Prosperous
Encyclopedia
Prosperous is the second album by Irish
folk
musician
Christy Moore
, released in 1972. His first album, Paddy On The Road was recorded by Dominic Behan
in 1969 and has long been out of print. In addition to Moore's guitar and voice, Prosperous featured musicians Andy Irvine
(mandolin
, mouth organ
), Liam Óg O'Flynn
(uilleann pipes
, tin whistle
), and Donal Lunny
(guitar
, bouzouki
). These four musicians later gave themselves the name, Planxty
, making this album something of the first Planxty album in all but name. Other musicians included Kevin Conneff
(later of The Chieftains
) on bodhrán
, Clive Collins on fiddle
, and Dave Bland on concertina
. The album takes its name from the town of Prosperous, County Kildare
, where it was recorded by producer Bill Leader
.
The majority of the songs on the album are traditional
, with the exception of "James Connolly
" by established folk singer Patrick Galvin
, "Tribute to Woody" (about Woody Guthrie
) by Bob Dylan
(originally titled "Song to Woody
"), "The Ludlow Massacre", by Guthrie, "A Letter to Syracuse" by English folksingers Dave Cartwright
and Bill Caddick
, and "I Wish I Was In England", an early composition by Moore, who would go on to establish himself as a significant songwriter of Irish music. The album opens with a medley of the traditional song "The Raggle Taggle Gipsies
" and the harp tune "Tabhair dom do Lámh", which would be the opening track of Planxty's self-titled album
released the following year.
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
Christy Moore
Christy Moore
Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...
, released in 1972. His first album, Paddy On The Road was recorded by Dominic Behan
Dominic Behan
Dominic Behan was an Irish songwriter, short story writer, novelist and playwright who wrote in both Irish and English. He was also a committed socialist and Irish Republican...
in 1969 and has long been out of print. In addition to Moore's guitar and voice, Prosperous featured musicians Andy Irvine
Andy Irvine (musician)
Andrew Kennedy 'Andy' Irvine is a folk musician, singer, and songwriter, and a founding member of the popular band Planxty. He is an accomplished player of the mandolin, bouzouki, mandola, guitar-bouzouki, harmonica and hurdy-gurdy....
(mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, mouth organ
Mouth organ
A mouth organ is a generic term for free reed aerophone with one or more air chambers fitted with a free reed.Though it spans many traditions, it is played universally the same way by the musician placing their lips over a chamber or holes in the instrument, and blowing or sucking air to create a...
), Liam Óg O'Flynn
Liam O'Flynn
Liam O'Flynn is a master uilleann piper and prominent Irish folk musician. In addition to an impressive solo career and his work with the Irish traditional group Planxty, O'Flynn has recorded with many prominent international musical artists, including Mark Knopfler, the Everly Brothers, Enya,...
(uilleann pipes
Uilleann pipes
The uilleann pipes or //; ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland, their current name, earlier known in English as "union pipes", is a part translation of the Irish-language term píobaí uilleann , from their method of inflation.The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a...
, tin whistle
Tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
), and Donal Lunny
Dónal Lunny
Dónal Lunny is an Irish folk musician. Lunny has been at the forefront of the evolution of traditional Irish music for more than thirty-five years and has participated within the renaissance of traditional Irish music in that time period...
(guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, bouzouki
Bouzouki
The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
). These four musicians later gave themselves the name, Planxty
Planxty
Planxty is an Irish folk music band formed in the 1970s, consisting initially of Christy Moore , Dónal Lunny , Andy Irvine , and Liam O'Flynn...
, making this album something of the first Planxty album in all but name. Other musicians included Kevin Conneff
Kevin Conneff
Kevin Conneff is more familiarly known as the voice and rhythmic heartbeat of the legendary Irish folk group, The Chieftains, through his talents as vocalist and bodhrán player. He joined the group in 1976, replacing Peadar Mercier who had been the second bodhrán player for the group...
(later of The Chieftains
The Chieftains
The Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...
) on bodhrán
Bodhrán
The bodhrán is an Irish frame drum ranging from 25 to 65 cm in diameter, with most drums measuring 35 to 45 cm . The sides of the drum are 9 to 20 cm deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side...
, Clive Collins on fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, and Dave Bland on concertina
Concertina
A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It has a bellows and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pressed, the buttons travel in the same direction as the bellows, unlike accordion buttons which travel perpendicularly to it...
. The album takes its name from the town of Prosperous, County Kildare
County Kildare
County Kildare is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county...
, where it was recorded by producer Bill Leader
Bill Leader
Bill Leader is an English recording engineer and record producer. He is particularly associated with the British folk music revival of the 1960s and 1970s, producing records by Davey Graham, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Frank Harte and others....
.
The majority of the songs on the album are traditional
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
, with the exception of "James Connolly
James Connolly
James Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents and spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of...
" by established folk singer Patrick Galvin
Patrick Galvin
Patrick Galvin was an Irish poet, singer, playwright, and prose and screen writer born in Cork's inner city.-Biography:Galvin was born in Cork in 1927 at a time of great political transition in Ireland...
, "Tribute to Woody" (about Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
) by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
(originally titled "Song to Woody
Song to Woody
"Song to Woody" is one of the first ever songs written by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on his eponymous debut album Bob Dylan in 1962. The song conveys Dylan's appreciation of folk legend Woody Guthrie. The tune is based on Guthrie's song "1913 Massacre"...
"), "The Ludlow Massacre", by Guthrie, "A Letter to Syracuse" by English folksingers Dave Cartwright
Dave Cartwright
Dave Cartwright is a UK singer, songwriter, guitarist and author. Born in Haslemere, Surrey in April, 1943, he grew up in Amblecote, West Midlands where, on lead guitar and vocal, he formed his first rock'n'roll group - The Crossfires - in 1959. He then joined the now-legendary Kidderminster outfit...
and Bill Caddick
Bill Caddick
Bill Caddick is an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist, particularly noted for his songwriting and as a member of the innovative and influential group Home Service.-Career outline:...
, and "I Wish I Was In England", an early composition by Moore, who would go on to establish himself as a significant songwriter of Irish music. The album opens with a medley of the traditional song "The Raggle Taggle Gipsies
The Gypsy Laddie
"The Gypsy Laddie" , also known as "Black Jack Davy" and "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies" among many other titles, is a Border ballad , possibly written about 1720 on the Scottish side of the border...
" and the harp tune "Tabhair dom do Lámh", which would be the opening track of Planxty's self-titled album
Planxty (album)
Planxty is the first album by the Irish folk group Planxty, released in 1973. Because of its dark cover, it is sometimes referred to as "the Black Album."...
released the following year.
Side one
- "The Raggle Taggle GipsiesThe Gypsy Laddie"The Gypsy Laddie" , also known as "Black Jack Davy" and "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies" among many other titles, is a Border ballad , possibly written about 1720 on the Scottish side of the border...
"/"Tabhair Dom Do Lámh" (TraditionalTraditional musicTraditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
) - "The Dark Eyed Sailor" (Traditional)
- "I Wish I Was in England" (Christy MooreChristy MooreChristopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...
) - "Lock Hospital" (Traditional)
- "James Connolly" (Patrick Glavin)
- "The Hackler From Grouse Hall" (Traditional)
Side two
- "Tribute to Woody" (Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
) - "The Ludlow MassacreLudlow Massacre (song)The Ludlow Massacre is a song by Woody Guthrie about the Ludlow Massacre, a labor conflict in Ludlow, Colorado in 1914. A related song is the 1913 Massacre.-Published Versions:* Lyrics from the Woody Guthrie Foundation -Recorded Versions:...
" (Woody GuthrieWoody GuthrieWoodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
) - "A Letter to Syracuse" (Dave CartwrightDave CartwrightDave Cartwright is a UK singer, songwriter, guitarist and author. Born in Haslemere, Surrey in April, 1943, he grew up in Amblecote, West Midlands where, on lead guitar and vocal, he formed his first rock'n'roll group - The Crossfires - in 1959. He then joined the now-legendary Kidderminster outfit...
, Bill CaddickBill CaddickBill Caddick is an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist, particularly noted for his songwriting and as a member of the innovative and influential group Home Service.-Career outline:...
) - "Spancill HillSpancill Hill"Spancil Hill" is a song written in a traditional Irish folk style by Michael Considine. It bemoans the plight of the Irish immigrants who so longed for home from their new lives in America, many of whom went to California with the Gold Rush. This song is sung by a man who longs for his home in...
" (Traditional) - "The Cliffs of Dooneen" (Traditional)
- "Rambling Robin" (Traditional)