Issue 5, Article 8
Lying in bed, some Sunday night in 1990 or '91, I was listening to Vin Scelcia's radio show,Idiot's Delight, on WXRK in New York. "Get your tape recorders ready," Vin advised.
I had never known Mr. Scelcia's musical advice to be misguided. I willingly obeyed - my pinkie patiently poised above the pause button.
"Press record now."
The airwaves were silent for an eternal two seconds. And then, like a weary Salvation Army band on a rainy Christmas Eve, the sad sound of brass and pipes filled the silence. The horns died out, and singing a cappella, Black 47 made its radio debut.
Oh it's midnight on the Bowery and your feet are soakin' wet
And you've drank your last brass farthin'
You'd sell your soul for a cigarette
And the sounds from CBGB¹s are comfortin' to you
Then you think of the green fields of Ireland
And you feel 40 shades of blue
If the Chieftains and Public Enemy started a band and recruited The Clash and Bob Dylan for some help, they might sound as good as Black 47. An Irish band from New York City (named after the black year of the Irish potato famine, 1847), they mix traditional Irish music with rock, hip-hop, reggae, ska and a few pints of Guinness Stout. The result, far from sounding incongruous, is amazingly good music.
Larry Kirwin is the guitarist, vocalist, lyricist, and general commander in chief of the band. The subjects of his songs range from revolutions to wrecked weddings. His voice sounds with an authenticity that suggests he has survived the stories he sings about. Subjects include: love lost, love found, homophobia, the war in Northern Ireland - sometimes all within the same song. The songs are heartbreaking, hilarious, bitter and scathing - but consistently consummate and utterly faultless.
The band started out as a duo consisting of Larry on electric guitar and Chris Byrne on Uillean pipes (a sort of Irish bagpipe.) They used a cheap drum machine (a la early Echo and the Bunnymen) and Bodhran (a traditional Irish drum) to keep the beat. The band has since expanded to include a brass and rhythm section.
Black 47 combined an apparently random selection of music and created their own, very distinct sound. Vin Scelcia, much to this idiot's delight, was right.