Does anyone know of any good recordings of this song done by a band that would be considered ‘pure drop’ ITM?
Thanks for any replies.
Black is the colour is an Appalachian tune, looking for it played by ‘a band considered pure drop ITM’ is in itself something full of contrary elements, possibly even a bit of a chimaera .
There are a few fine recordings of Willie Clancy playing the tune on whistle, I may have Seamus Ennis playing and singing it. He is usually named as the man who took a shine to the tune and took it up in Ireland. Christy Moore sang it as good as anybody and a lot of popular Irish singers follow his version. Ronan Browne arranged a beautiful version with Cran and Anuna singing. He told me though he used Nina Simone’s version as a starting point, which I think was probably the best at hand. Take your pick, plenty of angles.
It’s on an old CD “Christy Moore Live In Dublin” from the 1970s and that’s a cracking good version.
Thanks for that interesting note. I never would have thought that.
The song has been recorded many times, and was a favourite certainly in the Scottish folk scene throughout the 1960s when it was popularised by the singer/entertainer Hamish Imlach. I’m sure it was recently recorded by the great Cara Dillon from Dungiven.
If it’s the song tune you’re asking about, I had heard that it was Willie Clancy who “Irishified” it into a slow air after hearing the song sung at a traditional music festival in Czechoslovakia or possibly Hungary in the 1950s/1960s.
One great recording was by Matt Molloy on an obscure record called “The Gathering”, recorded in the 1980s some time. Very difficult to get hold of these days, I believe.
There’s a version I like up for free on Soundclick.
Mp3 Version. (Completely legal)
And then this link goes to the singer’s personal page.
Thanks for sharing that. What a beautiful song!
It’s on one of Joe Heaney’s records, too.
For what it’s worth my favourite version of this song was the one by the ‘Easy Club’, on their album ‘Chance or Design’:
http://www.musicwords.nl/easy.club.eng.htm
You probably wouldn’t call their version the pure drop though.