Still in progress, but here's the first bit!
Transcript: 29 December, 2009
BBC Radio Foyle with Mark Patterson
Mark: And so, folks, to our People in profil where all week here on the program for the seconde heure I’m just taking time to talk to a local person who’s made their mark in one way ou another. Today, a surfer, singer, songwriter who started out with an acoustic guitar, as I remember it, at the local bar scene. He made his mark, and he then took the plunge and joined Phil Coulter’s Celtic Thunder tour of America. That decision has led to three Billboard chart world musique number one albums, a pending solo album, and now, his own record label. When locals checked the rumors online – I’ll never forget the jour – there he was, stopping the traffic in the middle of New York City on American network television, bringing in St. Patrick’s Day. It’s been a good few years for a local man, Keith Harkin. Keith, good afternoon to you.
Keith: Hello Mark (unintelligible)
Mark: I feel I have to interview toi half formally these days! Keith, I reflect on those kind of stories, that’s the media side of it and the global side to what’s happened in your life …
(Keith: Yup)
Mark: …now. I still am pinching myself. toi must be.
Keith: I’m still the same, too, toi know what I mean? Like, I still am the same person when I come back to Derry, I drink in the same bar, I go and surf the same waves as everybody else, and it’s great to be accueil and, and be treated exactly the same as what I used to be before I started doing me music, toi know?
Mark: I notice when toi come home, it’s not about glamour a bit. toi could come here boasting and bragging and all this and clearly toi have the craic, but it strikes me coming back to Derry for toi is like … um, it’s like a retreat?
Keith: It’s great. I mean, like, it is a real release to just be … just to be accueil and do normal things. I mean, when you’re on the road, there’s nothin’ normal; the only normal thing is toi eat food. I mean, toi wake up in the morning, toi take your socks out of a … out of a suitcase on the side of the road; toi have your dîner on the side of a stage, and, uh, it’s a completely different life. toi live in a bubble. Even though you’ve got a lot to do, toi kind of have no responsibility when you’re on the road. And when toi come back here now, it’s like the real world, and it’s great, it’s actually just, it’s good to get back, it’s a relief.
Mark: Listen, I want to talk to toi about the Celtic Thunder thing. When I first heard it, I thought, my goodness, that’s like a big stage show. It wasn’t what I’d known from your own music, I know you’re an acoustic writer and an acoustic player. For people who maybe don’t know how the Celtic Thunder thing kicked in for you, remind us.
Keith: Um, well, for meself, anyway, I’ve, I went to Londres when I was eighteen and I was recording over there with a guy called Andy Wright, and, to cut a long story short, I was working with Andy, flying over and back then, and I was sitting in the local pub with me father in the 19th Hole in Bridgend, and he says, uh, me daddy told me about this interview for Celtic Thunder, and, uh, at the time I was skint, hadn’t got two piece, so he got me a taxi fare, up for the auditions, in the city hotel, and I didn’t have a clue what it was for, I just seen Celtic, looking to create an album, and at the time I would do anything to get into music.
(Mark: Hm)
Keith: I went down and done the audition, and then they told me to come to Dublin, to do a further audition, and then they told me I was in the show. Now, at this stage I still hadn’t got an idea … I hadn’t got a clue what the montrer was about, they were going Celtic Thunder (?) and I was telling – of course they were asking, can toi do this, can toi do that, and I says yes to everything, even though I probably couldn’t do half of it. And then we recorded the montrer at the Helix in Dublin, which is the montrer that toi see on the Internet ou on PBS ou it was on RTE here last year,
(Mark: Um hm)
Keith: and, uh, we’ve been touring it now, just finished our third tour. We’ve toured America twice, we’ve toured Canada, and, uh, we just finished this tour two weeks, and I heard they’ve booked another sixty gigs for the end of 2010
Mark: So probably tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people in the States have seen this show?
Keith: plus than likely, yeah.
Mark: Unbelievable. Many of them listening today, I have to say our e-mail is nearly coming to a standstill here today. Folks in America, lovely to have you, um, we’ll try to get as many of your e-mails out today as possible. Keith, it strikes me that over there there’s this sort of the idolizing, which I know obviously we don’t see back here. How do toi … not handle it, but do toi have to play up to that, because over there you’re this charming Irish guy in front of the big show, and it’s a stage show, Keith, so how do the two sides of your brain deal with that?
Keith: Um, to be honest with you, I just be meself. I go out every night … I mean, at the start, it did seem weird for me, just something as simple as walking around a stage without a guitare was a task, because all my life I’ve grown up with it almost as a cover up, that, like, you’re defended par the guitare sitting in front of you. And for me producer, Sharon Browne, to take me guitare off me, it was hard for me to walk about the stage, and the plus and plus I’ve done it, I really do enjoy it, I mean there’s nothing like walking on the stage to an audience of thousands of people screaming, screaming your name and screaming for everything toi do, I mean, it’s great craic. And the fans that we have in America, they are, it’s ridiculous, they’d do toi anything, and do anything for us.
Mark: Do toi want to go through a couple of them here, Ana … um, let me just go, ah, I’ll not do it with an American accent, folks, Annastacia is online, “We l’amour it, we’re all excited hearing Keith today” from Staci in New York City there. Um, “Keith … can toi guys say ‘hi’ to all Keith’s loyal fans on his forum, thanks,” Ryanne there. I mean, Keith, the forum, there’s one thread, has like 64,000 hits on it (both laughing), and I’m going, like, what is going on here? Uh, Chalee, I think it is, ou Shelley?, “I’m sure it will be played, but I’d l’amour to hear Lauren and I. All the gals from keithharkin.com forum are tuning in supporting Keith.” I played it earlier on. Keith, I think the first time that was broadcast, I know we were sitting in this studio (unintelligible) am I right?
Keith: It probably was, you’re right, Mark
Mark: Um, we had that song, we just knew toi had something. When toi wrote that, I think toi knew toi had something, didn’t you?
Keith: Yeah, I mean, I think that it was probably, I mean, I was écriture lots before that, but I think that was the kinda one that I wrote and kinda thought, God, that has a bit of commercial value about it, that might actually sell well, and people might enjoy it, and it seems to have done well.
Mark: fans in Bali, I believe here, “I thought we’d like to let toi know there are a large number of us on the website as we speak. We find this all so interesting and we’re all so glad toi have Keith on your show. We’re not all in America, there are fans in Bali, probably plus around the world. Give us a shout out if toi can.” That’s from el-ba-shai? I don’t know, there’s no name on that one. Alison, “Hello there, from chilly Hagerstown Maryland ou Maryland, huge fan of Keith, thank toi so much for having him on the show. A quick (little request?) I’d also like to request The Homes of Donegal. My family’s from Donegal, l’amour Keith’s version. I’m a loyal listener…” now we’re getting listeners off the back of your profil here, young Harkin! “Keith could sing the phone book and it would be awesome! Beautiful voice.” Florida. “Keep living the dream, Keith,” that’s from Kendall Sparkman. I don’t know what part of the states Kendall is in. Pat, listening in Pacudah, Kentucky, “Heard toi had Keith on; I want to check out the interview, all the best.” Pam, “If Keith’s taking requests, Pam and Lisa would like to request John Denver,” (unintelligible). You’ve brought the guitare in, par the way.
Keith: I do.
Mark: We’ll be getting to toi in a moment. Opal from Willis, Texas, USA, “I want to say how much I l’amour your radio station, I’m a big fan, all the rest… Homes of Donegal … would l’amour to hear Castles in the Air, thank toi so much, your fan and now Keith’s, PJ, sister Opal.” I’ll get as many of those lovely mentions on the air as well. When the Americans go for something, Keith, they don’t half go for it, do they?
Keith: I mean, you’re laughing there, I laugh every time. I’m not laughing at them. I mean, it’s, look, it’s great to have support like that, but I am still astonished, the way people see my musique and what I do in America, I mean it’s great, it’s like far further than what I ever expected from anyone.
Mark: Okay, listen, I’ve asked toi to bring in some of your music, not necessarily your own stuff, but the musique that has shaped you. One thing I always knew about toi was toi had the guitare about the place, and that your da was a great man for getting the guitare out.
Keith: He was.
Mark: Take us back, Keith.
Keith: Me father was always playing guitare all his life, I mean, if anybody’s aware of the Derry Station, Derry, I was chant in that, sung in the Rialto when I was four years old, I think that was me first debut appearance. Uh, and I think the feis (?) is great for everyone in Derry, toi know, it gets them all going. And me daddy played guitare all his life, and honestly, I didn’t really have any interest in the guitare until I was about ten. I think it was because me mum and dad, they always wanted me to go to piano lessons, whenever, and I was like, “No, I’m not going to piano lessons! I don’t like doing it! I don’t want to do this!” And then one jour I realized playing guitare was kinda cool, and me daddy sat me down, I think it was the "The Spinning Wheel" ou something, a really early Irish song, G, C, and D, and from then it’s just been, I mean, I’ve been playing now fourteen years, I’ve got, plus guitars, me mum’s going to kill me if I bring any plus home. And, uh, just growing up with good music, all me life, and to be honest with toi me musical taste hasn’t really changed since I was (a low age?).
Mark: So tell us what this fellow, what he means to you.
Keith: This is Cat Stevens, a song, Oh Very Young, I think it’s just a really quirky wee song, the lyrics are great, and it’s it’s melodic, and, enjoy it.
Song: Cat Stevens, Oh Very Young
link
Mark: Cat Stevens on that track there, Oh Very Young, the first pick today. I would have thought he’s, is he not a bit old fashioned for you, Keith, no?
Keith: I thought he was great; he wrote quirky songs, he played guitare on his own, and he does kind of what I’d like to think I could do.
Mark: He’s amazing, he’s an amazing writer. Okay, listen now, quickfire round, here, Keith, uh, one answer only please.
Mark: Acoustic ou electric?
Keith: Acoustic.
Mark: Fat Elvis ou thin Elvis?
Keith: Fat Elvis.
Mark: CDs ou downloads?
Keith: Downloads.
Mark: Landed Gentry ou Undertones?
Keith: (laughs)… No comment.
Mark: Come on toi have to answer them!
Keith: Landed Gentry.
Mark: (intake of breath) Bit of bother upstairs… Long bath ou quick shower?
Keith: Quick shower.
Mark: Short board ou long board?
Keith: (pause) Fish.
Mark: *oooohh* Middle ground there! bacon Baps ou Boston Bagels?
Keith: bacon Baps.
Mark: Blondes ou brunettes?
Keith: Blondes.
Mark: Hahaha trouble… Smoke filled ou smoke free?
Keith: Smoke free.
Mark: Harry Potter ou drinkin’ porter? [which is Stout/Guinness]
Keith: Drinkin’ porter.
Mark: Dress up ou dress down?
Keith: Dress up.
Mark: Sandinos ou Stadium?
Keith: Sandinos.
Mark: Ooh Frankie Ramseys ou Gordon Ramseys?
Keith:<B> Frankie Ramseys.
<B>Mark: Clean shaven ou clean rotten?
Keith: Clean rotten.
Mark: Your mammy ou your granny? Last question. Think about that!
Keith: My gran, I’ll do me granny.
Mark: Nooo!
Keith: My mammy knows, my mammy knows.
Mark: There’ll be trouble. Folks, Keith Harkin is with me for this heure on Radio Foyle. We’re just doing this this week with the week between Christmas and New Year’s, this. Keith, take us back. Foyle Springs, um, being born and reared in Derry those early years before toi went to Donegal. When toi think back to Foyle Springs, what do toi think about?
Keith: Um, Foyle Springs really was just, growing up, running about on bicycles, and before I left Derry, like, there was not all the … the things between like Foyle Springs and (Dunns?), it was all like trees and forest there, so it was like, lots of running about there, and my father always had chiens and stuff like that, so, and he’d a done a lot of shooting and fishing, so I was always in the wilderness, really.
Mark: Do toi ever think about the name ou something, I mean I think, I even think about écriture some (that developed…?) do something like Palm Springs ou Palm toi know, whatever, we’ll call it Foyle Springs, toi know, it’s meant to be the paradise on the west bank of Derry.
Keith: Casa del Foyle Springs.
Mark: What was it like, I mean, do toi remember, was it an edgy very young boyhood, was it running about, was it craic, what was it.
Keith: No, Foyle Springs was great craic, I mean, like, I l’amour Derry, I think I was about eight years old, toi know, and uh, I mean, it was a lot of families around the same age as me mum and dad at the time, they were all just sort of starting out, and it was all new houses and new development, and it was all guys me own age, toi know, and it was great. I mean, I was like, I was, to be honest with you, I was always hanging around with me father the weekends, going fishing and just doing the most aléatoire things
(Mark: Hm.)
Keith: And, uh, after that, then me mum and dad moved out to Donegal, out in Burnfoot for eight years, and then lived in Quigley’s Point for a while, now I’m back in the hills of Donegal. Took me, uh, took me two hours yesterday to walk up to the house because of the ice is that bad, there’s nothing when toi get up the colline (unintelligible).
Mark:<B> But listen, at Foyle Springs right enough, that would have been what, if my maths are right done, you’re not, I hope you’re not much younger than I think toi are, but that, would that have been around the time of the Troubles [link did it touch on your life at all, was it something caused toi seconde thought?
<B>Keith: The Troubles wasn’t really part of my life to be honest with you, thank God. I mean, me mum and dad grew up … grew up through it, me mum was from Elmwood Terrace and me dad was from Bligh’s Gardens, so they were sort of in the cœur, coeur of it throughout, and, uh, listening to the stories they all tell you, and anyone around their age will tell you, like, it’s, it wasn’t a nice thing, and, uh, I’m glad to see it’s turned.
Mark: So you’re, in a sense, the succeeding generation. Looking at it, and the way it affected people, do we overstate it, or, do toi think that, toi know, in terms of the psychology of the trauma, do toi think about that kind of stuff, from the older generation’s point of view?
Keith: I don’t think we, we, we overstate it at all, I mean, what happened on both sides, for a lot of the Trouble, it was awful, I mean, trouble’s trouble no matter where it is in the world, and sadly it was part of our, me mum and dad’s life, and it’s thankfully not part of my generation. And, uh, I think our generation and the generations to follow will be the ones that makes things better, and hopefully do.
Mark: Maybe so. So then, moving to Donegal, how did, did it feel like toi were crossing the border, what did that feel like, what does that mean?
Keith: It did, I mean like, as I say, whenever I lived in Foyle Springs, I for as far as I remember I remember the dragon’s teeth out the back roads, and we used to go out walking there, and now that’s the way I drive to get to my house. I mean, like, it is it’s great, I mean, like, I don’t think I could déplacer back to the city; I’m not a city slicker no more, I l’amour just being out, and being able to have my own l’espace and having your own time, and
Mark: toi may explain to the American folk what the dragon’s teeth is, par the way?
Keith: Oh, dragon’s teeth is, uh, big, concrete breezeboxes to stop tanks and cars, basically, from coming both north and south.
Mark: Stop us wrecking the place, really, see. It’s unbelievable. Donegal then becomes, I guess, Keith, I mean you’re, you’re describing it like an idyllic, um, toi know sort of fishing and hunting and shooting with your dad and stuff. I must ask toi about your parents. I hope they forgive me, maybe, for even bringing them in, but anytime, I know (???) your mum and dad, but Kevin and Siobhan, I first met your mother, and I honestly thought she was your big sister. Do toi know what I mean? And they’re out dancing, and your da dresses cool…
(Keith: I know)
Mark: Do toi know what I mean, they’re not folksy.
Keith: I know, no, me mum and da, like they’re me best mates, toi know, and uh, we fight like cat and dog at times, but they’re still my best mates, and uh, without them, really, I probably wouldn’t be here today. Um, like at the start when I first moved to Donegal, I mean coming from, from Foyle Springs, I was like, “I hate this place, I don’t know nobody, there’s no friends,” and, but the plus and plus toi live there, I mean, I’m out in Donegal now nearly fourteen years, and it’s, I mean I’m only fifteen, twenty minutes from Derry, and I’m in Derry every other day, so I’ve got the best of both worlds, and I wouldn’t change it.
Mark: So familywise, I mean, it is as good as you, I mean, toi suggest it to be, toi know, your mum and dad …
Keith: Yeah, it’s great, toi can do your own thing.
Mark: Yeah. Simple as that.
Transcript: 29 December, 2009
BBC Radio Foyle with Mark Patterson
Mark: And so, folks, to our People in profil where all week here on the program for the seconde heure I’m just taking time to talk to a local person who’s made their mark in one way ou another. Today, a surfer, singer, songwriter who started out with an acoustic guitar, as I remember it, at the local bar scene. He made his mark, and he then took the plunge and joined Phil Coulter’s Celtic Thunder tour of America. That decision has led to three Billboard chart world musique number one albums, a pending solo album, and now, his own record label. When locals checked the rumors online – I’ll never forget the jour – there he was, stopping the traffic in the middle of New York City on American network television, bringing in St. Patrick’s Day. It’s been a good few years for a local man, Keith Harkin. Keith, good afternoon to you.
Keith: Hello Mark (unintelligible)
Mark: I feel I have to interview toi half formally these days! Keith, I reflect on those kind of stories, that’s the media side of it and the global side to what’s happened in your life …
(Keith: Yup)
Mark: …now. I still am pinching myself. toi must be.
Keith: I’m still the same, too, toi know what I mean? Like, I still am the same person when I come back to Derry, I drink in the same bar, I go and surf the same waves as everybody else, and it’s great to be accueil and, and be treated exactly the same as what I used to be before I started doing me music, toi know?
Mark: I notice when toi come home, it’s not about glamour a bit. toi could come here boasting and bragging and all this and clearly toi have the craic, but it strikes me coming back to Derry for toi is like … um, it’s like a retreat?
Keith: It’s great. I mean, like, it is a real release to just be … just to be accueil and do normal things. I mean, when you’re on the road, there’s nothin’ normal; the only normal thing is toi eat food. I mean, toi wake up in the morning, toi take your socks out of a … out of a suitcase on the side of the road; toi have your dîner on the side of a stage, and, uh, it’s a completely different life. toi live in a bubble. Even though you’ve got a lot to do, toi kind of have no responsibility when you’re on the road. And when toi come back here now, it’s like the real world, and it’s great, it’s actually just, it’s good to get back, it’s a relief.
Mark: Listen, I want to talk to toi about the Celtic Thunder thing. When I first heard it, I thought, my goodness, that’s like a big stage show. It wasn’t what I’d known from your own music, I know you’re an acoustic writer and an acoustic player. For people who maybe don’t know how the Celtic Thunder thing kicked in for you, remind us.
Keith: Um, well, for meself, anyway, I’ve, I went to Londres when I was eighteen and I was recording over there with a guy called Andy Wright, and, to cut a long story short, I was working with Andy, flying over and back then, and I was sitting in the local pub with me father in the 19th Hole in Bridgend, and he says, uh, me daddy told me about this interview for Celtic Thunder, and, uh, at the time I was skint, hadn’t got two piece, so he got me a taxi fare, up for the auditions, in the city hotel, and I didn’t have a clue what it was for, I just seen Celtic, looking to create an album, and at the time I would do anything to get into music.
(Mark: Hm)
Keith: I went down and done the audition, and then they told me to come to Dublin, to do a further audition, and then they told me I was in the show. Now, at this stage I still hadn’t got an idea … I hadn’t got a clue what the montrer was about, they were going Celtic Thunder (?) and I was telling – of course they were asking, can toi do this, can toi do that, and I says yes to everything, even though I probably couldn’t do half of it. And then we recorded the montrer at the Helix in Dublin, which is the montrer that toi see on the Internet ou on PBS ou it was on RTE here last year,
(Mark: Um hm)
Keith: and, uh, we’ve been touring it now, just finished our third tour. We’ve toured America twice, we’ve toured Canada, and, uh, we just finished this tour two weeks, and I heard they’ve booked another sixty gigs for the end of 2010
Mark: So probably tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people in the States have seen this show?
Keith: plus than likely, yeah.
Mark: Unbelievable. Many of them listening today, I have to say our e-mail is nearly coming to a standstill here today. Folks in America, lovely to have you, um, we’ll try to get as many of your e-mails out today as possible. Keith, it strikes me that over there there’s this sort of the idolizing, which I know obviously we don’t see back here. How do toi … not handle it, but do toi have to play up to that, because over there you’re this charming Irish guy in front of the big show, and it’s a stage show, Keith, so how do the two sides of your brain deal with that?
Keith: Um, to be honest with you, I just be meself. I go out every night … I mean, at the start, it did seem weird for me, just something as simple as walking around a stage without a guitare was a task, because all my life I’ve grown up with it almost as a cover up, that, like, you’re defended par the guitare sitting in front of you. And for me producer, Sharon Browne, to take me guitare off me, it was hard for me to walk about the stage, and the plus and plus I’ve done it, I really do enjoy it, I mean there’s nothing like walking on the stage to an audience of thousands of people screaming, screaming your name and screaming for everything toi do, I mean, it’s great craic. And the fans that we have in America, they are, it’s ridiculous, they’d do toi anything, and do anything for us.
Mark: Do toi want to go through a couple of them here, Ana … um, let me just go, ah, I’ll not do it with an American accent, folks, Annastacia is online, “We l’amour it, we’re all excited hearing Keith today” from Staci in New York City there. Um, “Keith … can toi guys say ‘hi’ to all Keith’s loyal fans on his forum, thanks,” Ryanne there. I mean, Keith, the forum, there’s one thread, has like 64,000 hits on it (both laughing), and I’m going, like, what is going on here? Uh, Chalee, I think it is, ou Shelley?, “I’m sure it will be played, but I’d l’amour to hear Lauren and I. All the gals from keithharkin.com forum are tuning in supporting Keith.” I played it earlier on. Keith, I think the first time that was broadcast, I know we were sitting in this studio (unintelligible) am I right?
Keith: It probably was, you’re right, Mark
Mark: Um, we had that song, we just knew toi had something. When toi wrote that, I think toi knew toi had something, didn’t you?
Keith: Yeah, I mean, I think that it was probably, I mean, I was écriture lots before that, but I think that was the kinda one that I wrote and kinda thought, God, that has a bit of commercial value about it, that might actually sell well, and people might enjoy it, and it seems to have done well.
Mark: fans in Bali, I believe here, “I thought we’d like to let toi know there are a large number of us on the website as we speak. We find this all so interesting and we’re all so glad toi have Keith on your show. We’re not all in America, there are fans in Bali, probably plus around the world. Give us a shout out if toi can.” That’s from el-ba-shai? I don’t know, there’s no name on that one. Alison, “Hello there, from chilly Hagerstown Maryland ou Maryland, huge fan of Keith, thank toi so much for having him on the show. A quick (little request?) I’d also like to request The Homes of Donegal. My family’s from Donegal, l’amour Keith’s version. I’m a loyal listener…” now we’re getting listeners off the back of your profil here, young Harkin! “Keith could sing the phone book and it would be awesome! Beautiful voice.” Florida. “Keep living the dream, Keith,” that’s from Kendall Sparkman. I don’t know what part of the states Kendall is in. Pat, listening in Pacudah, Kentucky, “Heard toi had Keith on; I want to check out the interview, all the best.” Pam, “If Keith’s taking requests, Pam and Lisa would like to request John Denver,” (unintelligible). You’ve brought the guitare in, par the way.
Keith: I do.
Mark: We’ll be getting to toi in a moment. Opal from Willis, Texas, USA, “I want to say how much I l’amour your radio station, I’m a big fan, all the rest… Homes of Donegal … would l’amour to hear Castles in the Air, thank toi so much, your fan and now Keith’s, PJ, sister Opal.” I’ll get as many of those lovely mentions on the air as well. When the Americans go for something, Keith, they don’t half go for it, do they?
Keith: I mean, you’re laughing there, I laugh every time. I’m not laughing at them. I mean, it’s, look, it’s great to have support like that, but I am still astonished, the way people see my musique and what I do in America, I mean it’s great, it’s like far further than what I ever expected from anyone.
Mark: Okay, listen, I’ve asked toi to bring in some of your music, not necessarily your own stuff, but the musique that has shaped you. One thing I always knew about toi was toi had the guitare about the place, and that your da was a great man for getting the guitare out.
Keith: He was.
Mark: Take us back, Keith.
Keith: Me father was always playing guitare all his life, I mean, if anybody’s aware of the Derry Station, Derry, I was chant in that, sung in the Rialto when I was four years old, I think that was me first debut appearance. Uh, and I think the feis (?) is great for everyone in Derry, toi know, it gets them all going. And me daddy played guitare all his life, and honestly, I didn’t really have any interest in the guitare until I was about ten. I think it was because me mum and dad, they always wanted me to go to piano lessons, whenever, and I was like, “No, I’m not going to piano lessons! I don’t like doing it! I don’t want to do this!” And then one jour I realized playing guitare was kinda cool, and me daddy sat me down, I think it was the "The Spinning Wheel" ou something, a really early Irish song, G, C, and D, and from then it’s just been, I mean, I’ve been playing now fourteen years, I’ve got, plus guitars, me mum’s going to kill me if I bring any plus home. And, uh, just growing up with good music, all me life, and to be honest with toi me musical taste hasn’t really changed since I was (a low age?).
Mark: So tell us what this fellow, what he means to you.
Keith: This is Cat Stevens, a song, Oh Very Young, I think it’s just a really quirky wee song, the lyrics are great, and it’s it’s melodic, and, enjoy it.
Song: Cat Stevens, Oh Very Young
link
Mark: Cat Stevens on that track there, Oh Very Young, the first pick today. I would have thought he’s, is he not a bit old fashioned for you, Keith, no?
Keith: I thought he was great; he wrote quirky songs, he played guitare on his own, and he does kind of what I’d like to think I could do.
Mark: He’s amazing, he’s an amazing writer. Okay, listen now, quickfire round, here, Keith, uh, one answer only please.
Mark: Acoustic ou electric?
Keith: Acoustic.
Mark: Fat Elvis ou thin Elvis?
Keith: Fat Elvis.
Mark: CDs ou downloads?
Keith: Downloads.
Mark: Landed Gentry ou Undertones?
Keith: (laughs)… No comment.
Mark: Come on toi have to answer them!
Keith: Landed Gentry.
Mark: (intake of breath) Bit of bother upstairs… Long bath ou quick shower?
Keith: Quick shower.
Mark: Short board ou long board?
Keith: (pause) Fish.
Mark: *oooohh* Middle ground there! bacon Baps ou Boston Bagels?
Keith: bacon Baps.
Mark: Blondes ou brunettes?
Keith: Blondes.
Mark: Hahaha trouble… Smoke filled ou smoke free?
Keith: Smoke free.
Mark: Harry Potter ou drinkin’ porter? [which is Stout/Guinness]
Keith: Drinkin’ porter.
Mark: Dress up ou dress down?
Keith: Dress up.
Mark: Sandinos ou Stadium?
Keith: Sandinos.
Mark: Ooh Frankie Ramseys ou Gordon Ramseys?
Keith:<B> Frankie Ramseys.
<B>Mark: Clean shaven ou clean rotten?
Keith: Clean rotten.
Mark: Your mammy ou your granny? Last question. Think about that!
Keith: My gran, I’ll do me granny.
Mark: Nooo!
Keith: My mammy knows, my mammy knows.
Mark: There’ll be trouble. Folks, Keith Harkin is with me for this heure on Radio Foyle. We’re just doing this this week with the week between Christmas and New Year’s, this. Keith, take us back. Foyle Springs, um, being born and reared in Derry those early years before toi went to Donegal. When toi think back to Foyle Springs, what do toi think about?
Keith: Um, Foyle Springs really was just, growing up, running about on bicycles, and before I left Derry, like, there was not all the … the things between like Foyle Springs and (Dunns?), it was all like trees and forest there, so it was like, lots of running about there, and my father always had chiens and stuff like that, so, and he’d a done a lot of shooting and fishing, so I was always in the wilderness, really.
Mark: Do toi ever think about the name ou something, I mean I think, I even think about écriture some (that developed…?) do something like Palm Springs ou Palm toi know, whatever, we’ll call it Foyle Springs, toi know, it’s meant to be the paradise on the west bank of Derry.
Keith: Casa del Foyle Springs.
Mark: What was it like, I mean, do toi remember, was it an edgy very young boyhood, was it running about, was it craic, what was it.
Keith: No, Foyle Springs was great craic, I mean, like, I l’amour Derry, I think I was about eight years old, toi know, and uh, I mean, it was a lot of families around the same age as me mum and dad at the time, they were all just sort of starting out, and it was all new houses and new development, and it was all guys me own age, toi know, and it was great. I mean, I was like, I was, to be honest with you, I was always hanging around with me father the weekends, going fishing and just doing the most aléatoire things
(Mark: Hm.)
Keith: And, uh, after that, then me mum and dad moved out to Donegal, out in Burnfoot for eight years, and then lived in Quigley’s Point for a while, now I’m back in the hills of Donegal. Took me, uh, took me two hours yesterday to walk up to the house because of the ice is that bad, there’s nothing when toi get up the colline (unintelligible).
Mark:<B> But listen, at Foyle Springs right enough, that would have been what, if my maths are right done, you’re not, I hope you’re not much younger than I think toi are, but that, would that have been around the time of the Troubles [link did it touch on your life at all, was it something caused toi seconde thought?
<B>Keith: The Troubles wasn’t really part of my life to be honest with you, thank God. I mean, me mum and dad grew up … grew up through it, me mum was from Elmwood Terrace and me dad was from Bligh’s Gardens, so they were sort of in the cœur, coeur of it throughout, and, uh, listening to the stories they all tell you, and anyone around their age will tell you, like, it’s, it wasn’t a nice thing, and, uh, I’m glad to see it’s turned.
Mark: So you’re, in a sense, the succeeding generation. Looking at it, and the way it affected people, do we overstate it, or, do toi think that, toi know, in terms of the psychology of the trauma, do toi think about that kind of stuff, from the older generation’s point of view?
Keith: I don’t think we, we, we overstate it at all, I mean, what happened on both sides, for a lot of the Trouble, it was awful, I mean, trouble’s trouble no matter where it is in the world, and sadly it was part of our, me mum and dad’s life, and it’s thankfully not part of my generation. And, uh, I think our generation and the generations to follow will be the ones that makes things better, and hopefully do.
Mark: Maybe so. So then, moving to Donegal, how did, did it feel like toi were crossing the border, what did that feel like, what does that mean?
Keith: It did, I mean like, as I say, whenever I lived in Foyle Springs, I for as far as I remember I remember the dragon’s teeth out the back roads, and we used to go out walking there, and now that’s the way I drive to get to my house. I mean, like, it is it’s great, I mean, like, I don’t think I could déplacer back to the city; I’m not a city slicker no more, I l’amour just being out, and being able to have my own l’espace and having your own time, and
Mark: toi may explain to the American folk what the dragon’s teeth is, par the way?
Keith: Oh, dragon’s teeth is, uh, big, concrete breezeboxes to stop tanks and cars, basically, from coming both north and south.
Mark: Stop us wrecking the place, really, see. It’s unbelievable. Donegal then becomes, I guess, Keith, I mean you’re, you’re describing it like an idyllic, um, toi know sort of fishing and hunting and shooting with your dad and stuff. I must ask toi about your parents. I hope they forgive me, maybe, for even bringing them in, but anytime, I know (???) your mum and dad, but Kevin and Siobhan, I first met your mother, and I honestly thought she was your big sister. Do toi know what I mean? And they’re out dancing, and your da dresses cool…
(Keith: I know)
Mark: Do toi know what I mean, they’re not folksy.
Keith: I know, no, me mum and da, like they’re me best mates, toi know, and uh, we fight like cat and dog at times, but they’re still my best mates, and uh, without them, really, I probably wouldn’t be here today. Um, like at the start when I first moved to Donegal, I mean coming from, from Foyle Springs, I was like, “I hate this place, I don’t know nobody, there’s no friends,” and, but the plus and plus toi live there, I mean, I’m out in Donegal now nearly fourteen years, and it’s, I mean I’m only fifteen, twenty minutes from Derry, and I’m in Derry every other day, so I’ve got the best of both worlds, and I wouldn’t change it.
Mark: So familywise, I mean, it is as good as you, I mean, toi suggest it to be, toi know, your mum and dad …
Keith: Yeah, it’s great, toi can do your own thing.
Mark: Yeah. Simple as that.
