HENRY McCULLOUGH

Our latest guest post comes courtesy of Irish Rock legend, BP Fallon. It’s a lovely heartfelt piece about Henry McCullough, another Irish rock legend and close, close friend of BP.

A little background as to where this post actually came from. I had a recommendation to check out a track. It was a track by BP Fallon and David Holmes called ‘Henry McCullough’. On first listen, I fell in love with it. It doesn’t happen to me so often nowadays and I’m learning to embrace and treasure the feeling of being caught by the magic of exceptional new music when it does. I thought the music from David Holmes was excellent. But it was the lyrics and the utter heartfelt rendering of these lyrics that really caught me. It was a story I had never heard before, and I felt that we had to tell this story on TBS. So I asked BP would he like to write a piece for us. And he kindly said ‘yes’

So we decided that the best thing to do would be to present the lyrics as they are on the song, lyrics that he composed on the spot, off of the top of his head whilst recording the track. Thank you, BP, for an amazing song and thanks for doing the post.

And one final note ;- these words have never been written down before. BP has transcribed his own words from the record.

Martin O’Connor

 

 

 

HENRY McCULLOUGH’ – words by BP Fallon/music by David Holmes

“I received a phone call from BP Fallon the day before Henry McCullough’s funeral. He was heart-broken having lost his dear friend and asked could he stay at mine after he returned from the funeral. After I picked him up from the train station, he asked me if he returned early enough could we record something. I started working on the music that day and then I had an idea, which was to record something about Henry and their relationship. When BP returned that evening I sat him down in front of the microphone and this happened in one take! We both knew we captured a very special moment that couldn’t have been created at any other moment – magic”.

– David Holmes’ sleevenotes on the ‘Henry McCullough’ 12″ AndrewWeatherall Remix.

“I played him [BP] the music, he put the headphones on and that all just came out. He didn’t write anything, it was just all off the top of the head, one take … People who don’t even know who Henry McCullough is are moved by it because you can feel the intention. It’s really natural, he’s not reading off a piece of paper. It was just really beautiful.”- David Holmes talking to Joe Roberts, The Ran$om Note.

‘HENRY McCULLOUGH’

 

“I remember it was 1966 in Dublin

An’ I met you in a beat cellar

The People had come over from Blackpool

Henry McCullough you were the lead guitar player… even then you were amazing

And The People became Eire Apparent

And you toured America supporting Jimi Hendrix and Eric Burdon & The New Animals

and The Soft Machine

Four men from Northern Ireland thrown into the full open mouth of psychedelia

And then Henry you got busted for bit of Jazz Woodbine

and were put on a one way ticket to Ireland

Already you were the Irish rock’n’roll outlaw

unsung hero

You’d been in a showband, The Skyrockets from Enniskillen

you’d been in another showband, Gene & The Gents

and now you’re in the Eire Apparent except you’d been busted and put

on a one way plane ticket to Ireland

There you met up with Johnny Moynihan, Terry Woods… Sweeney’s Men

You had Johnny Moynihan’s eccentricities as a folk musician and you

had Terry Woods Appalachian vibe and you had Henry’s rock’n’roll and

blues and rhythm’n’blues and country and shades of Hank and shades of

Muddy

…magnificent

And then Henry, Henry joined the band led by this singer from Sheffield…

Joe Cocker…

Joe Cocker & The Grease Band

Henry became their guitar player

they played at Woodstock

Henry McCullough was the only Irish musician to play at Woodstock…

with a little help from my friends, magnificent & beyond

The road was shiny but there were also shadows… it wasn’t that simple…….

And then this chappie came along……..

he’d been the bass player and co-writer, co-singer, in a popular

skiffabilly, rockabilly chooglebilly combo from Liverpool…

The Beatles…

Paul McCartney

So Paul gets on the phone and he says Henry will you join my

rockabilly chooglebilly, vibeabilly combo Wings… it’s beautiful…

And since then Henry played with the apex of rock’n’rollers……….

Eric Burdon, Marianne Faithfull, Roy Harper, Ronnie Lane, Frankie

Miller – and we hear Henry’s voice on Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink

Floyd (Dr Feelgood)

And he came to Ireland and he did his own gigs and it wasn’t

necessarily with the flash and the glitter and the flash bulbs and the

roar of the grease paint

that had been at times but none the less it was always magnificent

I’m very blessed that Henry was my friend since 1966

We’re very lucky to travel a path and meet… magical people along the

way and Henry I salute you, I love you, I miss you already and I know

you’ll always be here …your music and your vibe and…

I’ll see you when the time comes…

I love you, God bless

My friend, the end

I know you’re not coming back again

My friend, the end

I know you’re not coming back again

My friend, the end

I know you’re not coming back again

My friend, the end

I know you’re not coming back again”

– BP Fallon

‘Henry McCullough’ by BP Fallon & David Holmes is on the David Holmes

album ‘Late Night Tales’ (Double LP/CD/Download)