Saturday, March 2, 2024

The Cobbler - Tommy Makem

The Cobbler - Tommy Makem
2:28
single, 1956
traditional

There are several versions of this tune by the Clancys with and without Makem, including a rousing live rendition, but I like this recording, which is brightened by female vocals.  This song is typically an a capella performance, so it helps when more than one voice joins in.  The date given here for recording is just a guess; this website says that Makem's version appeared on a compilation album of folk tunes called The Lark in the Morning, but he probably recorded it as a single earlier.  Interestingly, the titular cobbler is sometimes called Fagan, but in the version I know he's Dick Darby.  It's an interesting litany of Irish plaints, ending with the cobbler dumping his yapping wife ("Me wife, she's a divil, she's black / No matter what I do with her / Her tongue it goes clickety-clack") into a river.

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