I've also written a fair few that went down in flames and very properly so. Basil is the man who annually promotes the greatest attraction in Ireland, The Bogmans Ball, and he is also the dynamo who keeps the little village ticking and tocking both summer and winter. He is mine host at the famous Peacock's Pub, of the Quiet Man cottage nearby, or a rising hotel close to all the rest, and there is also an involvement in the Mart which has replaced the old fairs except for the famous Connemara Pony Fair every autumn. I want, says Basil, two songs. Begor Basil, says I, you'll have to get them.
Some days are diamonds, some days are stones.
When you are a hack this is true. Friday was a diamond of a day. In a short time I had constructed two considerable brutes of songs as commissioned. One was a sean-nos type ballad about The Bogman's Ball which is now Basil's property, bought and paid for, stabled like a stallion before its eventual release, and all I can say is that Basil was delighted with it and with the air that came attached to it and the sentiments within. We'll be hearing it next month, well rendered by a young Drogheda singer called John Roddy, even as the Bogman's Ball gets under way.