{"id":2266,"date":"2019-03-17T20:13:06","date_gmt":"2019-03-17T20:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/?p=2266"},"modified":"2021-03-23T15:24:32","modified_gmt":"2021-03-23T15:24:32","slug":"boyles-bar-28th-july-1978","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/boyles-bar-28th-july-1978\/","title":{"rendered":"Boyle\u2019s Bar: 28th July 1978"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"t:seinnteoirin1\">Play recording: Boyle\u2019s Bar: 28th July 1978<\/h2>\n\n\n<div style=\"width: 580px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-2266-1\" width=\"580\" height=\"326\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/boyles-bar-28th-july-1978.mp4?_=1\" \/><source type=\"video\/webm\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/boyles-bar-28th-july-1978.webm?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/boyles-bar-28th-july-1978.mp4\">https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/boyles-bar-28th-july-1978.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><b>17\/03\/2019<\/b>: Seachas sonra\u00ed bun\u00fasacha faoi \u00e1it agus faoi dh\u00e1ta an taifeadta seo, is futhu si\u00fad a rinne \u00e9, is beag faisn\u00e9is at\u00e1 againn ar an \u00f3c\u00e1id f\u00e9in, faoi na daoine a bh\u00ed i l\u00e1thair n\u00f3 faoin m<i>Boyle\u2019s Bar<\/i> inar rinneadh \u00e9 fi\u00fa (is f\u00e9idir go raibh n\u00edos m\u00f3 n\u00e1 aon cheann amh\u00e1in acu i gCathair Nua Eabhraic). T\u00e1 muid i mbun taighde \u00e1fach, agus tabharfar an leathanach seo chun d\u00e1ta m\u00e1 thagann eolas breise chugainn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Radharcanna de thr\u00e1thn\u00f3na i ngn\u00e1thshaol na ndaoine at\u00e1 sa taifeadadh seo; timpeall leathuair a\u2019 chloig d\u00f3ibh. D\u00e1 mba fhearr leat dul caol d\u00edreach chuig amhr\u00e1in Joe, tosa\u00edonn siad ag: <b>c. 00:05:30<\/b> (<cite class=\"amhr\u00e1n\">The Rocks of B\u00e1n<\/cite>), <b>c. 00:13:30<\/b> (<cite class=\"amhr\u00e1n\">Red Haired Mary<\/cite> t\u00e9ic 1), <b>c. 00:15:30<\/b> (<cite class=\"amhr\u00e1n\">Red Haired Mary<\/cite> t\u00e9ic 2) agus <b>c. 00:20:30<\/b> (<cite class=\"amhr\u00e1n\">Connla<\/cite>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"dmeite\">\n<span id=\"neasc-nocht-ceilth\" class=\"nmeite\">view \/ hide recording details [+\/-]<\/span><p><\/p>\n<ul id=\"clarMeiteashonrai\" class=\"meiteashonrai\">\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Teideal <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Title)<\/span>:<\/span> Boyle\u2019s Bar: 28th July 1978.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Chatal\u00f3ige Ollscoil Washington <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(University of Washington Catalogue Number)<\/span>:<\/span> UW 86-38.1, UW 86-38.2.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Chnuasach Bh\u00e9aloideas \u00c9ireann <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(National Folklore of Ireland Number)<\/span>:<\/span> none.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Roud <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Roud Number)<\/span>:<\/span> none.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Laws <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Laws Number)<\/span>:<\/span> none.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Child <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Child Number)<\/span>:<\/span> none.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Cnuasach <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Collection)<\/span>:<\/span> Joe Heaney Collection, University of Washington, Seattle.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Teanga na Cro\u00edmh\u00edre <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Core-Item Language)<\/span>:<\/span> Irish and English.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Catag\u00f3ir <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Category)<\/span>:<\/span> song, speech.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Ainm an t\u00e9 a thug <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Name of Informant)<\/span>:<\/span> Joe Heaney.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Ainm an t\u00e9 a th\u00f3g <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Name of Collector)<\/span>:<\/span> Fred Lieberman.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">D\u00e1ta an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Date)<\/span>:<\/span> 28\/07\/1978.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Su\u00edomh an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Location)<\/span>:<\/span> Boyle\u2019s Bar, New York City, USA.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Oc\u00e1id an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Occasion)<\/span>:<\/span> traditional singing and music session.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Daoine eile a bh\u00ed i l\u00e1thair <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Others present)<\/span>:<\/span> unavailable.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Oiri\u00fan\u00fa digiteach <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Digital adaption)<\/span>:<\/span> M\u00ed\u010be\u00e1l \u00d3&nbsp;Lo\u010blainn.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">St\u00e1das ch\u00f3ipcheart an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording copyright status)<\/span>:<\/span> unavailable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"n\u00f3ta\u00ed-bun-leathanaigh\">\n<h2 id=\"t:notai\">Notes<\/h2>\n<p class=\"ainm-\u00fadair\">By M\u00ed\u010be\u00e1l \u00d3&nbsp;Lo\u010blainn<\/p>\n<h3>Joe Heaney\u2019s songs versus \u2018a day in the life\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>This archive record has two aspects, the second of which is, at the time of writing, unique to the Cartlanna. There are \u2018Joe\u2019s songs\u2019, of course, but there are also the \u2018ambient\u2019 shots of the bar: the people in it, the behaviours, the artefacts and the d\u00e9cor. An ordinary Friday evening in New York City, on a summer\u2019s day in 1978, with the week\u2019s work done and the weekend before them. Having a drink, chatting and unwinding. It\u2019s a snapshot of a bygone time: smoking in public houses, Styrofoam cups, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WT_n3UFB78Q\">Brylcreem Bounce<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Joe, and the people around him, are just living their daily lives. He\u2019s not on stage, he\u2019s not giving a university class and he\u2019s not being recorded, in the relatively controlled environment of a friend\u2019s home, for the express purposes of preserving some cultural artefact.<\/p>\n<p>Make no mistake, this isn\u2019t remotely the same as if he were <i class=\"treaslitri\u00fa\">cois teallaigh<\/i> [by the fireside], <i class=\"treaslitri\u00fa\">i dteach na muintire<\/i> [in his family home] or <i class=\"treaslitri\u00fa\">i dteach na comharsan<\/i> [in his neighbour\u2019s home] in Carna. (At the very least, people would be joining in on the last line of each verse if he was at home.) But in its own, admittedly minor way, this represents an historical <em>cultural<\/em> record as well as a musical one. He knows he\u2019s being filmed but he only \u2018performs\u2019 when he\u2019s singing. We get to see Joe just being Joe and we get a candid insight into of the world around him.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, there\u2019s plenty of much richer extant video, audio, textual and anecdotal information about the late nineteen seventies but that\u2019s no reason not to include the \u2018ambient\u2019 material, such as it is, here. So for the purposes of this archive record, we\u2019ve divided the video into segments about \u2018a day in the life\u2019 (<i>L\u00e1 d\u00e1 Shaol<\/i>) and segments dedicated to \u2018the song\u2019. Naturally, some readers will <em>only<\/em> be interested in the songs, so please feel free fast forward to the time codes given above.<\/p>\n<p>Examples of each of these songs are already present in the Cartlanna \u2014 but they were all recorded in rather more formal circumstances.<\/p>\n<h3>The Boyle\u2019s Bar versus The Tradition Club recordings<\/h3>\n<p>To an extent, this video is like the 1973 recording made at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/tradition-club-session-18th-july-1973\/\">The Tradition Club in Slattery\u2019s<\/a>, Dublin, in that it gives us a glimpse of Joe in a setting that\u2019s been totally unrepresented in the Cartlanna up until now. True, the only concrete similarity between the two recordings is that that both were made in pubs \u2014 although even this gives us an opportunity to compare and contrast \u2014 but essentially, The Tradition Club was a <i>musical event<\/i>. On the whole, and regardless of the usual accompaniment of <i class=\"treaslitri\u00fa\">sotto voce<\/i> conversations and their attendant shushes, everyone was there specifically to listen to the songs and tunes. It was also somewhat formalised, and presented the audience a line up of recognised and respected performers \u2018on stage\u2019; many or most of whom were full- or semi-professionals and who therefore got the requisite deference.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, while this is clearly something of a special occasion in Boyle\u2019s Bar \u2014 the house has provided a good spread of food and must surely have authorised and co-operated with the filming \u2014 the bar obviously hasn\u2019t been closed for the normal after-work Friday evening social imbibification of the general public. Not everybody present is in the same company (the people involved in the filming in particular) although at least some of the various cohorts seem to know each other; take for instance the call out to Joe to play particular records while he\u2019s at the jukebox.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, while everyone is well aware that they\u2019re being filmed they\u2019re not a bit self-conscious and barely pay any heed to the camera. The whole event comes across as remarkably naturalistic; a good thirty years before mobile devices with cameras became as common, and as taken for granted, as rotary-dial phones.<\/p>\n<h3>Editing and authenticity<\/h3>\n<p>For the most part, the video presented here is a faithful, albeit heavily pruned, representation of the original recording.<\/p>\n<p>Most of Joe\u2019s audible conversation is present, as is all of his singing, including the aborted first attempt at <cite class=\"amhr\u00e1n\">Red Haired Mary<\/cite>. (Abandoned, it seems, because someone switched the lights off when they shouldn\u2019t have. Note that Joe himself keeps going like a true professional. See the discussion, below, on his ability to focus on the performance.)<\/p>\n<p>The \u2018day in the life\u2019 interludes represent only a very small proportion of the \u2018ambient\u2019 material however, but nothing of importance has been lost. The only things excised are repetitive long-shots of the same people \u2014 often of their backs \u2014 or of inanimate objects.<\/p>\n<p>The songs are presented in the order they were sung but the singing actually started <em>after<\/em> people had eaten. In this presentation <cite class=\"amhr\u00e1n\">The Rocks of B\u00e1n<\/cite> has been taken back in time slightly, just to break up the \u2018day in the life\u2019 material.<\/p>\n<p>The soundtrack is entirely authentic with one exception, which we\u2019ve taken the liberty of obliterating with some background mumble and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DthtDjhqVOU\">pinball machine<\/a> from later in the recording. The first \u2018day in the life\u2019 segment is made up of the \u2018ambient\u2019 filming done at the start of the evening. There were fewer people in the bar at this point and so voices carried. This footage includes one or two very audible conversations that didn\u2019t involve Joe. While these knowingly took place in a public venue in front of a rolling camera \u2014 and out of respect to the people concerned it should be said that they were neither embarrassing nor obviously private \u2014 they simply have no relevance to the Cartlanna. Also, the jukebox was going almost constantly as these shots were being filmed and while it\u2019s easy to forget in this age of YouTube that there\u2019s such a thing as copyright, it\u2019d be neither appropriate, nor strictly legal, to play it back in these archives. But for any reader who <em>really<\/em> wants to know what music Mister Boyle\u2019s patrons enjoyed in the summer of 1978, the artists were, in order: Billy Joel (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gxEPV4kolz0\"><cite>Piano Man<\/cite><\/a>, Debby Boone* (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=b07-yKnKRMQ\"><cite>You Light up my Life<\/cite><\/a>), Willy Nelson (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Kt7FunZi9MQ\"><cite>If You Can Touch Her at All<\/cite><\/a>), The Bee Gees\u2020 (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-ihs-vT9T3Q\"><cite>Night Fever<\/cite><\/a>) and The Bachelors (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GsRUSRS_d3Y\"><cite>The Unicorn<\/cite><\/a>). Interspersed with, we believe, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Brendan_Shine\">Brendan Shine<\/a> (TBC). We don\u2019t know which of these were 129 and 137!<\/p>\n<p>* Daughter of Pat.<br>\n\u2020 Inevitably.<\/p>\n<h3>Technical presentation<\/h3>\n<p>In contrast to other records in the Cartlanna, technical flaws in the sound recording have not been corrected on this occasion. This decision may or may not be revisited in the future.<\/p>\n<h3>Joe Heaney\u2019s focus on the performance<\/h3>\n<p>One of the more significant aspects of this recording \u2014 not present in any other record in these archives for the simple reason that they all depict Joe in front of engaged audiences \u2014 is the insight we get into his supreme ability to focus on his performance when there\u2019s extraneous distraction. Some, and maybe quite a few of the people present in Boyle\u2019s Bar on this occasion would have just been in for an end of week drink and in many cultures, a shared song (possibly lubricated, possibly not) is an important aspect of that ritual.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the way Joe handles noisy alternative mellifluence during <cite class=\"amhr\u00e1n\">Connla<\/cite>. There\u2019s no doubt but that he can hear it, but he\u2019s ignores it <em>completely<\/em>, focussing entirely on the song and on his own audience; which in this case is the camera and the people around him. Even as the lady to his right is looking around in annoyance he doesn\u2019t let it bother him and so doesn\u2019t let it spoil his own singing.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever the reason for the incursion, and whether it was of their own accord or because someone had a word in their ears, it\u2019s the competition that backs down. And Joe never once has to raise his own voice\u2026<\/p>\n<h3>Joe Heaney\u2019s sense of humour<\/h3>\n<p>Another thing that this recording highlights is Joe\u2019s mischievous sense of humour and Stan Laurel-like facility to play on words (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/oiche-nollag\/\"><q>gold, Frankenstein and myrrh<\/q><\/a>). Please don\u2019t think for one second that he didn\u2019t know the difference between <i>macaroni<\/i> and Marconi \u2014 or that he seriously thought Marconi was a German!<\/p>\n<h3>Meanwhile in 1978<\/h3>\n<p>Other events on the Irish cultural scene:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Se%C3%A1n_%C3%93_R%C3%ADord%C3%A1in\">Se\u00e1n \u00d3&nbsp;R\u00edord\u00e1in<\/a>&#8216;s poetry collection, <cite>Tar \u00e9is mo Bh\u00e1is<\/cite>, was published posthumously.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Miche%C3%A1l_Mac_Liamm%C3%B3ir\">Miche\u00e1l Mac&nbsp;Liamm\u00f3ir<\/a> died.<\/li>\n<li><cite><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Spike_(TV_series)\">The Spike<\/a><\/cite> was broadcast.<\/li>\n<li><cite>The Spike<\/cite> was cancelled\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"templates\/template-full-width.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12,11,13,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amhrain","category-amhrain-i-mbearla","category-amhrain-i-ngaeilge","category-amhrain-mhacaronacha","category-portaireacht"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2266"}],"version-history":[{"count":89,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3387,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2266\/revisions\/3387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}