Johnny Duhan
A Beacon to the Power of Song
In a recent interview with the California Chronicle, Christy Moore stated that The Voyage (his most popular song according to iTunes) has been performed at over a million weddings worldwide, not to mention anniversaries, funerals and other occasions. This didn’t surprise the Galway based author of the song, Johnny Duhan, for since he wrote the ballad twenty one years ago he has received countless letters and emails from people all over the world telling him how much the song has meant to them and their families. Most of the correspondents describe cheerful wedding and anniversary occasions, as when a South American church was decked out with ship-shaped bunting and a children’s choir sang The Voyage to the accompaniment of a flamenco guitarist while the bride and groom, both in white regalia, swanned down the aisle; or when four generations of a family crowded out a New York church for the 60th wedding anniversary of their proud forbears and a sizeable crew of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren appeared in striped sailor suits, singing the chorus:
Life is an ocean, love is a boat
In troubled waters it keeps us afloat,
When we started the voyage there was just me and you,
Now look around us, we have our own crew.
That darkened once the heart in me
I found good reason to believe in our frail seed.
p.s. Is the Father supposed to be God, or our Dads?
Johnny Duhan started his career as a fifteen year old front man in the Limerick beat group Granny’s Intentions, the most popular band in Ireland in the mid to late ‘60s. After rousing Dublin with their soul touch, they moved to London (one of the first Irish bands to do so), headlined in The Marquee and The Speakeasy, were signed to the prestigious Deram label, released a string of popular singles and one album, Honest Injun, and disbanded before Johnny was twenty one. Though plied with offers to front other super groups, Johnny turned his back on the popular music industry and started writing folk songs, poetry and prose. Known for his fierce independence and integrity as an artist, he has condensed a body of work spanning 40 years into a quartet of epic albums (Just Another Town, To The Light, The Voyage and Flame) that correspond with the four chapters of his recently published lyrical autobiography, TO THE LIGHT.
Belltable, Limerick – Friday 30 April
Balor Arts Centre, Ballybofey -7 May
Town Hall, Galway – Thurs 13 May
Source Arts Centre, Thurles – 4 June
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