Short stories featuring musical instruments and those who play them!
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I can still see him, perched on a high stool, his Irish bouzouki resting on his knee as he strummed and plucked its strings. I can hear him too, his smokey husky voice growling into the mike …
‘Ah, you’re drunk, you’re drunk you silly old fool,
still you can not see
That’s a lovely tin whistle that me mother sent to me …’
Between songs, sometimes between verses, he’d take a few gulps of Guinness; he could down a pint in three goes!
‘I met my love by the gas works wall
Dreamed a dream by the old canal
I kissed my girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town …’
He sang all kinds of songs, some sad, some poignant, others we could join in with. But it was funny ones we liked the best. Raucous, rude, baudy, silly and just plain funny!
‘Oh Dear, what can the matter be?
seven old ladies are stuck in the lavat’ry
they were there from Sunday ’till Saturday
nobody knew they were there!’
He was in great demand. He travelled the country entertaining crowds of drinkers in taverns, festival-goers and even popped up on the telly sometimes. They called him the Irish Rover!
‘Well I’ll put on me walkin’ boots and be on the road in the mornin’
I’ll spend a week in County Cork so give the girls fair warnin’
I’m a Travelling Man I’m a drinkin’ man I’m gentle when I’m sober’.
By the way, his name was Tadgh. Yes, I have spelt it right! It’s pronounced ‘tige’. A fitting name actually, as he wrote many of his own lyrics, a lot of which modesty prevents me from sharing here! Tadgh means poet or bard in Irish.
He lived to a ripe old age and sang to his dying day. He was buried with his Irish bousouki . I’ll leave you with the toast he proposed at the end of every performance, and they used at his wake –
‘May your glass be ever full.
May the roof over your head be always strong.
And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead!’
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Previous posts
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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Years past
2020 – Stories featuring obsolete – I
2019 – Stories for children – I
2018 – My Friend Rosey – I
2017 – The village of Amble Bay – I
Click on the letter of the day to revisit
An instrument I am not at all familiar with. Good story.
Nor me, I struggled to find one beginning with I!
You’ve given a fitting tribute to him. Beautiful
Thanks Sadje, he was worth it!
You’re welcome! 😍
I raise a glass to you, Keith. My favorite installment so far. Cheers!
Well, thank you so much! Cheers!
Slainte! (cheers in Irish), toTadgh and his Irish bouzouki!
Quilting Patchwork & Appliqué
You really are multilingual! Bottoms up!
Hahaha, not really, just a lot of non-French friends ;))
Excellent! Great post.
Thanks so much Martha.
A tribute to musicians like him. Not sure if this is a real person, but I know this is many real people. Thank you!
It was loosely based on Seamus, an Irish singer that regularly entertained my customers at my pub.
You have a pub? LOL. That explains a lot. I bet you’re the really interesting bartender with the stories. Have a pint and a tall tale and all that.
I had the pub for many years but sadly, no more. It was the liveliest place you could imagine so yes, I have many a tale to tell!
I bet! Thanks for sharing a few on the interweb.
Another great letter; you are rocking A to Z 2021!
Stopping in from A to Z: https://writingiscommunication.wordpress.com/2021/04/10/i-ink-slinger/
You say the nicest things! Cheers!
Well, if Tadgh wasn’t a real person, he should have been. I think everybody needs to come across a Tadgh in their life at some point and be the happier for it. You really make him come to life on the page (sorry, screen!).
Haha, thanks Jenne. I knew someone very much like him a few years ago, but when I sold my pub he vanished!
The Irish do love a Guiness and a song!
https://iainkellywriting.com/2021/04/10/the-state-trilogy-a-z-guide-i/
They certainly do. One day I really must go back to Temple Bar in Dublin!
Love your Irish Rover, and his closing Irish toast – who could ask for more from life than that!
https://gail-baugniet.blogspot.com
Absolutely! Cheers Gail!
It sounds like he was quite a man. Someday i want to hear that instrument.
It’s not my mate Tadgh. but you can hear someone quite like him here!
I’ll toast to that.
Learnt two new words today. Cheers:)
Cheers, clink!
Poor old ladies. A week in the loo. What could they do?
It doesn’t bear thinking about! Cheers Stu.