It was August 1962 when I first set foot in O’Donoghue’s A world of music, friends and booze opened up before me I never could’ve guessed as I walked through the door Just what the future had in store A crossroads for my life I saw lying there to taunt me. Well I was an actor, I played straight, I played at the Gaeity, played at the Gate My mother in 1928 had trod those boards before me I was getting tired of the company An actor’s life did not suit me I said, “Goodbye, you’ll never see me back here in Neary’s” Johnny Moynihan in his fusty coat was the first to play there in Merrion Row He brought the bouzouki to Ireland you know, Way storm along John Paddy and Maureen O’Donoghue, Ciarán Bourke, Luke Kelly, Ronnie Drew Barney McKenna and me and you in the early 1960’s Well Paddy and Maureen - very, very sound though she liked to camp on the moral highground You had long hair, you were outward bound, Go down you blood red rosies. Ronnie Drew in his fine suit of blue and a voice like gravel that’d cut you in two We thought he was Dublin through and through, but he blew in from Dun Laoghaire Joe Ryan and John Kelly in the front bar, their fiddles are from the County Clare Joe Heany sings in the cold night air in the Lane way after closing Our sea shanties in perfect tune And Seamus Ennis in the afternoon It was all over much too soon, Days of wine and roses Well Banjo Barney calling the tune, Mary Jordon’s a whizz on the spoons Up the swanny and down the broom, Barney’s rising to it They carry him bodily out the jacks He empties his bladder and they carry him back He swallows his pint and he’s right back on track, How the f*ck does he do it? Any afternoon, you might find there Luke Kelly and his banjo and his red hair Oh what times and an atmosphere; What more could a young man wish for? How I’d spend my time was never in doubt, This is what life was all about A bowl of soup and a pint of stout; Agus fagaimid siud mar ata se. Dave Smith never short of a witty phrase, Sonny Brogan loves the way he plays Ted McKenna, God bless the days of Italian mandolinos At closing time, we didn’t go far; Just down the road to the Pike coffee bar The usual suspects, there you are- have youse no homes to go to? Putting up a note on the message board, ‘Sweeney’s Men have a Gig’ – Oh Lord! We have to meet at twelve o’clock for the journey down to Galway But the Sweeney van broke down at the door And we didn’t get started ‘til a quarter past four To the merry tune of the Dolan snore; Haul away me rosies It all came to an end in ’68, the rest of the world was lying in wait And I started out for a new landscape, set sail for the Pyrene mountains From the old north wall, sailed away And all me friends were there on the quay ‘I won’t be back for many’s the day, but it was bloody great while it lasted’ It was August 1962 when I first set foot in O’Donoghue’s A world of music, friends and booze hastening towards me I never could’ve guessed as I walked through the door Just what the future had in store A blue-print for my life I saw lying there before me.