Thousands are Sailing

[foggydew1970]

Hi Philip

Can you confirm for me who actually played on Thousands are Sailing and what instruments were used.

Thank you

[philipchevron]

Hi Philip

Can you confirm for me who actually played on Thousands are Sailing and what instruments were used.

Thank you

Well, all the usual characters playing all their usual instruments, basically, though I think I'm right in saying that Fran Byrne (bodhran?) and Ron Kavana (tenor banjo) also play on the instrumental section. Fran played drums with, it sometimes seems, every Dublin beat group of consequence in the Sixties before pitching up in Ace ("How Long") with Paul Carrack. He and Kavana played together in the excellent North London bar band Juice On The Loose in the Eighties.

There may be more people playing on the track as well, but without the album sleeve to hand, I can't be sure.

[foggydew1970]

Thank you

[RoddyRuddy]

.

[Low D]

Hi Philip

Can you confirm for me who actually played on Thousands are Sailing and what instruments were used.

Thank you

Well, all the usual characters playing all their usual instruments, basically, though I think I'm right in saying that Fran Byrne (bodhran?) and Ron Kavana (tenor banjo) also play on the instrumental section. Fran played drums with, it sometimes seems, every Dublin beat group of consequence in the Sixties before pitching up in Ace ("How Long") with Paul Carrack. He and Kavana played together in the excellent North London bar band Juice On The Loose in the Eighties.

There may be more people playing on the track as well, but without the album sleeve to hand, I can't be sure.

Fran was also in & out of Kavana's band through the 90s, and then (i think still does) play with Lucinda Williams.

[Smoz]

Philip, was there ever any consideration given to you singing the lead vocals on the album version of thousands? Did it seem odd performing this live when Shane used to sing on 'your' song? And when did you get to reclaim it live? I think Shane sang it at the T&C in 1988, I don't recall Shane performing it live in any of the post 2001 reunion shows.

[philipchevron]

Philip, was there ever any consideration given to you singing the lead vocals on the album version of thousands? Did it seem odd performing this live when Shane used to sing on 'your' song? And when did you get to reclaim it live? I think Shane sang it at the T&C in 1988, I don't recall Shane performing it live in any of the post 2001 reunion shows.

I think the feeling was that "1000s" was a potential single - if we could get it down below 5.5 minutes which, despite several promptings from Steve Lillywhite, I was either unable to do or unwilling to do, I honestly can't recall. But working on the assumption that at some point we would find suitable edit points, we worked as though it were a possible single in which case it made sense for Shane to sing it. Plus he was the lead singer and wanted to do the song which was absoutely his prerogative and a choice I felt flattered by anyway. In the event, "1000s" was not a single except in Canada, where it was a Double A side with "Fairytale" and in the US, where it was a 12" radio promo only (both on Island). Though the 12" was supposed to be limited to 500 copies only, it seems likely it flourished at a level that makes Jesus look like an amateur with his loaves and fishes scam. It can still be picked up for $5 or $10, I think.

At some point in its performance history, Shane became uncomfortable with a couple of things in the song. Specifically Brendan Behan dancing: despite overwhelming evidence that Behan was light on his feet and an instinctive booty-shaker, Shane refused to believe that Behan would ever "dance up and down the street" and began to invent other, more raucous activities for the great man. But also the entire final chorus, which takes a large swipe - admittedly with a degree of gratuitousness - at Roman-Irish Catholicism, with which I think Shane has more of a cultural, if not religious, connection than I do. My justification for it was basically that while Catholicism was a rallying point and a source of focus and power for immigrant Irish-Americans between the 1840s and 1950s, the benefits accruing from that phenomenon were never outweighed by the corrosive abuse of that power which, when seen in the wider context of American public life, went on to give us Rick Santorum and Calista Gingrich, among others.

An early draft had some stuff about kiddie-fiddling priests too, which I dropped. Too specific, and I already knew that Pedo prelates was a matter which migrated around the world for reasons that had nothing to do with economic or political deprivation and everything to do with keeping the bastards on the fugitive move, from parish to parish and, if needs be, continent to continent. Shane never saw this draft but in any event, I was already certain I was not going to use it. "1000s" was my second attempt to use clerical abuse in a song - a very early Radiators song, "Christian Muggers" [the title alternated with "Christian Buggers" during its development] which never made it to the first Radiators album because I was never remotely satisfied with my work on it. Jimmy Crashe's lyrics for "Dead The Beast, Dead The Poison" on the second Rads album were more effective about paedophilia in general, even though they seemed mysterious and allusive rather than direct, but I myself could never crack this particular nut. That said, I'm reasonably happy with the Radiators' version of Rory Gallagher's "It's Happened Before, It'll Happen Again" on the new Rads album Sound City Beat. Although neither this song or Rory's classic "Messin' With The Kid" are remotely about child rape, quoting the title of latter as a sort of coda to the former offers a slightly surprising new subtext to Rory's lyrics. In the end, that small twist was more eloquent and direct than all my own previous failed attempts to address the issue.

But I've drifted off into diversion. Shane's live version of "1000s" began to irritate me in its constant battle with the song's meaning and I took the opportunity to reclaim it when his performances of all our songs started to become increasingly erratic, under the pretext of reducing his burden. He has, over the years, had a couple of shots at taking it back, notably when I was on medical leave in 2007/2008, but it's a long lyric and there's a lot of it to remember, so that didn't last long. I think it's right that I do it, I believe it marginally more than Shane does and love singing it, which is not to say I don't sometimes get the choruses a bit mixed up myself.

[Smoz]

Cheers for the informative reply, looking forward to hearing you sing it at the Olympia.

[Mike from Boston]

Just saw this for the first time, not sure if it has been posted before. Mr. Chevron singing "Thousands", acoustic in a record shop (from Completely Pogues (sp?))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M0h_nPTq2k

[Low D]

Just saw this for the first time, not sure if it has been posted before. Mr. Chevron singing "Thousands", acoustic in a record shop (from Completely Pogues (sp?))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M0h_nPTq2k

The documentary is called "Completely Pogued" which you can now find as an extra on the "Live From The Town & Country" DVD.

[skinny]

Just saw this for the first time, not sure if it has been posted before. Mr. Chevron singing "Thousands", acoustic in a record shop (from Completely Pogues (sp?))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M0h_nPTq2k

The documentary is called "Completely Pogued" which you can now find as an extra on the "Live From The Town & Country" DVD.

Brilliant. Shades of a younger Bowie. Really caught my throat when you sang "Do the old songs taunt or cheer you...".

Thousands is my favourite track from Grace. I'd not been aware that you wrote the song, Phillip. The line about Behan always brings to my mind some old video footage of a young chap in 1945 dancing in response to the announcement of WWII's end. Skipping with sheer elation. Behan can do whatever we want him to - even this. He doesn't just belong to Shane, he's ours too. However, it seems clear from the subjective pronoun that the sentiment probably reflects not Behan's state of mind in the dance, but your own, ... something that might not have occurred to Shane. It's a beautiful lyric astride a stirring melody.

Is there an alternative original lyric we might not have seen/heard before?

[philipchevron]

Just saw this for the first time, not sure if it has been posted before. Mr. Chevron singing "Thousands", acoustic in a record shop (from Completely Pogues (sp?))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M0h_nPTq2k

The documentary is called "Completely Pogued" which you can now find as an extra on the "Live From The Town & Country" DVD.

Brilliant. Shades of a younger Bowie. Really caught my throat when you sang "Do the old songs taunt or cheer you...".

Thousands is my favourite track from Grace. I'd not been aware that you wrote the song, Phillip. The line about Behan always brings to my mind some old video footage of a young chap in 1945 dancing in response to the announcement of WWII's end. Skipping with sheer elation. Behan can do whatever we want him to - even this. He doesn't just belong to Shane, he's ours too. However, it seems clear from the subjective pronoun that the sentiment probably reflects not Behan's state of mind in the dance, but your own, ... something that might not have occurred to Shane. It's a beautiful lyric astride a stirring melody.

Is there an alternative original lyric we might not have seen/heard before?

There are always alternatives, or almost always. But I conscientiously destroy most notes and foul papers on the grounds that the process itself is only really of interest while you're doing it. In other words, I can't remember.

[Tal]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSm2pNq7V7Q
Just came across this clip from Japan,enjoyable listen.

[Low D]

Hi Philip

Can you confirm for me who actually played on Thousands are Sailing and what instruments were used.

Thank you

Well, all the usual characters playing all their usual instruments, basically, though I think I'm right in saying that Fran Byrne (bodhran?) and Ron Kavana (tenor banjo) also play on the instrumental section. Fran played drums with, it sometimes seems, every Dublin beat group of consequence in the Sixties before pitching up in Ace ("How Long") with Paul Carrack. He and Kavana played together in the excellent North London bar band Juice On The Loose in the Eighties.

There may be more people playing on the track as well, but without the album sleeve to hand, I can't be sure.

Fran was also in & out of Kavana's band through the 90s, and then (i think still does) play with Lucinda Williams.

Just stumbled across this and realize i've confused the Irish-born UK drummer Fran Byrne (the artist mentioned above), with the Irish drummer Fran Breen, who played with Lucinda Williams (and also on Gay & Terry Woods' "Tender Hooks" album, as well as having been a member of Stockton's Wing, The Saw Doctors and The Waterboys). But hey, two Irish drummers named Byrne & Breen you can't blame me...

[Mike from Boston]

Low D I believe the Statue of Limitations on screwing up drummers is five years, so you are okay...