More (Mostly) Folk Music

Donnybrook Fair   •   Tunnel Tigers

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  • Tunnel Tigers
    • 1981 - MCE 123302 LP (USA)
  • Side One
    1. Get Up Jack (McKrell)
    2. I Wish I Was In England (Moore)
    3. Nancy Whiskey
    4. Carrickfergus
    5. John Barleycorn
    6. Mary Of Dungloe
  • Side Two
    1. Tunnel Tigers (MacColl)
    2. Nancy Spain (Rush)
    3. Chicago Nights (Memole)
    4. Ghost Of The Molly Maguires (Rogers)
    5. Mountain Tay
    6. Curragh Of Kildare

  • Donnybrook Fair
    • David McDonnell: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar Mandolin, Bass
    • Kevin MacKrell: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
    • Jeff Memole: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar Electric Guitar, Banjo, Harmonica, Tin Whistle, Bass
  • Credits
    • Produced and Engineered by Mark C. Ernst
    • Recorded and Mixed at M.C.E. Recording Studios, Schenectady, N.Y.
    • Cover Design: Jim Wyanski
    • Insert Design: Donnybrook Fair
    • Insert Photos: Carla MacKrell
    • Tracks: Trad., unless otherwise noted

Sleeve Notes

GET UP JACK — I came across this song in a of old book old sea-chanties. I rewrote the music, made some lyric changes. This the result.

I WISH I WAS IN ENGLAND — This one's from one of favorite singer-songwriters, CHRISTIE [sic] MOORE . We hope and pray he doesn't mind.

NANCY WHISKEY — One of the standards we never seem to tire of. We hope you feel the same.

CARRICKFERGUS — A hauntingly moving song of a dying man's longing to return to his home. Our interpretation of this song may raise a few eyebrows among the traditionalists, but that's the way we hear it.

JOHN BARLEYCORN — An almost mystical ballad of the uses and misuses of the Barleygrain.

MARY OF DUNGLOE — Song of the immigrant, to make you feel how it must be to leave the people and land you love behind.

TUNNEL TIGERS — Down in the dark are the tunnel tigers
Far from the Sun and the light of day
Down in the land that the sea once buried driving a tunnel through the London clay
Song by Master Songwriter EWAN McCOLL about the building of the London subway by a predominately Irish labor force.

NANCY SPAIN — Jeff heard this one during a pub-to-pub trek through Ireland with folksinger, Joe Thornton.

CHICAGO NIGHTS — It was just one of those things (ask Jeff).

GHOST OF THE MOLLY MAGUIRES — Song of the coal miners in the late 1800's.

MOUNTAIN TAY — Whether in the Ozark Mountains or the hills of Connemara, the story's the same. The never-ending battle between the Moonshiner and the Government, which, thank God for good whiskey, still goes on today.

CURRAGH OF KILDARE — David taught us this one in a motel room in Springfield, Mass. during the commercial breaks in the Star Trek T.V. series.

Special thanks to Paul Matolsy for the guitar break in CHICAGO NIGHTS — to Bernie Branch for his help on MARY OF DUNGLOE — to Mark for going above and beyond the call of duty — to Carla and Kate for their patience and Mary Beth for the Tea. Most of all we'd like to thank George Sheldon for his never ending assistance and energy and pointing us in the right direction.

Kevin McKrell