Mickey was an wonderful, gifted fiddler in and around Galway, active in the mid 70s and 80s.
Sadly, he died young - he drank himself into an early grave at about age 35.
Here’s a scratch recording of Mickey and some friends at a pub session in the 1970s. Amazing stuff.
Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtIgljDa7aY
Yes, I had some tune’s with this man in a Galway pub session.
Long time ago now, but he was a Natural, Wild and very Dynamic player .
Bless Him,
f4
Thanks for sharing this!
That’s a rockin Dick Gossip. 🙂
Thanks--that made the last half-hour of work go really fast.
Awesome! That was wild and beautiful.
I saw him a few times upstairs in The Crane in Galway City. Great charisma.
BTW I posted this some years ago….
https://thesession.org/discussions/1880
Hey, all, I was about to ask if anyone knew the names of the tunes (besides “Dick Gossip”~!) and then I saw they are on the youtube site. But does anyone recognize anything in addition to what is listed there? In my, um, detail-orientedness, I swiped the listing from there and put in a couple more things I recognized and included: signaled with [RMMc]. I’m relatively new to this music and so am interested in corrections/alternates, etc.
Mickey Finn Cullen’s Bar Session Late 70s Early 80s
http://youtu.be/UtIgljDa7aY
[RMMc: 1:15 St. Anne’s Reel etc.]
3:00
2 Ballydesmond polka.
6:02
3 Lonesome Boatman,
Mickey on fiddle.
10:58
4 Morgan Magan.
13:30
5 Chieftain’s piece.
[RMMc: 15:26 I forget this title . . .]
[15:58: Banish Misfortune: with some very cool minor inflections in the third section]
19:09
6 Mickey sings Lisa Jane, accompanied by plucked fiddle strings.
21:40
7 Mickey Finn’s Air,
Composed by Bill Finn and later dedicated to Mickey, who always called it ‘the Father’s tune’. Here, Mickey plays - it on fiddle.
23:30
8 The Blackbird…
on fiddle, flute and bones.
25:26
9 The Boys of Bluehill.
The whole ensemble. Mickey, then, breaks away with a tune invented on the spot…leaving the other ceoltoiri for dead!
30:28
10 Si beag, Si Mor.
Nice harmony, between fiddle and flute.
[RMMc: I know as Planxty Irwin—Same in Gaelic? Or not?]
33:15
ll Mickey arranges bodhran and bones percussion, then fiddle and flute play the Donegal reel, followed by High Reel good flute reel, Dick GOSSIP.
And—Thanks again to Jason and Danny—I am so happy to hear these, and had not heard of MF before, unless you count “Slip ’im a Mickey,” which I heard everybody say as a kid.
Those interested in Mickey, the man, should listen to this radio broadcast:
“No Cure for Mickey Finn”
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/mickeyfinn.html
A series of interviews with family members and others who knew him, about his music and his struggle with the alcoholism that finally killed him.
Grew up with Mickey in Callan Co Kilkenny(14 yrs)………..his Dad Bill transferred to B of I Ballinrobe early ’60 s lost contact.
Didn’t realise how celebrated he was in trad circles in Galway till I heard documentary on Radio 1.
Sourced a recording of the air composed by his dad from a friend of Mickeys with whom he played in the ‘70s….Gerry Carty now resident in Santa Fe (own music shop). Gerry’s CD ’The Hurling Boys’ a great recording by a multi -instrumentalist. Email……gercarthy@aol.com. Mickey played with Terry Smith called themselves Dicklerfitz…………another story.
Well done, RMMc, for naming some more tunes on the Cullen`s session. I am a brother of Mickey`s and wrote the original notes on the Cullen`s recording which came via Mick Morris and the late Sonny Kiernan from Roscommon. Yes, you`re right..the first reel is St. Anne`s and the O Carolan type tune was Planxty Irwin, not Si Beag Si Mor. You are also correct that Banish Misfortune is in there and I think Morrison`s reel makes a brief appearance. I have been told that the mysterious, unnamed excellent flute player was Charlie Brown. Am always keen to learn names of tunes. They didn`t care too much back then.
Incidentally, I also lived in Callan, madtradman, and have great memories of our time there. Lovely people.
Sorry, I meant Morrison`s jig, not reel.
Just stumbled across this while travelling through a YouTube wormhole…awesome stuff, indeed. Lucky to have this!
Oh, to have been a fly on the wall! Sounds like a great session.
