Song No.7 – Top Dog
Gaffo written by Sharon Shannon and Jim Murray and performed by Sharon Shannon
My first instrumental and my first Irish musician, and I hope a
song and a video to make you smile.
Sharon Shannon is probably my favourite Irish musician. She
plays the accordion. melodeon, fiddle and tin whistle and is great on all of them. She has won numerous awards in Ireland and had
top selling singles. Her 1991 album
‘Sharon Shannon’ is the best selling traditional Irish music album ever
released in Ireland.
She first came to prominence when she played with ‘The
Waterboys’ during the ‘Roam to Roam’ period when she played on that album and
toured with them. She also played on the original version of Steve Earle’s ‘The
Galway Girl’. That is one of my all time favourite songs and I am sure will
appear here very soon. To top all this she is a lovely lady and does a lot of
work to help dogs that have been mistreated.
I have chosen ‘Top Dog Gaffo’ because it is such an infectious
track and the video that goes with it shows Sharon with her dogs all of which have come
from a rescue home. If this does not get you jumping around your lounge then
nothing will. This version is performed
with the RTE Concert Orchestra and is on the ‘flying circus’ album.
Sharon
released an album in 2000 called The Diamond Mountain Sessions. This was
recorded in an Old Monastery Hostel in Letterfrack, Connemara.
This included songs with various guest musicians including Carlos Nunez,
Jackson Browne, John Prine and Steve Earle. In fact I prefer the mix of ‘The
Galway Girl’ on this album to the version on the Steve Earle ‘transcendental
blues’ album. Anyway when we had a family holiday to Ireland
a couple of years later we went to Letterfrack and I wanted to re-create the
photo on the back of the cover showing Diamond Mountain. The results are below.
Please look and listen to Sharon
and then go and find more of her music it will brighten up your day and get
your feet tapping.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi3PsicYlHQ
Watch this video of Sharon and her dogs with the great track playing - smile and enjoy.
Cast
Sharon Shannon –
Accordian
Jim Murray –
Acoustic Guitar
Jack Maher –
Electric Guitar
James Delaney –
Piano and Organ
Jason Duffy –
Drums
Aoungus Ralston –
Bass Guitar
RTE Concert Orchestra
