When I was a preadolescent I bought the album by The Furey’s called ‘When You Were Sweet Sixteen‘. Today’s featured track, Siege of a Nation, is the fourth song I’ve highlighted from my favourite Celtic album, which I consider a true gem of traditional Irish music. Another song by them on my blog called Belfast Mill continues to rack-up considerable daily ‘view’ numbers.
Siege of a Nation is characterized by its traditional Irish instrumentation, particularly the low whistle played by Finbar Furey. The group made a name for themselves by performing popularized versions of Irish traditional songs. They earned attention for bringing Irish folk music to mainstream listeners with their 1981 single When You Were Sweet 16 which we will delve into when we reach the ‘W’s in the Music Library Project.
The oldest of the brothers, Eddie Furey left home in 1966 and travelled to Scotland at the time of the great folk revival where, with his brother Finbar, he met and shared accommodation with then unknown folk singers Billy Connolly, Gerry Rafferty, Tam Harvey and Alex Campbell, now all famous in their own right. In 1969 Eddie and Finbar were the special guests for the Clancy Brothers throughout the USA and Canada. In 1972, Gerry Rafferty wrote Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway for Eddie.
Eddie Furey recalls how “many musicians have told us we influenced them after hearing a record from their parents or grandparents’ collection”. Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics has credited Eddie with teaching him his first chords on the guitar while still a teenager. Eddie would return the compliment by joining Dave on stage in Paris for a jam during the latter’s wedding to Bananarama’s Siobhan Fahey.
References:
1. About The Fureys – The Fureys
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
I like this Matt…it has a nice atmosphere to it.
Glad you’re back even if momentarily. I hope your house projects are going well.
When I saw your Drift Away post I was wondering if I was seeing things because you’d already posted about it. Lol
They are going well! We are getting things done and finished. I had some time and I miss interacting with everyone Matt…I don’t miss the writing….I miss the people.
SHhhhhhh…yea I did in 2018 or 19 lol. It was awful so I decided to redo it completely.
I’m glad to read your your projects are going according to plan.
Regarding ‘Drift Away’ I wrote a post on it in April this year with a ‘broken link’ to your original post. Haha. I have just made amends.
You have an awesome Sunday buddy.
I’m sorry! I marked the old one private. Sometimes Matt…I get dry and I look at really old ones when I didn’t have many followers and I jazz it up so to speak. I dont’ do it often though.
My interest right now has switched to movies for a little while…but I’ll move back more into music soon after it wears off.
Yes, that’s fully understandable. I have done the same with old posts which needed restoration.
I noticed you have gone down the ‘Movie’ rabbit hole, which is cool. Today, I just reanimated my ‘Monday News on the March’ segment which I hope to keep at. Cheers.
The Fureys are entirely new to me. Based on the songs you highlighted here, I’m already sold. I love the sound of traditional Celtic instruments.
Hey Christian,
That’s great you checked out some of their other music. That album ‘Sweet Sixteen’ is the bee’s knees and nothing has superseded it to my ears as far as Irish Folk music is concerned. Not that I’m a great connoisseur of the genre.
In my early 20’s I used to frequent an Irish pub in Melbourne called the Dan O’Connoll Inn. There was a fantastic Irish folk singer who sang about ‘Donegal’ and I bought his cassette tape and played it to death. What I would give to remember his name and find his music again. Arghhhh.