Barney Rushe
Irish Singer/Songwriter.
About Composer
Barney Rushe
(1946 – 2014)
Barney (or Michael Bernard as he was christened) Rushe was from Sallynoggin near Blackrock in south Dublin. Born in 1946, his father, Patrick, came from near Tuam in County Galway and his mother was Ethel Eliot whose family still farm in Tonagh near the village of Glasson, just north of Athlone. His father loved music and liked to sing and play the accordion. Barney had a brother, Paddy, and two sisters, Eileen and Marie. He attended the Christian Brothers School at Eblana Avenue in Dun Laoghaire, known locally as the Eblana, a place he later recalled in a song, 'The Boy from Eblana'. His uncle owned The Druid's Chair pub on Killiney Hill Road in south County Dublin. Barney worked there occasionally in his teens and learned the bar trade, which he would later put to good use in Germany.
Barney Rushe was a shy and thoughtful teenager with a passion for sport and music. He became a lifelong Manchester United fan, having been inspired by the Busby Babes, and his heroes were George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton. He was a keen rugby player and followed the fortunes of his local club, Seapoint Rugby Club, no matter where he roamed in the world.
As a teen, Barney listened to American rock 'n' roll and blues, and loved, the music of The Beatles and other emerging British pop bands of the early 1960s. Like many youngsters of his era, he bought a guitar, cut his fringe to look like Ringo Starr and formed a band. For a while they went by the name of Morlock and played the local hops and teen dances.
Later in that era, Barney became more and more drawn to traditional Irish music and to the folk and ballad scene that was beginning to flourish in Ireland at that time. Barney and his friends loved nothing better than to take off down the country with a tent to enjoy 'the craic' at events such as the Kilkenny Beer Festival and other raucous gatherings that attracted fiddle players and balladeers from far and wide. He soon began to appreciate folk and trad even more than the pop music of the day.
The English folk revival was also under way at the time and a Dublin man called Noel Fitzmaurice, who was a few years older than Barney and his friends, was keeping up to date with the songs then emerging on the English folk-dub circuit. He also had a keen interest in blues, jazz and other genres, and owned a vast collection of records. Noel was a good friend of the husband of Barney's elder sister Marie and he introduced Barney and his friends to a wide range of musical influences. He would lend Barney his records and talk to him constantly about various musical genres. This broadened Barney's musical horizons and had a big influence on the young songwriter.
In the early 1970s Barney moved from Jersey to Spain where he played the Irish bars on the Costa strip. He remained there for more than ten years before settling in Germany where he opened an Irish bar, the Goldner Mond, in Erlangen near Nuremburg. This move proved very successful and Barney eventually ended up with three bars in Germany. He continued to play music but his main focus for many years was on his bar businesses. As the years passed, he occasionally wrote new songs and in the 1990s he composed a number of songs from the point of view of an Irish exile recalling his native shore but they were overly sentimental and lack the magic of his two great early compositions, 'Nancy Spain' and 'The Craic Was Ninety in the Isle of Man'. He recorded an album of his songs around 2000, which contains his own version of 'Nancy Spain'.
In time, Barney decided to cash in his chips in Germany and get out of the bar business. He returned to Spain where he operated a restaurant for a time and then retired from business to play music full-time once again in the bars and clubs of the Spanish resorts. He took to returning home more often as he approached his sixtieth year and, had he lived, he might have settled down in his native Sallynoggin.
Barney Rushe, troubadour and composer of one of Ireland's best-loved songs, died suddenly on 27th. September 2014 at the age of sixty-eight while on a trip home to Ireland. A celebration of his life took place in the Garden Chapel at Mount Jerome Crematorium in Harold's Cross, Dublin, followed by his cremation.
Biography courtesy Gill Publication entitled ON RAGLAN ROAD and Gerry Hanberry (Author).
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The Crack was Ninety (3.02) Lyrics
Oh Well weren't we the rare oul stock
Spent the evenin' gettin' locked
In the Ace O' Hearts where the high stools were
Engaging
Over the Butte Bridge, down by the dock
The boat she sailed at five o'clock
'Ah hurry on', said Whack
'Or before we're there we'll all be back
Carry him if you can'
Oh the crack was ninety in the Isle of Man
Before we reached the Alexander Base
The ding dong we did surely raise
In the bar of the ship, had great sport
As the boat she sailed out of the port
Landed up in the Douglas Head
Enquiring for a vacant bed
The dining room we soon got shown
By a decent looking woman
Saying 'Lads ate up if you can. '
Oh the crack was ninety in the Isle of Man
Next morning we went for a ramble round
Viewed the sights of Douglas Town
Ended up in a mighty session
In a pub they call dick Darby's
We all got drunk by half past three
To sober up we went swimmin' in the sea
Back to the digs for the spruce up
While waitin' for the Rosie, we all drew up our plan
Oh the crack was ninety in the Isle of Man
Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
Taylor Swift
That night we went to the Texas Bar
Came back down by horse and car
Met Big Jim and all went in
To drink some wine in Yates'
The Liverpool girls it was said
Were all to be found in the Douglas Head
Mcshane was there in tie and shirt
The foreign queer was tryin' to flirt
Sayin', 'Hey, girls, I'm your man. '
Oh the crack was ninety in the Isle of Man
Whacker fancied his good looks
On the Isle of Man woman he was struck
The Liverpool lad was by her side and
And he threw the jars into her
Whacker thought he'd take a chance
He asked the quare one out to dance
Around the floor they rocked and rolled
To Whack it was no bother
Everythin' was goin' to plan
Oh The crack was ninety in the Isle of Man
The Isle of Man woman fancied Whack
Your man stood there till his mates came back
Whack! They all whacked into Whack
Whack was landed on his back
The police force arrived as well
Banjoed a couple of them as well
Landed up in the Douglas gaol
'Til the Dublin boat did sail
Deported every man
Oh the crack was ninety in the Isle of Man
Nancy Spain (4.53) Lyrics
Of all the stars that ever shone
Not one did twinkle like your pale blue eyes
The golden corn at harvest times your hair
Sailing in my boat
The wind that Gently blows and fills my sail
Your sweet-scented breath is everywhere
The daylight peeping through the curtains
Of the passing night time is your smile
The sun in the sky like your laugh
Come back to me my Nancy
And linger for just a little while
Since you left these shores
I've known no peace nor joy
No matter where I wander
I'm still haunted by your name
The portrait of your beauty stays the same
Standing by the ocean wondering
where you've gone, if you'll return again
Where is the ring I gave to Nancy Spain?
On a day in Spring coming
When snow starts to melt and streams to flow
With the birds I'll sing a happy song
With Nancy as my bride I'll wander
Down by the Bluebell Grove where wild flowers grow
I hope my lovely Nancy will return
No matter where I wander
I'm still haunted by your name
The portrait of your beauty stays the same
Standing by the ocean wondering
where you've gone, if you'll return again
Where is the ring I gave to Nancy Spain?
Aishling (3.40) Lyrics
Well Aishling is an air hostess
Loves the life of the global gypsy
Today she's home by tomorrow she's flown
To Rio, Rome or Sydney
But a million miles of plastic smiles
The glamour long since departed
She's applied for a transfer to check in
'cause Dublin's where her heart is.
Chorus:
It's nice to travel to the rainbow's end
Meet new people and make new friends
Find out what's up around the bend
To ramble and to roam
Then you hear a song or an Irish air
Be it Raglan Road or She Moved Through the Fair
You long for the Rare Ould Times over there
You'd love to be at home.
As I strolled through Central Park one day
I couldn't believe my hearing
Stood a fellow from Cork entertaining New York
On the pipes playing the Planxty Irwin
We talked of our travels around the world
Of the wanderlust within
How we'd love to sip and lick the cream from our lips
Of some decent pints of Guinness.
Chorus...
Last night I bumped into a friend
I hadn't seen for ages
Talked of the great times that we spent
Drinking our young mans wages
Told me he lived in Africa now
Made it sound like the life of Riley
But after a few jars it all came out
For the ould sod he was pinning.
Chorus...
Repeat chorus...