Product Description

'With a Fenian fiddle in one ear and an Orange drum in the other', singer Tommy Sands was reared in the foothills of the Mourne mountains, where he still lives. As a child, he was immersed in folk music - his father played the fiddle, his mother the accordion. The family's kitchen was a place where Protestant and Catholic farmers alike would gather for songs and storytelling at the end of a day's harvesting. Soon after learning the fiddle himself, Sands began writing his own songs. During the 1960s and 1970s he was the chief songwriter with The Sands Family, who played wherever they were welcome, from local wakes and weddings to New York's Carnegie Hall. His songs have been recorded by Joan Baez, Dolores Keane, Dick Gaughan and The Dubliners. The Songman is the story of Sands' remarkable journey. He tells of his family's traditional way of life, recalling his mother tying summer sheaves while his father worked the scythe. Here are the heady days of the civil-rights movement ('John Hume stood up and called for order; then Eamon McCann stood up and called for disorder'), when The Sands Family played for refugees in 1969 Belfast; The Bothy Band brawling in Brittany; encounters with Alan Stivell, Mary O'Hara and Pete Seeger; 'the boyish devilment and humour' of Ian Paisley on his radio show County Ceilf; and a 'defining moment' during the Good Friday Agreement talks, when he organized a moving impromptu performance with children and Lambeg drummers. Full of 'love, longing, home and belonging' The Songman is replete with warmth and wit.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #614943 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 280 pages

Review
"'Tommy Sands' words fairly "freewheel down the hill" but they also have a great zest to "sow the seeds of justice". You feel you can trust the singer as well as the song.' - Seamus Heaney; 'Tommy Sands has achieved that difficult but wonderful balance between knowing and loving the traditions of his home as well as being concerned with the future of the whole world.' - Pete Seeger"

Customer Reviews

Moving, thoughtful and funny
The book marketplace seems to be cramed with Irish memoirs of highly variable quality. Few if any will match Tommy Sands' account of a lifetime's involvement in folk music and his community. Not just the story of one of Ireland's finest songwriters and performers, it is also the story of growing up and living in Northern Ireland during the troubled decades at the end of the twentieth century. Tommy Sands' strong belief in human rights, and in the importance of forgiveness and respect, shines through the book.
There are passages of enormous humour in the book as well as of enormous pathos. It is wonderfully entertaining and anyone who loves music and Ireland will adore this beautifully written and easily read autobiography.