The Connemara Coast

"It's pretty obvious what this song is aboutl Indeed, I know I've made reference to the song in a previous newsletter, so this one won't really come us much of a surprise to most of you. However, I wanted to get a Celtic vibe, as well as an international feel, to this song so we asked The Chieftains and Paddy Moloney to perform on it - which they did - and Paddy wrote a little arrangement for it with The Chieftains. It's a very simple tune about Connemara, and anyone who's ever been to the West Coast of Ireland will know that it's a spectacular place. It's got such an aching loveliness about it... it's almost hard to describe. There's just something about the West Coast of Ireland... knowing that, almost, the next step is eternity - because it's across the ocean to America. And the history and the echoes that resound around the place are special, too. It's an astonishingly beautiful part of the world and I love it very much. So I just got this idea of writing a song about it; 'nothing can compare to the Connemara Coast, gazing out in silence with the one you love the most.' The two people in the song are outside and inside, and he's looking at her thinking about when it will all have to end. Again, it's a reflective song, and he's saying to her 'Well, I just want you to know that you're more than my lover - you're my friend.' And when it comes to that moment when they will have to cross the line to eternity, it'll be hand in hand. It's a, you know (sniffs), it's a sob story. It's a terribly simple tune, but everybody who's heard it has said 'It's a single.' And I think 'Give me a break! It's not a single...' But The Chieftains music is lovely attached to it. It's a pretty song."