Damien Dempsey is Rollin' down to Dublin Town

Rollin' down to Dublin Town
Comin' from the Northside, headin' Southbound
The glare of the city, you can see it in the sky
See it in the faces when I'm passing them by

Dublin Town, the debut single by Damien Dempsey was released in 1997 and reached number 18 in the Irish music charts. Not bad for a single produced without the backing of a record label. It's spread and popularity was largely due to word-of-mouth; it's appeal was undoubtedly down to the passionate sincerity and unpretentious delivery. 

At the time Ireland was going through the so-called Celtic Tiger phase and the message that Dempsey was forcefully conveying was never going to earn him an invitation to the Áras:

We'll have to send a warning to the socially elite / And I repeat, if you keep a people down / In any old town / Or country / They'll rise don't you see / It's the will to survive / That keeps them alive

The song was re-recorded for his subsequent album (They Don't Teach This Shit In School) and given a reggae beat - in deference to the 'Irish and Jamaican sounds' presumably. Whether this improved upon the original is open to debate. In this reviewer's opinion the original stands out as the better version. We've included in the playlist below a compilation that includes various versions of the song that Dempsey has put out; so you can judge for yourself.

One thing is clear though, whatever way you listen to the song it packs a real punch.

"It's clear from the first moment he sings a note that Damien Dempsey is one astonishingly gifted individual" is just one of the eulogies that has been paid to Damien Dempsey. Suffice it to say this really is no exaggeration - and understatement if anything.

You would wanna start listening to us, you would / Cos to you we aren't going to be good forever / Yeh maybe even here, in the Dublin Town / Things could get turned upside down

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!

Dublin in the Rare Oul Times

Pete St. John is a Dublin-born balladeer whose compositions have become legendary and timeless classics; so much so that people are often surprised to discover that the author of is still living.

He is probably best known for The Fields of Athenry but has also produced a repertoire of songs about his native Dublin; a city he returned to in the late 1970s following an interesting and varied career, living and working in Canada, Alaska, Central America and the West Indies. [See his website for a biography]

It is said that finding the face of his city greatly changed upon his return, influenced him in his songwriting that produced critical and commercial successes such as The Rare Ould Times, The Ferryman and so many others.

The song is unashamedly nostalgic - much like this website - so who better to perform it than The Dubliners and Ronnie Drew whose distinctive voice contains echoes of Dublin?

If you can Remember That Summer in Dublin, you probably weren't there man

Summer in Dublin by Bagatelle is almost an unofficial anthem for Dublin. The city really has produced or inspired many great rock bands, musicians and artists over the years. Some indeed have written songs specifically about the capital but this song really sticks out head and shoulders above the rest.

It was penned sometime back in the 1970s by Liam O'Reilly and was a hit for Bagatelle in 1980. 

Summer in Dublin is a paean to a city and it could only be about Dublin. Listen carefully. Although told from the perspective of someone who is departing it's clear that he is leaving, not with bitter intent, but indeed with memories so fond as to be almost heart-wrenching:

So I'm leaving on wednesday morning trying to find a place where i can hear
The tunes of the birds and the sea on the rocks, where open roads always are near
And if sometimes I tire of the quiet, and I want to walk back up that hill
I'll just get on the road and stick out my thumb cos I know for sure you'll be there still.

Back then of course Ireland was a different place - as recalled here by one who would evidently rather forget. The economy was in something of a recession, everyone thought the place was going down the swanny and the Liffey really did stink like hell.

Not so today - the Liffey has cleaned up considerably in case you haven't noticed!