Ralph McTell - From Clare to here 1990

[folkmusicgirl]

Hard to choose a favourite Ralph McTell song - this is such a beautiful song & I love listening to it so it is definitely one of my favourites. I have never seen Ralph in concert. I don't think he has toured in California or if he has it was a long, long time ago. When I was in London a number of years ago, he was not on tour there at that time. Perhaps I will never get to see him in concert so just glad to at least see the Youtube coverage of some of his concerts & listen to the albums I have.

[gubbledenut]

Ralph wrote this song for his friend, fellow musician and drinking partner Noel Murphy. They both lived in and played in West London.

[MsJowise]

Sang this song when I saw him - brilliant.

[TheEctomorph]

Omg ... Ralph McTell changed a heck of a lot between 1975 and 1990 !! But, then again, I guess that, that is hardly surf*****gprising - seeing that 18 years is a long time.

The other day, I saw some archive footage of Mr McTell singing his classic song "The Streets Of London" on an episode of Top Of The Pops, which was broadcast in January 1975. Back then, he must have been around 23 or 24 yrs of age. He had long black hair, and big mutton-chop sideburns ... and, Christ, he looked young!

[irishgeal1]

ralph is great, not the goverment scumbags, but the english and irish people have loads of respect and lots in common with each other.

[luciebasset]

I'm looking forward to seeing Ralph next week and hope he sings this lovely song!

[bathtownship]

God bless Ralph McTell a living legend.

[dmccoy5881]

He wrote this when he worked on the sites in london surrounded by the boys from erin, classic............

[Rhinosince59]

Class act, seen him a few times. He wrote this many moons ago, great job.

[eoinzy11]

Hon the banner!!!

[kinglep101]

the song was wrote and performed by the furys {irish folk band}  ralfs good at it but the furys first class

[hydfawr]

@kinglep101 I agree with you Sir.The Fureys version is top class,but if you do some research youll find that Ralph McTell wrote the song! Best wishes.

[sandycurrie108]

Many thanks to all the Buddhas for delivering Ralph to us all. We can learn so much! May we hold these values steady. Sadhu.

[kirillovich1]

Not everyone will understand 'we work hard for the crack' in the first verse. 'Crack' is an Irish dialect word for fun achieved by fooling around and definitely does not refer here to an illegal cocaine derivative. In actual fact it is a Gaelic word and retaining its original spelling 'craic' helps to distinguish it from its English homophone.

[Nightfall95]

"I dream I see white horses dance upon that other ocean" I love that line! This is so beautiful. Just got into him and glad I did. Reminds me of Christy Moore a bit.

[Bjowolf2]

Must be the green Irish mist rolling in to give atmosphere to this wonderful song ;o)

[Bjowolf2]

@Bjowolf2

I really do hope he didn't catch a severe cold standing in that green damp stuff LOL

[CredoCatholicJournal]

Greetings to the Irish in London.

[julian1471]

sorry but i disagree.Ralph mctell is the man!

[EarthH2oLuma]

I never hear this before but my Irish friend sent me the link...very pretty song.

[julian1471]

i`d like to see anyone do that any better-you cant! Pure magic.

[HottesOnkel]

Try the Version by Jim McCann! It`s better than the original

[HottesOnkel]

@julian1471 Do you know Jim McCann! It`s hard to believe but that `s much better zhan the original.

[KGMDMusic]

Genius.

[KGMDMusic]

That is brilliant Ralph,for me one of the best songs ever written.

[gibberth]

There's four who share this room as we work hard for the crack

And sleeping late on Sundays I never get to Mass

It's a long way from Clare to here

It's a long way from Clare to here

It's a long, long way, it grows further by the day

It's a long way from Clare to here

Thanks fritz

[DaveyLynch]

This is by far the best Irish Trad song...the only thing to note is that Ralph isn't Irish................What does that say??

[velvetunderpants44]

@DaveyLynch I completely agree!

Irish ballad groups made it an "angry ballad song".

It's a beautiful study of the disappointments of emigrants, specifically Irish emigrants, but it could apply to any nationality forced to leave their home and family.

Captured perfectly by Ralph.

Yes, he's a Londoner, but we adopted him years ago!

[asloem]

@DaveyLynch Ralph worked with an Irish builder who was incredibly homesick. In conversation, the builder said "It's a long way from Clare to here". Ralph wrote the song with that man in mind. He said in an interview that he wanted to capture the homesickness many Irishmen would have felt in London or anywhere else at that time.

[Doniedaff]

@DaveyLynch

All it says to me is that you don't have to be Irish to mention Ireland in a song. This is a general human theme. Clare just happens to be the place he mentions. Fantastic song, after streets of London, it's probably his best.

[TheGarly1]

@Doniedaff Hi Don, While agree that you don't have to be Irish to mention Ireland etc. I attended two concerts and at both events Ralph spoke about how he came to write the song. He used to work with Irish guys and it was their reveries and such that inspired this great song. This is not the only Irish(Ralph) song the Maestro has penned.

Slainte.

[elpedro444]

Ralph is on tour again over the next few months. Try to catch him! Someone out there must have a video of 'Mr Connaughton' surely.

[Bjowolf2]

@elpedro444

I may have - will see what I can do ;-)

[Bjowolf2]

@Bjowolf2

It's also one of my favourites - along with all the rest of them, of course LOL

I really wish someone had a video of Ralph playing Red & Gold -

an awesome song about the English Civil War. There is a totally jaw-dropping version of it on the album "Songs for Six Strings - Vol. II" ( a collection of life performances ). Hear it, if you haven't done so yet ! ;-)

[Bjowolf2]

@Bjowolf2

"live", that is ;-)

[TheReloader2]

Your lyrics are wrong. It's craic not crack.

This is an awesome song. Great upload.

[Glass232499]

The only thing that would make this song any better would be, MORE smoke!

[CredoCatholicJournal]

Greetings to all the Irish in other lands and our thoughts with the Irish who have it tough in lands far from home.

[Burncourtable]

makes me tear up every-time. I went years without going home and every day i still think of Ireland.

[Ethelraed]

It is a long way from Vancouver Island to anywhere, but this music bridges the gap.

Ralph McTell is my hero.

[zzyyxx50]

n in Sydney Australia and I'v been fortunate to have seen Ralph perform four times over the years. He is a unique talent.

[61Imagine]

I do love this song, and I missed taking a vid of it at Cropredy 2009, but I met Ralph McTell and he signed my booklet of his The Journey, great stuff!!

I was impressed....

[mrrayjd]

What a Genius this man is. Many of his songs will be sung in the centuries to come. He writes the History of these islands like no other and that History will be passed on by his wonderful words.

[chrisharro]

Thank you so much for posting this video - I've been in Australia since 1975 and have seen Ralph every time he's toured Down Under - so many people here think this is a Traditional Irish song - I guess that's true in other places too - wonderful to see it played and sung but the man who wrote it!

[ambyyy1]

I have fond memories of Ralph singing that song way back in the 70s in Ireland! Sad to say though, that the ugly theme of emigration is back with us again!

[IhateLinda1]

Thanks a lot for uploading this gem ;-)

Nice to see that there are still unknown Ralph treasures out there ;-)

Don't think I have ever seen Ralph perform in green and yellow smoke before. Or maybe it's the mist of Ireland? LOL

[IhateLinda1]

Would you happen to have anymore video of Ralph McTell by any chance?