I ENJOY meeting people who read this page. I’ve made many friends and acquaintances over the years – and I appreciate anyone who stops to say hello.
Two weeks ago one man I had no previous knowledge of became important to me in just one day – and I will never forget him.
I was pleased to be in Donegal when the news broke that Christy Dignam had died. Christy who?, I asked myself. This is what I learned about the man over a very short time.
After a long illness this man, who was called ‘a legend’, was remembered from the top to the bottom of Ireland.
President Michael D Higgins, fellow musicians, friends and neighbours, all seemed stunned that he was no longer around, and thousands lined the route of his funeral procession through the north Dublin suburb of Finglas where he grew up.
His death from cancer at the age of 63 didn’t really come as a shock. He had been diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer in 2013. Despite many long hospital visits he battled on, kept singing and kept building his unique relationship with the public.
If, like me, you don’t already know this man, I suggest you go to YouTube and search for Finbar Furey and Christy Dignam on The Late Late Show singing The Green Fields of France.
When the host of the show, Ryan Tubridy, spoke to Finbar on the morning of Christy’s death, the man was obviously grieving; he hadn’t slept, but just played music and remembered.
He told Ryan how that night on The Late Late Show was so memorable. They just fell into singing this powerful anti-war song he said; no rehearsal, no chatting about what key they would choose – just two men and a banjo in perfect harmony.
“I hope you died well and I hope you died clean, Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?”
I personally find it terribly sad to listen to the song as it brings tears to my eyes because I’ve been to those green fields of France. I’ve witnessed the rows upon rows of white gravestones of those who died in the First World War – and my emotion was one of anger that those young men, and some women too, were sent to be slaughtered. The song they sing is gentle – but the emotion is powerfully obvious about the wasted young life of Willie McBride.
If Music Be The Food Of Love, Play On
Finbar also said that Christy, no longer a young star and frontman of Aslan (the famous rock group), sang that night from his heart. This is so obvious if you watch the video. It’s also obvious that Finbar Furey loved his musical colleague; the admiration and tenderness in his eyes, and the hug at the end spoke volumes of their friendship and the knowledge that Christy was suffering an incurable illness.
On Tuesday morning, June 13, President Higgins said: “People across Ireland and beyond will have heard with great sadness of the death of Christy Dignam. For the last 40 years Christy and his bandmates in Aslan have made an enormous contribution to the cultural life of our nation.”
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar called him a legend of Irish music and a great Dubliner. “He was a beautiful man,” said singer Frances Black, “just a beautiful man.”
Furey added that Christy was a true artist rather than just a showman – there was truth in everything he said and sang.
There was terrible sadness in his life. He was sexually abused at the age of six for more than three years; and when in the band Aslan he turned to heroin which resulted in a severe addiction and his battle to free himself of the habit – at one time he described an experience of feeling like there was a praying mantis eating a butterfly on his chest, a demonstration of his ability to express emotion.
And then came his diagnosis of cancer 10 years ago. A lot happened in between – he admitted he had led a very full life, often filled with despair but also so much happiness.
Devotion To His Fans
Despite having a rare cancer he kept singing and gigging; coping when he felt unwell – dignified and caring as he came to terms with his future.
A couple of months ago he said that, when lying in his hospital bed in the front room, he saw a man walk past the window and it hit him he that would never do that again.
Aslan, named after the Lion in The Chronicles of Narnia, were favourites among many young people when they played The Belfast Empire Music Hall – the old church rocked and Crazy World became their signature tune.
He sang with his whole body, his hand often emphasising the words of the song – the tattoo of a lion on his shoulder establishing the strength of the man and the band.
At the end of his life he retained that same showmanship, even going out of his house and singing for his neighbours shortly before he died. His wish was that his adored daughter Kiera would take up his legacy – she is now carving out her own career as a singer. The love of his life was his wife Kathryn. They met at 14 and fell in love, and despite the ups and downs they solved their problems and remained devoted to each other.
Ryan Tubridy finished his compelling interview by playing the love song Christy Dignam wrote and sang for his wife, Song For Kathryn: “The moment I first saw your face, my love” – it takes us through a personal journey with the woman who was the love of his life for almost 50 years. It ends: “So, if we ever say goodbye my love, there will never be a need for tears, ’cause I have never known such joy my love, enough to last eternally.”
