‘Harvey’, named after the classic 1950 Jimmy Stewart film of the same name, is the latest single from Paddy Goodwin & The Holy Ghosts. Paddy explains how the track came to be: “I am a big fan of Jimmy Stewart and my favourite movie is either ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ or ‘Harvey’ depending on what way the wind is blowing.”
“The song came from the bass riff and the guitar riff is a homage to my old pal Jilted John. I love the contribution that Gavin Povey, (Kirsty McColl, Dave Edmunds, Dion, Shakin’ Stevens and Albert Lee) has made with the rocking piano and Shane Power (The Guggenheim Grotto) provides the backbeat on drums. Anto Thistlethwaite (The Waterboys, The Sawdoctors) provides some deadly sax and backing vocals and Jim Lockhart (Horslips) does his best Booker T impersonation.” Sleeve artwork is by Tim Booth (Dr. Strangely Strange) and the track was recorded Jason Varley at The Shop Studio, Carlingford.
“The lyrics are based on the Jimmy Stewart movie in which ‘Harvey’ is a Pooka (Celtic spirits considered bringers both of good and bad fortune) with prodigious powers of perception as can be seen by the advice given by him in the course of the song. Mad Sweeney flies from tree to tree as he did when I met him first in At Swim Two Birds, by Flann O’Brien, which is one of my favourite books.”
“‘Harvey’ is an old fashioned, upbeat rock n’ roll track which I wrote as an antidote to these trying times. I look forward to having a chat with ‘Harvey’, and all my other pals in one of my usual haunts, at the end of this bloody lockdown!”
Music is Paddy’s passion and while his job is as solicitor, he is also the guitar player with The Atrix whose delayed relaunch will kick off in the summer of 2021. Paddy has also played with such well-known names as Horslips, MC5’s Wayne Kramer, Henry McCullough, Paul Brady and Trouble Pilgrims (formerly The Radiators from Space) to name just a few.
‘Harvey’ is out now and is available on iTunes and Spotify.
