Hey Mary - Monitor Mix, few tweeks, some stardust and mastering to be sprinkled for the release version ...
From Robin James Hurt and Tony Floyd Kenna is ‘Hey Mary, Play A Song For Me’. Inspired by and dedicated to Máire Úna Ní Bheaglaoich. Máire is a most wonderful Box player and can be seen and heard busking around the streets of Dublin, bringing colour, fun and chat to locals and visitors alike.
‘As the Covid Lockdowns intensified in the Autumn/Winter of 2020 busking/street performance was totally closed down. This affected not only the heartbeat and soul of the city but all of us who were part of this vibrant street culture. Having exchanged messages with Máire it became clear just how much she was missing playing on the street, musically, physologically, socially. It can’t be easy to just suddenly have to stop doing what you’ve been doing for 35 years…. I had played the street just the late Summer months and really badly missed it, so for one who had spent a lifetime bringing musical colour, fun, chat, joy to both locals and tourists alike it has to have been devastating. The City’s usual colourful and music filled soul was grey and lifeless. A bit like ‘the day the music died’. It all got me thinking, I didn’t want to write a lament but rather something fun, uplifting, smiling to help us remember, imagine, touch & hope… No better woman than Máire to be our beacon, to lead us and to inspire us. Máire smiling, fingers flying, her tunes lifting spirits. Most of the lyrics came to me one December evening walking along Nassau St. to Pearse St. Train Station.. I stopped near the National Gallery to write them on a piece of paper (I still like/need to put pen to paper rather than type into the phone when writing). Having got the words down I had to consider the music. The lyrics were already singing to me but to do justice to the song I felt another contributor of a particular style would add to the mix, the sum of the parts being greater… At the time Myself and Robin were just setting out on a new journey of collaboration and it was actually crystal clear that he had to be the one to write the music, his style, his skill, his joy would give life to the theme, the feeling, the celebration. And so, here we are … ‘ T.F.K. 23/01/2021
(Robin's notes to follow)
lyrics
HEY MARY, PLAY A SONG FOR ME
Hey Mary won't you play me a tune
To keep me dancing by the moon
Hey Mary won't you play me some notes
To keep me swaying like the ocean's boats
Hey Mary, play a song for me
Seasons come seasons go
Winter sun Summer snow
Autumn flowers Springtime leaves
Keep alive our make-believes
In Bewley’s lane they gather round
Their feet are tapping on the ground
Her fingers fly her eyes in trance
The music moves their feet to dance
Hey Mary won't you play me a tune
To keep me dancing by the moon
Hey Mary won't you play me some notes
To keep me swaying like the ocean's boats
Hey Mary, play a song for me
Play a song for me
So if you go to Grafton Street
There is one there you need to meet
To hear a tune, to hear her play
To toss a coin and then to say..
Hey Mary won't you play me a tune
To keep me dancing by the moon
Hey Mary won't you play me some notes
To keep me swaying …
Ah Mary won't you play me a tune
To keep me dancing by the moon
Hey Mary won't you play me some notes
To keep me swaying like the ocean's boats
Hey Mary, play a song for me
Hey Mary won't you play me a tune
To keep me dancing by the moon
Hey Mary won't you play me some notes
To keep me swaying like the ocean's boats
Hey Mary, play a song for me
Music by Robin James Hurt.
Lyrics by Tony Floyd Kenna.
Copyright 2021. All rights preserved.
Dedicated to Máire Úna Ní Bheaglaoich
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