And here’s one of the many definitive versions of the song. Judging by the acrimonious comments on YouTube, it seems that all versions are definitive to somebody.
The face staring out of the screen at you is the
incomparable Luke Kelly. It’s a face you’d follow into battle, right? It
reminds me of a friend I had in my teens called Mickey McDonnell. Oddly enough,
he followed me into battle on one
occasion. Or I suppose it would be more accurate to say that he accompanied me.
There was no blood spilt on that occasion, though, because the enemy failed to turn up, even though they’d thrown down the gauntlet. Life can be a fickle lady at
times.
The chorus which runs ‘Musha ring um a do um a da’ is said
to be a phonetic approximation of the Gaelic for ‘Whiskey made me the fool.’ Maybe
that’s where I went wrong in life: my drink is whisky. Not quite the same thing.
Luke Kelly also sings (in my opinion) the definitive version
of Raglan Road.
Ah, the memories…
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