The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were an incredibly popular Irish folk singing group whose music is well remembered and celebrated to this day. The group was made up of three brothers Tom, Patrick (Paddy), and Liam Clancy and their friend and fellow Irishman Tommy Makem (all shown below).
Each emigrated to the United States with hope of becoming an actor. In 1956 Paddy formed Tradition Records in New York, which is where the Clancy Brothers and Tommy recorded their first album together, The Rising of the Moon, which was a collection of old Irish rebellion songs (album cover shown below).
From there the group really only performed in non-professional and informal settings, as Liam, Tom, and Makem were still pursuing their acting careers, until 1959 when they recorded their second album Come Fill your Glass With Us. The success of this, admittedly more well put together, album lead to the bookings of real performing gigs which in turn leads to them committing to the group full time. After that, and their unforgettable performance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1961, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem had an incredible career that spanned decades.
Above is a piece from The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem’s record breaking performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The reason it is hailed as record breaking is because the group got to perform for sixteen minutes because another act failed to show up.
If you’re looking into the 1916 Easter Rising it can be particularly interesting to look at the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem’s first album The Rising of the Moon, for the obvious reason that it is an album full of Irish Rebellion songs.
Although the album is chock full of cool rebellion songs one that sticks out is “The Rising of the Moon.” “The Rising of the Moon” is a classic traditional Irish folk song and it goes all the way back to the 1798 revolution. It was written by John Keegan Casey while he was in prison in 1858.
“The Rising of the Moon” is hailed as a classic Irish folk song because it tells the story of the classic Irish flair for rebellion. It’s all about how the rebels need to be ready with their “pikes raised” by “the rising of the moon,” meaning that they needed to be ready to fight by the night time. Unfortunately, although it sounds like a triumphant victory tune the rebels were not successful in 1798.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLy3f_mPugg
Above is The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem’s version of “The Rising of the Moon.”
“The Rising of the Moon” is the kind of song that would be celebrated in the time of the 1916 Rising because of its rebellious tones and it could be used to try to inspire more people to join the cause. They could have argued that these brave men once fought for your freedom and failed, won’t you join our cause to try to pick up where they left off and justify their sacrifice.
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem are an example of the classic Irish folk group. They don’t sing anything too controversial and they play music in the traditional way. They play a very big part in the history of Irish music in America because they helped popularize it among people, especially those that were not Irish. They helped keep the traditional music by bringing it across the ocean and exposing it to a new generation and a new country.
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Citations:
“The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem: History.” The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, Biography, Discography, Video. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.
“The Rising Of The Moon.” The Rising of the Moon: At the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.