Finbar & Eddie Furey with Paddie Bell   •   I Know Where I'm Going (UK)

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  • I Know Where I'm Going
    • 1968 - Waverley ZLP 2104 LP (UK)
  • Side One
    1. I Know Where I'm Going — Paddie, Finbar and Eddie
    2. The Lark In The Morning — Finbar and Eddie
    3. Come By The Hills (Gordon Smith) — Paddie, accompanied by Tom Smith
    4. Star of the Munster — Finbar and Eddie
    5. The Lark In The Clear Air — Paddie
    6. Pretty Saro — Finbar and Eddie
    7. If I Were A Blackbird — Paddie, accompanied by Tom Smith
  • Side Two
    1. Three Lovely Lassies From Bannion — Paddie, accompanied by Tom Smith
    2. The Sligo Maid — Finbar and Eddie
    3. The Verdant Braes Of Screen — Paddie, Finbar and Eddie
    4. Down By The Sally Gardens — Paddie, accompanied by Tom Smith
    5. The Spanish Lady — Finbar and Eddie
    6. My Lagan Love (MacCathmhaoil) — Paddie
    7. Roisin Dhu — Finbar and Eddie

Sleeve Notes

If you happen to go into O'Donoghue's bar in Merrion Row, Dublin , you'll see the Furey Brothers, Finbar and Eddie, almost life-size on the wall. Paddy and Maureen O'Donoghue are much more than the genial hosts of this genial howff. They seem to adopt ballad-singers and instrumentalists — filling up the hungry with bowls of soup and ham sandwiches, comforting the lovelorn, acting as post office, bank, home-from-home, and maybe as confessional, too, for all I know. They also act, discreetly and efficiently, as unpaid agents for many of the singers and songmakers who need a step up. Hence the note I received over In Edinburgh one day which said, simply: "Finbar Furey is all-Ireland champion piper. This is to introduce him and his brother, Eddie. They are very good." The note was signed, "Paddy O'Donoghue". And this LP is the result.

They don't have a photograph of Paddie Bell in O'Donoghue's, but that's by the way. They think very highly of her there, even though she comes from Belfast and has lived in Scotland for many years. She found the Fureys or the Fureys found her. Which came first is beside the point. They decided to share this LP after we all heard Paddle's voice alongside Finbar's pipes. Both are unique. No Irish piper plays with such authority and imagination as Finbar Furey. There is no voice like Paddie Bell's. These are simple statements of fact. Listen to them yourself and add your own grace notes. And listen, too, to brother Eddie singing in his authentic ballad-singer's voice, reminiscent of Luke Kelly, redolent of all that is singing Ireland.

W. GORDON SMITH