In March 2006, fifty years after the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem recorded their debut album, The Rising of the Moon in March 1956, the first full-length biography on the Clancy Brothers was written and published by Conor Murray. The book, titled The Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem & Robbie O'Connell: The Men Behind the Sweaters chronicles the Clancy Brothers from the birth of Paddy Clancy in 1922 to early 2006. Simultaneously a two hour documentary on Liam Clancy was aired on Irish television, The Legend of Liam Clancy, as was a new TV concert special from Tommy Makem and his sons, the five-piece Irish folk song group The Makem & Spain Brothers.
Through 2005 to the present Liam has been joined once again by Kevin Evans of Evans and Doherty, both onstage and in the studio. Paul Grant and Kevin play nightly with Liam who continues to record, write and perform worldwide. His latest CD, "Yes, Those Were the Days," was a top selling record in late 2006. A full length feature film of his life is slated to begin filming this year culminating with a filmed concert in New York City. Liam will be appearing with Paul, Kevin, Danú and Karan Casey at the Tonder Festival in Denmark in August 2007.
In August 2007 Tommy Makem died after an extended fight with cancer, leaving Liam the only surviving member of the original group.
Liam Clancy died from pulmonary fibrosis on 4 December 2009, in Bon Secours Hospital in Cork, Ireland. Bobby Clancy died of the same disease seven years previously and is buried in the new cemetery in Ring, Co. Waterford, where he spent the last number of years of his life, owning a successful recording studio. Clancy was survived by his wife, Kim, and their four children, Eben, Siobhán, Fiona and Donal, as well three previous children Sean, Andrew and Anya. His son Eben was in the process of coming over from the United Kingdom and he had had a chat with his son Donal who was in the middle of a tour of California. The other three sat beside him as he died. Liam had intended to give another interview at the time but succumbed to the disease before this was possible.
The American city of Boston was said to be in shock at the news as his influence there is "inescapable". Radio disc jockeys in New York paid tribute to the man who, according to the New York Daily News, "played a major role in defining how Americans heard Irish popular music over the last half century", with one DJ saying The Clancy Brothers had "broke down a wall that was long overdue". Christy Moore, on a prescheduled appearance on The Late Late Show aired live on the night of Liam's death, said, "I would have been listening to Radio Luxembourg and rock 'n' roll as a young fellow and then I got to hear of the Clancy brothers, when I was 16 I came to Dublin to hear them in a concert. It was about 1962, I think it was the Olympia, it was the most exciting concert I had ever attended. It was Irish, it was rock 'n' roll, it was funky and it was even sexy".
Clancy's lunchtime funeral at St Mary's Church in Dungarvan on 7 December was attended by hundreds of mourners, including both the Aides de Camp of the Taoiseach and President of Ireland, Minister Cullen and various musicians and artists. He was later buried in Ring.
The Mermaid
Tommy Makem & Liam Clancy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I lay so fast asleep
When the thought of my true love came running to my head
And poor sailors that sail on the deep
As I sailed out one day, one day
And being not far from land
And there I spied a mermaid a-sitting on a rock
With a comb and a glass in her hand
But no answer at all could us make
Till at last our gallant ship she tooked round about
Which made all our poor hearts to ache
Then up stepped the helmsman of our ship
In his hand a lead and line
All for to sound the seas, my boys, that is so wide and deep
But to hard rock or sand could he find
Then up stepped the captain of our ship
And a well-speaking man is he
He says," I have a wife, my boys, in fair Plymouth town
But this night a widow she will be"
Then up stepped the bosun of our ship
And a well-spoken man was he
He says, "I have two sons, my boys, in fair Bristol town
And orphans I fear they will be
And then up stepped the little cabin boy
And a pretty boy was he
He says, "Oh I grieve for my own mother dear
Whom I shall nevermore see"
"Last night, when the moon shined bright
My mother had sons five
But now she may look in the salt, salt sea
And find but one alive"
Call a boat, call a boat, my fair Plymouth boys
Don't you hear how the trumpets sound?
For the want of a long-boat in the ocean we were lost
And most of our merry men drowned
The lyrics of Tommy Makem & Liam Clancy's song "The Mermaid" tell a tale of a sailor who sees a mermaid sitting on a rock with a comb and a glass in her hand. The mermaid sings a beautiful song that the sailors could not answer. The ship is then guided in the wrong direction by the mermaid, and they cannot find their way back to shore. The helmsman and the captain of the ship try their best to navigate their way back to land, but their efforts are unsuccessful. The bosun of the ship spoke, hoping to save his two sons, while the cabin boy expressed his lamentation for his mother, who lost four of her five sons at sea. Finally, as the song ends, it speaks of the need to call for rescue and bring a long-boat to save the crew, who were almost lost at sea.
The song is about lost love and lost ones due to the mermaid's attraction. The mermaid's beauty had the power to lead sailors off course, which ultimately ended in shipwreck and tragedy. The song's poetic refrain stresses the woes of the crew on the stranded ship, calling for a rescue for "the want of the long-boat in the ocean."
Line by Line Meaning
One night as I lay on my bed
As I rested comfortably in my bed
I lay so fast asleep
I was deeply and quickly asleep
When the thought of my true love came running to my head
Suddenly, thoughts of the person I love rushed into my mind
And poor sailors that sail on the deep
I thought of the sailors who brave the open sea
As I sailed out one day, one day
During a day at sea
And being not far from land
While not too far from shore
And there I spied a mermaid a-sitting on a rock
I saw a mermaid sitting on a rock in the water
With a comb and a glass in her hand
She held a comb and a mirror in her hands
The song she sang, she sang so sweet
She sang a beautiful and captivating song
But no answer at all could us make
We could not answer or respond to her singing
Till at last our gallant ship she tooked round about
Finally, the mermaid caused our ship to turn unexpectedly
Which made all our poor hearts to ache
This sudden turn caused our hearts to ache with worry or fear
Then up stepped the helmsman of our ship
The person who steered our ship stepped forward
In his hand a lead and line
Holding a weight and rope to measure the depth of the water
All for to sound the seas, my boys, that is so wide and deep
Trying to determine how deep the ocean was
But to hard rock or sand could he find
He could not find any rocks or sandbars in the water
Then up stepped the captain of our ship
The leader of our ship came forward
And a well-speaking man is he
He was a good speaker
He says," I have a wife, my boys, in fair Plymouth town
He said he had a wife in Plymouth
But this night a widow she will be"
And that she would be a widow that night
Then up stepped the bosun of our ship
The ship's officer in charge of equipment and crew came forward
And a well-spoken man was he
He was also a good speaker
He says, "I have two sons, my boys, in fair Bristol town
He revealed that he had two sons living in Bristol
And orphans I fear they will be"
And that they may become orphans if he doesn't return home
And then up stepped the little cabin boy
The youngest member of the crew came forward
And a pretty boy was he
He was a young and attractive boy
He says, "Oh I grieve for my own mother dear
He spoke of missing his own mother
Whom I shall nevermore see"
And that he may never see her again
"Last night, when the moon shined bright
He began to tell a story he heard the previous night
My mother had sons five
The story was about a mother with five sons
But now she may look in the salt, salt sea
But now she may have lost all of them at sea
And find but one alive"
And only one of them may have survived
Call a boat, call a boat, my fair Plymouth boys
He shouted for help from those in Plymouth
Don't you hear how the trumpets sound?
Asking if they can hear the distress signals from the ship
For the want of a long-boat in the ocean we were lost
Because we didn't have a lifeboat, we were lost at sea
And most of our merry men drowned
Sadly, many of our crew drowned
Contributed by Nathan S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.