We present an extract from Paddy Reilly's new autobiography, From The Fields of Athenry to The Dubliners And Beyond, written with Tom Gilmore.
Born in Rathcoole, County Dublin in 1939, Paddy Reilly is one of Ireland's most famous balladeers. He recorded the definitive version of The Fields of Athenry, making the song famous across the globe, and also had huge hits with songs such as The Town I Loved So Well and The Craic Was Ninety in the Isle of Man. Paddy says he became a singer ‘by accident’, starting out by singing in bars for his own enjoyment and quickly developing a hugely successful career, touring in the US, Australia and elsewhere. When Ronnie Drew retired as the main singer in The Dubliners in 1996, Paddy was inevitably called in to replace him. Now Paddy recounts a life lived in music...
'The Fields of Athenry' Found Me
Many versions of The Fields of Athenry have been recorded – almost 100, including some in different languages. But the definitive recording is by Paddy Reilly. Others have also had hits with it, but the undisputed fact is that Paddy took ‘The Fields’ to the world.
Sport has also been a big part of Paddy’s life and coincidently his biggest hit, though not a sporting song at all, has become inextricably intertwined with various sports, such as Gaelic football, soccer and rugby.
Paddy says that The Fields of Athenry is the song that changed his life, but he is somewhat blasé about his own input into this life-changing hit. ‘I didn’t find "The Fields" – "The Fields" found me,’ is his nonchalant and self-effacing response to the question about this massive hit.
Paddy refuses, point-blank, to give his views on earlier versions, by the likes of Danny Doyle or The Barleycorn. ‘That’s a very unfair question, and I refuse to be drawn into any discussion about other versions,’ says Paddy with a wry smile.
He says he had no idea that he had a hit on his hands after recording it, saying that his manager, the late Jim Hand, insisted that the song, recorded for an album, should be released as a single.
‘If you knew what would be a hit,’ says Paddy, ‘you would never record a miss. It was a great song, written by Pete St John, but I was just recording it as a track for an album. We went into the studio with fourteen or sixteen songs, mostly ones that I selected, and "The Fields" was among them.
‘After we recorded it, Jim said that it would be a hit, and he was right. He picked it out as a winner, and I replied that it had been recorded before, as I was aware of other versions of it being out there already. But he said it didn’t matter and that we should go with it again. I never thought that my version would be the most successful.
Watch: Paddy Reilly performs The Fields Of Athenry with The Dubliners in 2003
‘Pete St John and I got along very well – he is a laid-back guy like myself, but he is such an amazing songwriter. I was delighted for Pete that it was such a success too. But for me, it just changed my life completely. I went from playing in pubs for £50 or £60 a night to playing in theatres all over the world.’
One big change was the appearance fees his manager could now get for him following the success of The Fields of Athenry. One of the major promoters of live music in the West of Ireland, Pat Jennings from the TF Royal Hotel and Theatre in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, has brought some of the biggest acts from all genres of music to play in his Mayo venue.
‘I used to drive down to Castlebar to play there for £50 or £60 a night. Sometimes I might spend more in the night than I would earn. I had to drive back home after all my gigs, no matter where I was playing in Ireland. I couldn’t afford to stay over, as it would cost more than I would have earned for the gig.
‘Pat Jennings rang my manager Jim Hand, regarding booking me for the big concert hall in Castlebar, and he asked what the fee would be. When Jim told him the cost, there was a lengthy pause on the other end of the line. I was in the office at the time, and Jim thought that the phone line might have broken down. So he shouted down into the mouthpiece, "Pat, are you still there?" and only then did Pat reply. His response was hilarious – he said, "I think those are the dearest f***ing fields in Ireland." We all laughed, and so did Pat. I played for Pat on many other occasions afterwards. He was a gentleman to work for, but I will never forget that remark.’
The late Jim Hand was Paddy’s one and only manager. If he became a singer by chance, and got his biggest hit by chance, he also got his manager by chance.
‘Jim was living in Raheny, and promoter Bill Fuller had the Old Shieling Hotel there, where I used to play. It was there I first met up with Jim and he convinced me that I needed a manager. That is how it happened. We always had a good friendship as well as a professional relationship. But I suppose in other terms, it could also be described as "honour among thieves" or something like that,’ laughs Paddy.
His hit, selected by Jim, remained in the Irish charts for a staggering seventy-two weeks during 1983–84, but Paddy is fairly blasé about that amazing statistic too. ‘Yeah, it was in the charts for something like that number of weeks. But it was simply a great song, written by Pete St John.’
He says the song just took off for him, ‘even though it had been done by a few others before me’. Among the musicians on the recording session that produced The Fields of Athenry for Paddy in 1983 was Bill Whelan. A little over a decade later, Bill was the composer of the seven-minute piece of music Riverdance, which was performed at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest.
Watch: Paddy Reilly, Glen Hansard & friends perform The Fields Of Athenry at the afters of Pete St John's funeral In the Beaumont House, Dublin, in 2022
While Bill helped create the hit interpretation of The Fields for Paddy, the earliest version of the song that got into the Irish charts was by the late Danny Doyle in 1979. The song got traction again in the charts in Ireland in 1982/83. Before Paddy's rendition became such a massive hit, the most successful version was one recorded by The Barleycorn. That was shortly before Paddy’s version spent its phenomenal seventy-two weeks in the charts.
Asked about the song’s success, Paddy modestly says it was simply the luck of having the right song at the right time. ‘As I’ve often said, you’d never record a failure if you knew what would be a hit. It was a "shot in the dark" type of thing. People took to my version.’ With his hallmark grin, and a glint in his eye, Paddy adds in a jocose rather than in a bragging manner, ‘Sure, maybe ours was the best one!’
Sadly, as this book was being written, the songwriter Pete St John (AKA Peter Mooney), who was ninety, passed away in Dublin on 12 March 2022. Many of his friends and colleagues from the music business attended a ceremony of remembrance for him in Whitehall Church, Dublin, on Saturday, 2 April.
Paddy Reilly From The Fields of Athenry to The Dubliners And Beyond is published by The O'Brien Press
