TRIBUTES TO LUKE KELLY

"When Luke was singing a very good song, you could feel the hair rise on the back of your neck.”

(Peggy Seeger)

"I was amazed by the power and commitment of Luke's performance and by how emotionally involved he was with his material . . . he was a hero who became a friend and I still mourn him.”

(Christy Moore)

"Luke stood out as being passionate in his singing . . . he put soul into it.”

(Mary Coughlan)

"He was a hard chaw with a heart of gold and the soul of an angel.”

(Barney McKenna)

"He stood head and shoulders above the others: he gave a voice to the unemployed; he gave a voice to the worker: a voice to the person on the streets of Dublin.”

(Frank Harte)

"He had a quality impossible to define and certainly impossible to learn.”

(Phil Coulter)

"You couldn't help but respect Luke for his tremendous integrity and the way he stuck to his convictions throughout his life. As a singer, he was the best bar none.

(Ronnie Drew)

For What Died The Sons of Roisin?
(Luke Kelly)

For what died the sons of Roisin, was it fame?
For what died the sons of Roisin, was it fame?
For what flowed Ireland's blood in rivers
That began when Brian chased the Dane?
And did not cease, nor has not ceased With the brave sons of '16
For what died the sons of Roisin, was it fame?

For what died the sons of Roisin, was it greed?
For what died the sons of Roisin, was it greed?
Was it greed that drove Wolfe Tone to a pauper's death
In a cell of cold wet stone?
Will German or French or Dutch inscribe the epitaph of Emmet
When we have sold enough of Ireland to be but strangers in it?
For what died the sons of Roisin, was it greed?

To whom do we owe our allegiance today?
To whom do we owe our allegiance today?
To those brave men who fought and died
That Roisin live again with pride,
Her sons at home to work and sing
Her youth to dance and make her valleys ring,
Or the faceless men who for mark and dollar
Betray her to the highest bidder.
To whom do we owe our allegiance today?

For what suffer our patriots today?
For what suffer our patriots today?
They have a language problem — so they say,
How to trespass must grieve their heart full sore.
We got rid of one strange language
Now we are faced with many more
For what suffer our patriots today?