History Lessons
Black 47 Takes Crowds Back To Ireland, Circa 1915
»
Talking to Black 47’s lead singer and chief songwriter Larry Kirwan is a bit like talking to your favorite history professor. You know, the kind of professor who is so excited about the subject matter that you -- as the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed student -- can’t help but share the enthusiasm. The kind of professor whose passion for the past and those who created it shines through his every words. And when you leave his office to write that paper, or take that test, you feel like you were a part of it all.
Welcome to Irish-American History 101, folks. I’m your professor, Dr. Larry Kirwan.
Well, maybe its not that exhilarating. But the man honestly has such a desire to rekindle the memories of Irish luminaries like revolutionary James Connolly, tragic hero Michael Collins, and IRA martyr Bobby Sands that the listener -- or perhaps I should say student -- almost feels like going to Northern Ireland and beating up the first Brit in sight.
And if you don’t believe me, check out Black 47 in concert. Hundreds of screaming, sweaty fans, fists held high in the air, watch while Kirwan and the band hammer out “James Connolly.” The crowd always goes silent as Kirwan reaches the song’s climax: “My name is James Connolly and I didn’t come here to die / But to fight for the rights of the working man / the small farmer too / Protect the proleteriate / from the bosses and their screws / Hold on to your rifles boy / don’t give up your dream / a Republic for the working class / economic liberty.”
When you look out on the crowd, you’d think you were in Ireland, circa 1915, and ready to fight.
For Kirwan, who toasts Robert F. Kennedy and Irish rebel Countess Constance de Markievicz on the band’s new album Trouble In The Land, eulogizing these heroes is indeed a history lesson for the group’s loyal, almost rabid following. “It’s not a self-conscious decision [to memorialize these heroes],” Kirwan says. “I started doing that from the beginning. A lot of people were identifying with these heroes, especially young people who didn’t really have any heroes. I want to introduce a set of heroes to a set of young people, who could go and get some ideas from these particular people.”
Kirwan says he picks his subjects from those who were on the cusp of major movements and who truly impacted the times they lived in. James Connolly was a crucial figure, if not leader, of the Irish uprising in the early 1900s, while RFK played a critical role in the 1960s, a most turbulent decade. “I figured Kennedy was a great figure,” Kirwan says. “He was a watershed figure, up until he was assassinated. All of them were on the cusp of history.”
“I wasn’t just interested in stating the facts of a person’s life,” he continues. “I wanted to see them psychologically. Connolly had a large family and certainly knew he was going to be killed. Yet he still went through with it.”
The songs have given Kirwan a reputation as being sort of a Bruce Springsteen with uilleann pipes. A sort of union man, the kind of songwriter that would make even Woody Guthrie proud. “Apart from the band having a strong interest about what happens in Ireland, there’s been a strong left-wing push in the band,” Kirwan says. “Everything today is sort of skewed to the right-wing [in America]. We always try to give the fans a left-wing view.”
Kirwan’s Black 47 has four studio albums and a live one in the group’s 10 year existence. The band, including Kirwan, uilleann pipes player/vocalist Chris Byrne, saxophonist and former Dexy’s Midnight Runners member Geoffrey Blythe, trombonist Fred Parcels, bassist Andrew Goodsight, and drummer Thomas Hamlin, are one of the tightest groups around, and their live show is among one the most entertaining. The crowds are always pumped and full of Irish pride, and when the band hits the stage, it’s almost like being at a rally.
The band is huge in New York City, which has become Kirwan’s adopted hometown. Black 47 also has a major following all up and down the East Coast, in cities like Baltimore, Boston, and Philadelphia. But New York is where the magic happens. Several of Black 47’s songs describe the immigrant experience in the Big Apple. The Lower East Side, the Bowery, Bleeker Street, you name it, its probably in a Black 47 song. And the band still maintains its residency at Connolly’s, a mid-town Manhattan club that’s no bigger than your neighborhood pub.
“Right from the get-go, that was one of the few things we said,” Kirwan says. “We said that no matter how we were doing, we’re playing Connolly’s every Saturday night if we’re in town.”
When Kirwan and the band aren’t ripping up Connolly’s on a Saturday night, he’s usually crafting his other trade, play writing. Kirwan has a number of full-blown plays, which has had a direct impact on his songwriting. “I’ve got a lot of playwright training,” Kirwan says. “Plays are much harder to write and longer than songs.”
In the end, though, Kirwan is mainly just a fan of music, and points to the Clash, Otis Redding, and the aforementioned Bruce Springsteen as his key influences. “I’m totally flattered and thrilled to even be mentioned with those guys [Strummer and Springsteen],” Kirwan says. “We do our own thing [though]. We never said ‘let’s make the band sound like the Clash’ or something. When we get together, someone like Miles Davis may come up musically.”
“As a band, though, the E-Street Band are a great band,” he says. “The
tightness of the band, certain things like that may have leaked over [into Black 47]. The
Clash were more just a force of nature coming out. Things like that impress me.”
RODEO ROB | An expert on all things "alt," Rob spends his days covering the energy industry and his nights covering the DC-area bars. Raise yer glass especially high to this man, for he has contributed to this site constantly since its creation four years ago.