Flour Power

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might have noticed how I like music covers. That’s why The King’s Head is probably my favourite pub in Galway on Mondays and Tuesdays. From 10pm to around midnight there’s usually a gig featuring two guys with acoustic guitars, playing covers of well-know songs.

Fred & James are one of the duos, playing Mondays, and their version of Galway Girl is the one I mentioned before, with the slightly altered lyrics. This time I managed to get a much better recording of it:

They also play this great version of Hotel California, ending with an awesome solo. Which I’ve been meaning to record for a long time now, and it’s finally here:

Enjoy the videos, and see you at The King’s Head one of these Mondays!

Remember the post about this Galway Girl song that was a huge success in Ireland in 2008? And how there are a few alternate verses for it? Well, they go something like this:

Well I took a stroll along the Spanish Arch
On the day i ay i ay
She was drinking Dutch Gold in the middle of March
On a very cold day i ay
And I ask you friend, whats a fella do to
Cause her eyes were brown but her hair was blue, 
And I knew by her look, that she was on something… trippy
And then I lost my heart to a Galway hippy.

At the pony show, up at old Ma’am Cross
On the day i ay i ay,
A blond said ‘hey come here I want your bucks’ 
On a very soft day i ay
And I ask you friend, whats a fella to do
When her ponytail is long and her earings are huge
But I loved the way, she drove that HI-ACE van
And so I lost my heart to a Galway sham.

Well I wanted culture and history
And I knew just what to do
And when I stepped off the ferry and I ordered a pint , she said ’cé leis thú?’
So I ask you friend, whats a guy to do?
When she talks like someone outta Ros na Rún 
But I loved the way, she was ceart go leor
And so I lost my heart to a gaelgoir mór.

And so I fancied a pint on a Friday night, so I rocked into The Quays
She was standing there with a bottle of beer 
So I followed her up to CP’s.
And I ask you friends, whats a bloke to do
You see her handbag was orange… but her face was too
And I knew by the skill of her GHD
That a CP’s whore would never shag me. 

When I couldn’t get a shag on a Saturday night, so I went down to the Docks
And she was standing there with dirt in her hair
Stuffing money down her jocks,
So I ask you friend… whats a fucker to do?
When you’re really horny and you pay for a screw? 
And though she wasnt, what I call a looker
I sailed into the sunset on a Galway Hooker

And again, here’s the video of it performed live at The King’s Head:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjvexKdt1-w

As in the original version, there are a few references to places in Galway in the song:

• The Spanish Arch is one of the most important monuments of Galway (and impressive as hell, btw…);
• Dutch Gold is the third most popular brand of beer in Ireland, according to Wikipedia (although I never tasted it and I don’t really remember seeing it for sale);
• The Ma’am Cross is a yearly pony fair that takes place in Connemara and where sheep, cattle, donkeys and the area’s most treasured resource, Connemara Ponies, are bargained over with enthusiasm;
• Ros na Rún is an Irish soap opera;
• The Quays is pub in Galway, known mostly for being a great venue for to watch live music;
• CP’s (Central Park Club) is one of the major nightclubs in Galway, and somehow manages to be open and full of people every single day of the week (also known for attracting a somewhat young crowd);
• The Docks is the part of the city where the dock is (duh!), and also happens to be where I’m living now;
• Galway Hooker is a traditional sailing boat used in Galway Bay (it’s also a brand of beer).

I’ve mentioned this song in a previous post, and since it’s such a big thing here I think it deserves a whole post about it.

Galway Girl was written by Steve Earle and recorded with the Irish fiddler Sharon Shannon, and tells the “semi-autobiographical story of the singer’s reaction to the beauty of a girl he meets in Galway”. Although the song was recorded in 2000 it only became really famous in 2007, when a studio version of the track (recorded by Mundy and Sharon Shannon) reached #1 in the Irish Singles Charts and ended up being the biggest selling download in the Republic of Ireland and winning a Meteor Music Award. The song was also the highest selling single in Ireland in 2008. It was also part of the 2007 movie P.S. I Love You.

Here’s video of a live performance by Sharon Shannon and Steve Earle:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7-PM_4aeE4

And the lyrics:

Well, I took a stroll on the old Long Walk
Of a day -I-ay-I-ay
I met a little girl and we stopped to talk
Of a fine soft day -I-ay-I-ay
And I ask you, friend, what’s a fella to do
‘Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue
And I knew right then, I’d be takin’ a whirl
‘Round the Salthill Prom with a Galway girl

We were halfway there when the rain came down
Of a day -I-ay-I-ay
And she asked me up to her flat downtown
Of a fine soft day -I-ay-I-ay
And I ask you, friend, what’s a fella to do
‘Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue
So I took her hand, and I gave her a twirl
And I lost my heart to a Galway girl

When I woke up I was all alone
With a broken heart and a ticket home
And I ask you now, tell me what would you do
If her hair was black and her eyes were blue
‘Cause I’ve travelled around, I’ve been all over this world
Boys I ain’t never seen nothin’ like a Galway girl

A note about the lyrics: there are two local references in the song. The Long Walk is a pier road in the historic part of Galway, accessed through the Spanish Arch (just around the corner from my place). The Promenade (Prom) in Salthill (the oldest of Galway suburbs, just across the river from the center) is about two miles away to the west, by the sea and overlooking Galway Bay, with bars, restaurants and hotels (one of those places I have to visit when the weather gets better).