‘Black Irish Dogs’ is a song by Irish singer-songwriter Bead.
Partly inspired by Philomena Lynott’s book, who’s one year anniversary was this month, the song is now available on YouTube in addition to usual platforms (Spotify, iTunes, Bandcamp, CD Baby and Amazon).
The song was produced by Boz Boorer who is best known for his songwriting and guitar work with Morrissey (see Vauxhall & I, You Are The Quarry, World Peace Is None Of Your Business) and features a full band sound of vocals, drums, bass, guitars and fiddle.
“The initial concept for this song came one morning waking up in London to the sound of sirens and helicopters overhead. It was August 2011 and it was the start of the London Riots where businesses were burned to the ground.”
“I had wanted to write a song with an Irish theme for a while. Ireland seems to be a revolving door to England, America and Australia since the recession of the 1980’s.”
“After the so called Celtic Tiger collapsed in 2008, Ireland lost thousands upon thousands of young people who had no choice but to emigrate to find work. The cycle continues. This song came together quite quickly.
I recorded it on acoustic guitar with Boz adding instruments and guest musicians later.”
“After recording the song and listening to it, I thought it was missing something. As luck would have it, I started reading a book which would inspire a title for the song. This was the missing piece which I also sing at the end. The book in question was ‘My Boy’ the life story of Philomena Lynott, Mother of Thin Lizzy singer, Phil Lynott.”
“Reading the first chapter, I was struck by how Philomena struggled to bring up her child in England. Her life was made all the more difficult by the racism she and Philip endured. In chapter 2, she retells how while walking the streets of Birmingham to find a better home for herself and Philip, she was greeted by window signs depicting the message ‘No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs’.”
Plans are afoot to release a full video soon following the announcement of forthcoming airplay on Irish radio.
