I wish I had my Sally O Sally O, Sally O I…
Parting Glass Of all the money that e'er I spent I've spent it…
Patriot Game Come all you young rebels, And list' while I sing. For…
Rambles Of Spring There's a piercing wintry breeze Blowing through the budding…
Real Old Mountain Dew The Real Old Mountain Dew Beside a hill there is a…
Red Is the Rose Come over the hills my bonny Irish lass Come over the…
Reilly's Daughter As I was sitting by the fire Eating spuds and drinking…
Roddy McCorley O see the fleet-foot host of men, Who march with…
Sally O I wish I had my Sally O Sally O, Sally O I…
Song of the Wandering Aengus I went out to the hazel wood, because a fire…
South Australia In South Australia I was born! Heave away! Haul away! In Sou…
The Bard of Armagh Oh list to the lay of a poor Irish harper And…
The Beggarman I am a little beggarman and begging I have been For…
The Black Velvet Band It was in the town of Tralee, an apprentice to…
The Boys of Killybegs There are wild and rocky hills on the coast of…
The Butcher Boy In London city where I did dwell A butcher boy, I…
The Cobbler Oh, me name is Dick Darby, I'm a cobbler I served…
The Connemara Cradle Song On the wings of the wind o'er the dark rolling…
The Foggy Dew It was down the glen one Easter morn, to a…
The Irish Rover In the year of our Lord, eighteen hundred and six, We…
The Jug Of Punch One pleasant evening in the month of June As I was…
The Little Beggarman I am a little beggarman and begging I have been For…
The Lowlands of Holland The Lowlands of Holland The love that I have chosen was…
The Men from the West The Men of the West (William Rooney) When you honor in song…
The Mermaid It was Friday morn, when we set sail And we were…
The Month Of January It was in the month of January, the hills were…
The Moonshiner I've been a moonshiner for many a year And I've…
The Old Orange Flute In the county Tyrone, in the town of Dungannon Where many…
The Parting Glass Of all the money that e'er I spent I've spent it…
The Patriot Game Come all you young rebels, And list' while I sing. For…
The Rambles of Spring There's a piercing wintry breeze Blowing through the budding…
The Rape Of The Gael Beyond the Aran Islands, ghosts of the long forgotten heroes…
The Rocky Road To Dublin While in the merry month of May from me…
The Town I Love So Well Come with me and I'll take you to the land…
The Whistling Gypsy The gypsy rover came over the hill Down through the valley…
The Wild Colonial Boy There was a wild colonial boy, Jack Duggan was his…
The Wind That Shakes The Barley I sat within the valley green, I sat me with…
Tim Finegan's Wake Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin Street A gentle Irishman, might…
Tim Finnegan Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin Street A gentle Irishman, migh…
Tim Finnegan's Wake Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin Street A gentle Irishman, might…
True Love And Time If I had wings, I'd fly the mountains If I had…
Vancouver Oh, my feet are weary on a road that leads…
Whack Fol the Diddle I'll sing you a song of peace and love, Whack fol…
Whiskey You Now brave boys, we're on the march Off to Portugal and…
Wind That Shakes the Barley I sat within the valley green, I sat me with…
Young Roddy Mccorley O see the fleet-foot host of men, Who march with…
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