Empty Handed

[FatAndy133]

Stellar. Much appreciation for your grand songwriting skills!

[brucefetter]

love this song. So true.

[gtopa1]

George...marvellous every time I listen to it. When you heading to Oz again??

Kindest regards to you, John and all the mob.

Greg and Sue.

[rustydobro]

"25% of the time tuning it, 75% of the time playing it out of tune!" Many a true word.....

[GeorgePapavgeris]

rustydobro, I feel I must apologise if I caused you to buy a 12-string, as it means that you will be forever correcting the tuning, as I do! I am considering superglueing the strings into position!

Yes, isn't Jonny talented? You'd have to despise him for it, if he wasn't such a great bloke as well. Really looking forward to the Aussie tour with him and Vicki, just a week to go...

[rustydobro]

Wonderful, George! I came to this by a roundabout route - last Saturday night a visitor wandered into our remote Suffolk pub session and proceeded to blow us all away with his guitar playing and songs. This turned out to be Jonny Dyer filling in time, to our great benefit, before his Australian tour. This soon led me to the music of the great El Greco. And now I've had to buy a 12-string!

[cadylaynemara]

Go George!

An amazingly good lyric:

This verse is so well balanced and beautifully depressing:

"The future that I dreamed as a young man

Is withered like the crops beneath the unrelenting sun

The very one that makes this such a lovely afternoon."

But it;s amazingly hard to sing.

Andy Irvine does a good fist of it though.

But you are a real talent George.

Congrats.

[buddhUU]

Heartbreaking. Every time I talk about this song that's the word that I find myself using.

I've seen Andy Irvine sing this at gigs twice in just over a month. Both times I had to pretend I had something in my eye...

George, y're a fecking genius, sir. Your song is brilliant and your performance kicks arse.

[GeorgePapavgeris]

@buddhUU Bless you Rick, thanks! I opened a new YouTube account since I uploaded this and I have strung together some 20 performances of various songs, if you are interested. By the way, Andy Irvine's version of Empty Handed is in his new album, "Abocurragh".

[buddhUU]

@GeorgePapavgeris Cheers for the reply, George. I have the album - I picked it up at a recent Andy gig in Letchworth.

I also have your 'Ordinary Heroes' which I got from Amazon. Splendid stuff.

I hope to see you sing live some time.

[Lesorubishe]

its great

[ezzyclean]

Very very good song. Strong lyrics and great presentation. I really like the guitar playing.

[StanMcLarsen]

2nd time through - the tears are rolling down my face. Stunning . . . . absolutely stunning. Pure Genius.

[StanMcLarsen]

Extraordinary song sits along side Ordinary Man & The Cockey for emotioncant wait to get it in my repertoire.

[peskirabbit]

George Papavgeris is living proof that tremendous talent can remain relatively obscure. First heard him at a folk day in the south east where he sang 'where are the flowers that we put into to barrels of the guns' all about how a generation sold out and it made me weep; yes, poignant without being sentimental. Go it George!

[dollyoao]

I adore this song. It is so poignant and emotive without being at all sentimental or soft, and the melody is almost too perfect ... Until I manage to see Mr Papavgeris live (any plans on touring Australia any time soon?), thank you so much for the post! :)

[Papavgeris]

'Tis me indeed, Tom - thanks for the comment. I have to say that Andy's version is amazing though, I love the way he lays the song back and turns it into something almost eerie... I do hope he will record it one day!

[TomAJoad]

excellent! i've only heard Andy Irvine singing this song! Is this the guy who wrote it?

Thanks for sharing this with us!

[frassedylan]

This song is amazing! I never get tired of it. Keep going George! You're truly amazing. This song is tied with Dylan's "Don't think twice ..." as the best song ever in my opinion.

[gustavthinks]

Fab! What a lovely, heart touching, balade ! George Papavgeris is so special and tallended. His voice is deep and rich, and the words are simple, but very powerful. A story about a hard working farmer who cant make his land pay. I thinks Papavgeris belongs to an almost extinct race of troubadours, who sing about the simple, ordinary people, and tell their stories. GOOD SHOW, MR. PAPAVGERIS ! Thank you for this wonderful song !

[gustavthinks]

Fab! What a lovely, heart touching, balade ! George Papavgeris is so special and tallended. His voice is deep and rich, and the words are simple, but very powerful. A story about a hard working farmer who cant make his land pay. I thinks Papavgeris belongs to an almost extinct race of troubadours, who sing about the simple, ordinary people, and tell their stories. GOOD SHOW, MR. PAPAVGERIS ! Thank you for this wonderful song !

[xXxjikxXx]

fantastic song...heard Andy Irvine sing it twice in Limerick, Ireland. can't wait to hear it again when he comes back

[frassedylan]

The man - George Papavgeris. It's a wonder he isn't more well known. He's a genius singer/song writer. Genius.

[C4n1n3]

cool is that george washington?

[dussentrieb]

what am i doing wrong? i can't find any tabs for that song. can you help me?

[oldun52]

El Greko at his best

[oldun52]

Rl Groko at his supurb best!

[imaginatrix]

You are a talented man papou, thanks for giving Timmy such melodious genes! ... play in my loungeroom again soon!

[colm123]

Wonderful song, wonderfully sung. I know of the other version(s) but, once again, the original is the best.

[murrmac]

George Papavgeris wrote this song. That's George singing it on the video.

Andy Irvine also recorded it, as mentioned above.

[TomAJoad]

what's the name of the album that Andy Irvine recorded this song?

George You're a beautful song writer!

I'm going to have to find some of your recordings

[Azizip17]

Hey, is this folk music?! Whatever musical genre it is, I really like the tune and the words. Thanks for sharing this video with us!

[damienbelfast]

I love this song, andy irvine also did a very good version of this song. He made the song very haunting. I always wondered who wrote this song. I loved this song the first time i heard it, thats how good it is!