The Pogues song Thousands are sailing should be compulsory listening for all. Listen to the words - if you have no idea of the meaning read below. The island it is silent now (Ellis Island was where immigrants first arrived in America but it is no longer used for this purpose) but the ghosts still haunt the waves And the torch lights up a famished man (the torch hel by the Statue of Liberty that welcomes immigrants in New Yotk Harbour) Who fortune could not save. Did you work upon the railroad? (many Irish immigrants did when they left Ireland because of the famine) Did you rid the streets of crime? (many more joined the New York Police force) Did your dollars come from tje White House (Presidents of Irish decent are numerous - notably JFK's family but there are a lot more) Or from the five and dime (the man who started Woolworths which was the first famous five and dime store was of Irish extraction) Did the old songs haunt or cheer you and do they still make you cry? (immigrant communities, in particular the Irish, maintained their musical heritage) Did you count the months and years or did your tear drops quickly dry. Ah no, said he, twas not to be, in a coffin ship I came here (the ships that carried the Irish immigrants to America were referred to as coffin ships because the had a mortality rate of one in three - except when it was a bad crossing) And I never even got so far that they could change my name. (when immigrants arrived on Ellis Island they were given their papers - most of those who landed were illiterate and often could barely speak English so the semi literate customs officers spelt their name as they heard them resulting in families having effectively new surnames.) Sufficient unto a feast. The point to be made is simple - immigration made an amazing country out of the USA. It has done the same for the UK - yet losts of those who reap the benefits bitch about it - hey ho, it is a wonderful world.

Mostly, tonight, i was drinking whiskey. Friday night is whiskey night. For all you con-i-sewers i will agree that whiskey should be a single malt. You also may have noticed that i spell Whiskey with and e - i am not talking scotch here - but i will admit that the scots stole whiskey (and re-named it whisky because they cannot spell) and developed really good versions that they call single malts. if you drink real whiskey, as in Bushmills, have no fear it is a single malt and the original whiskey - that's Ulster for you - the people get things really right and really wrong but they know whiskey. Having completed my rant I will now admit that tonight's whiskey was really a whisky and worse than that a blended whisky. But i am a believer in enjoyment and I really enjoyed it. I am now a little inebriated and writing this blog. Mostly last night I was a pop star. We had a music night - and my band (as in I am part of it not the owner of it) played to a village hall almost full of village people and none of them wore Indian headdresses or hard hats. it was a proper sixties night. We sang songs of the sixties, the band are all in their sixties and there were sixty people in the hall. We rock. This weeks favoutite song - Sunny Afternoon. The tax man's taken all my dough. - Now i can't make any bread.

A song of life

Sometimes I sing.

Carrickferfus is such a beautiful song. The lyrics are amazing. I like the way I sing it - but others do not. Hey ho, so it goes. Carrickfergus