"For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal."James Joyce (1882-1941)

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Dublin - a city full of ghosts! It can't be. Can it?


Dublin is a city full of magic
Dublin is a city full of Light
Dublin is a city full of wonder
Dublin is a city full of shite
In the summer of 1985 a London-based, Scottish musician by the name of Mike Scott (appropriately enough) visited Dublin on a mission to track down a fellow musician - a fiddler by the name of Steve Wickham. Scott had heard a demo tape that Wickham had contributed to and 'knew straight away this was the guy.'

At the time Wickham was a member of a promising young Irish called In Tua Nua, which was garnering serious attention from audiences in Ireland and further afield. However as a result of meeting Scott, he was persuaded to join The Waterboys. What followed was some of the most phenomenal music of the latter part of the 1980s.

Following the This is the Sea album, the band moved, first to Dublin and later to the west of Ireland where two albums, heavily influenced by Irish folk and trad were released - Fisherman's Blues and Room to Roam


Eventually the band members started to drift and break-up, although they have since re-formed on various occasions with different line-ups. Scott himself released two albums under his own name. Technically they would be described as solo albums but Scott himself is the only consistent member of The Waterboys, which at this stage is generally regarded as his platform. 

The first such 'solo' album was called  Bring 'em all in (1995) which contained the song City Full of Ghosts (Dublin). Here Scott laments about Dublin as a city which, for him is home to: 'The ghost of a fiddle, the ghost of a sax / The ghost of a sound that ain't ever coming back.' Nothing can change this for him, not even as he walks passed street buskers 'playing old Waterboys hits.'

Unfortunately we are unable to track down an audio or video recording that we can show you here - legally that is but you'll surely be able to download and/or buy an MP3 or something if you Google it. We recommend Amazon - for no particular reason except that they pay us!

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