Michaels Gone to Fishing - Why I wrote it (Songlink below)
We used to gig at Casey's Cabin, near Baltimore, in west Cork, about once a month or
so. Michael and Anne were great, they ran a fine pub/restaurant and looked after us well.
If you're ever down that way, the fish is highly recommended.
One gig, toward the end of 2004, we met Anne as we entered and I asked casually where
Michael was. Without batting an eyelid she replied that Michael had gone to fishing. I
found that hard to believe, as though Michael still had his fishing boat(trawler), I hadn't
heard that he'd been out in it for years. As Anne insisted, I could only accept it.
I soon forgot about Michael fishing and began to set up the gear and consume my first
pint of the night. Anne was dashing about the place doing three jobs at once as usual,
continually maintaining an air of efficiency and amazing calmness, as she dealt with the
mass of customers wanting to be seated and fed.
She filled our pints and turned to me, looking me steadily in the eye as she said that
Michael wasn't really fishing, she hadn't want to upset me earlier, but Michael had gone
off with a blonde. Done a runner so to speak. We were both flabbergasted. Such a
straight face and serious demeanour did Anne keep, it was ages before we twigged that
she was having a lend of us big time. Michael wandered in a bit later in the evening, just
in time to give us the hanging microphone and buy us a pint.
In times following that night, we joked with Anne about her sauciness and our general
gullibility, I always threatened that I would record the episode in a song. I did do so in
fact, recording it just before I departed Ireland to return to Australia. I've finally gotten
around to mixing it down, resisting the temptation to redo it at all. I will send a copy off to
Anne and Michael Casey and wish them well of course. Lovely people!
Click the link below for an MP3 version of the song. For a WAV file or an audio CD, email
me at gar@garsong, putting the song name in the email subject box so it doesn't go out
with all the other spam.