Each of the Old Geezers above are musicians in the cultural tradition of Gaelic/Celtic-Anglo/Saxon folk music, spread over the last two centuries, and whose music is relevant to Superconductivity today and the search upward tomorrow and beyond...and especially the frustration undergone.  Read the "brown fine print," and suggest your favorite SuperTune to include.  Enjoy.

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Realities of Life

"You Can't Always Get What You Want...," M. Jagger and K. Richards, (Let It Bleed, ca. 1969). [Both Bill Little and I want this played at our respective funerals. The legend is that Mick wanted to get a "cherry coke" at a London "chemist's" who were out of cherries and cherry syrup.  He was thus told, "You can't always get what you want."  This typifies the long search for room temperature superconductivity.  Enjoy.}

"Tomorrow," R. Seger, (ca. 1970s). [A parable on the difficulties of predicting the future...like applications of superconductivity!]

"It's a Long Way to the Top...," Bon Scott, Malcolm Young and Angus Young, (High Voltage, 1975).  [...If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll.  The "Top" in this case is T > 300 K.]

Songs of Irish Freedom

"Roddy McCorley," Ethna Carberry, (A Ballad of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, lyrics ca. 1890).  [Nothing to do with superconductivity, although the underlying ideas that eventually explained it were developed by the Irish physicists Michael Faraday and William Thomsen.  If you ever wonder why immigrants come to America, here's one reason...at home you got hung if you spoke out.]

"Boolavogue," P. J. McCall, (The Wexford Uprising in 1798, lyrics 1898).  [Ambush of a British cavalry regiment led by Father John Murphy, pastor of the local parish. Involvement of Catholic clergy against the British was unusual, since a "quid pro quo" between the Irish hierarchy and the Church of England required the excommunication of all and any who fought against the crown.  Father Murphy was later captured, hung and his body burned. Nice.]

"Grace," Frank & Sean O'Meara, (The Easter Uprising in 1916, lyrics 1985).  [The ballad of Irish poet Joseph Plunkett and his bride Grace Gifford.  They were to be married on Easter Sunday, 1916. However, unknown to Grace,  Plunkett was a member of the Irish resistance behind the Dublin rebellion and was subsequently captured.  The two were married in Kilmainham jail on the early morning of 4 May 1916.  They were given 10 minutes together guarded by 15 British soldiers.  Plunkett was then taken out and shot.]

"Only Our Rivers Run Free," Mickey MacConnell, (Homily on a United Ireland,lyrics 1985).  [Mickey MacConnell is a Kerry newspaper columnist and song writer, and Only Our Rivers Run Free was written during the times of the IRA attacks in the North.]

"The Town I Loved So Well," Phil Coulter, (Derry and the Troubles, lyrics ca. 1970s).  [Many consider this ballad the unofficial National Anthem of Northern Ireland.  It recounts the garrisoning of Derry by the British Army during 70s and the destruction that followed.  It concludes, "I can only pray for a bright new day," and recent accords between the North and the Republic may indeed see its dawning.  Yet even today there is very little social mixing between the Protestant and Catholic populations in Northern Ireland, as between Shia and Sunni in Iraq.  Such is a situation impossible for most Americans to fathom.]

"The Skye Boat Song," Harold Boulton, (ca. 1930s, lyrics based on a 18th Century Scottish aire).  [Relates the escape of Charles Stuart to the Isle of Skye after his disastrous defeat at the hands of the English at Culludon.  Maybe he had some members of Clan Grant on board as well. Fortunately, many Scots remained to later create and rise to give us James Clerk Maxwell, James Dewar and Peter Higgs...and many other "British" scientists.]

"The Fields of Athenry," Pete St. John, (ca. 1970s...many, many "covers," this one by Anthony Kearns of the The Irish Tenors from the album Live In Belfast (2000)).  [If you take the train straight westward from Dublin toward Galway City, you'll encounter the farming community of Athenry about 3/4 along your journey.  Ireland throughout much of the 19th Century was "ruled" by absentee landlords, e.g., around Athenry, by Sir Charles Trevalyan, during the Irish Famine of the 1840-50s. There was no famine...simply the British overlords selling the Irish crops abroad for greater profit.  As he sails off to Australia, convicted of stealing "Trevalyan's Corn" to feed his family, "Michael" cries out to his wife and children, "Mary, nothing matters when you're free."  Have you yet tears in your eyes?]

"The Butcher's Apron," Wolfe Tones, (ca. 2001...released on several Wolfe Tones albums)).  [Theobald Wolfe Tone (b. 1763...Wikipedia here) is considered one of the fathers of the Irish independence movement.  The Wolfe Tones are a well-known Irish folk group whose lyrics generally focus on Ireland's struggle to gain its freedom from English domination.  "The Butcher's Apron," symbolizing the English "cross of St. George" banner, and the brutality wrought, not only on Ireland, but other members of the former British Empire generally.  The lyrics have recently been analyzed (September, 1913) in an essay by Diego Patrick Grant here.]

"Thank God for America," Wolfe Tones, (ca. 2003...released on a variety of subseqent Wolfe Tones albums)).  [The final cleansing of the apron in the laundry tub of America.  Listening to the lyrics one must conclude that no two nations on earth share such close ideological and cultural goals than Ireland and America.]

Electricity

"High Voltage," Bon Scott, Malcolm Young and Angus Young, (T.N.T, 1975).  [No transformers or power electronics needed...except for Angus' guitar.]

Songs to Drink To

"Ringsend Rose," Pete St. John, (Ringsend District, Dublin, lyrics 1970s (?)).  [A young man is smitten by 17-year old "satin-skinned" seamstress Rose Donaghue "all fresh and new."  IMHO, the most lovely of Irish love songs.]

"Anna Liffey," Peadar Kearney, (The River Liffey, Dublin, lyrics ca. 1920s).  ["We've got the whiff of ray and chips, and Mary softly sighed; Oh John won't you come, For a wan and wan  Down by the Liffey side."  A couple strolling along the banks of the river Liffey in Dublin in anticipation of their impending marriage and to have "little children and rear them neat and clean to shout up the Republic...and fight The Saxon Hun."  Kearny is the author of the National Anthem of the Republic of Ireland.]

"Molly Malone," James Yorkston (a Scot!), first published in Cambridge, Mass. around 1883. Captured here from Irish Pub Songs. [A ballad honoring a Dublin fishmonger (merchant).  "Molly" is familiar shorthand for the ubiquitous "Mary" and "Margaret" of the various Irish Female lovelies, including my Mother and her numerous cousins.  However, this entry is dedicated to one "Molly McA," and she knows who she is!]

Videos by Diego Patrick Grant

"Sons of the Father," Written and Produced by Diego Patrick Grant, (Award Winning Leland High School Senior Media Arts Project, May, 2009).  [A dark family parable inspired by the Russian Mafia.]