Lifeboat Bonus Episode: "I'll Go"

This bonus episode is an interview with Jerry Early and John Gallagher on their song, "I'll Go",  which tells the story of the Arranmore RNLI rescue of the Dutch steamer Stolwijk. The interview discusses the songwriting process and the importance of keeping the story alive. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome back to the Tides That Tie, a podcast of all things Aaron Moore and Beaver Island. I'm Kevin Green. Before we get into today's bonus episode, I want to say something about songs. Anyone who's ever been around me knows that I love music and listen to music every single day. I've always loved songs that tell a story, the kind where every line means something, where the lyrics carry history, memory, and emotion. The best ones feel almost like oral history set to music. And as someone who loves storytelling, I'm fascinated by how these stories actually get written. Where does the first idea come from? How does the historical moment turn into lyrics? How do the writers decide which details stay and which ones fall away? Today's episode is a chance to pull back the curtains on that process. You heard about the dramatic Stowick rescue in the R and L I episode from Nora Flanagan. It's one of the most extraordinary lifeboat rescues connected to Aaron Moore, where the local crew went out in a ferocious storm in December 1940 to save the crew of the Dutch ship Stoic. But that story didn't just stay in the history books. It was brought back to life by island musicians Jerry Early and John Gallagher, who turned it into our powerful song called I'll Go. So in this bonus episode, we're going to do something a little different. Instead of just hearing the story of the rescue, we're going to hear the story behind the song, how the idea first came to Jerry, how the lyrics took shape, how the two writers worked together to turn a nearly forgotten moment of violent history into music. Because sometimes the best way to keep a story alive is to sing it. So guys, we want to hear today about the song and how it came about. So tell us uh what was the impetus for the song?

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Yeah, so I suppose the uh it goes back, Kevin, to when I was, you know, in my early teens, um, yeah, 12, 13 years of age, when one day my mother asked me to go to the shop. Um, and anybody that knows Aaron Moore, um, we would have been brought up in Airley's bar, um, still there today. And um, but it was sort of common practice for all the kids at the time that to get to the shop you would take a little detour and go by the pier, because it's sort of the pier being, you know, or you guys were called the dock, it would have been the hub of activity, you know. But on this particular day, I I went to the pier on my way to the shop, which was actually going out of my way a little bit, but and it was quite a bad day. In fact, it was a bad day. There was no boats crossing, it was pre-ferry. We're probably looking at I want to say the late 70s, 77, 78. And uh on my way to the shop, um, I came across uh I seen this old guy who was who was one of the stalwarts on the island at the time, uh man by the name of Fulburn, who was sitting smoking a cigarette looking out, and and just as I was passing, um he was sort of sheltering, you know, looking out the bay. And um just I was passing, I said, Hello, fellow, uh says a bad day, and and he turned to me sort of uh almost uh with disdain and said, That's not a bad day, lad. Um I didn't know what he meant by that, but I knew not to ask any questions, I suppose. I kept on my way and done done what I had to do in the shop, came back up, and I relayed what Phil had said um to me and uh to my father, and my father says uh oh, he says um Phil's on the Stalwick. No, and which I meant, you know, what my question was then what is the Stalwick or what was the Stalwick? Um the Stalwig was a Dutch boat that was coming across from part of the slow convoy's coming across from Newfoundland on its way. This particular boat was on its way to Glasgow, where where John is now residing, with a load of paper of all things, which is a which was which was a big commodity back in the day, I guess, and this is 1940. It ran into it was part of the slow convoys and it ran into a huge storm like 40 odd miles north of Armore, north of Tory Island, and um it it lost propulsion. It didn't lose engine power, but it lost propulsion, it lost steerage, and as they were part of the slow convoy, they were um they were uh left behind somewhat and and the convoy didn't wait for them, you know, back in them days. So they were sort of left to their own devices. I suppose before I get into the story of of what eventually happened, bearing in mind that this was a story that I'd never heard of. Um my father, who was nine years of age at the time when this this ultimate rescue took place, would have remembered the day, would have known all the characters involved, but it was something that after they'd done the rescue, they never spoke about it, so that's why it wasn't widely known, you know, and I certainly didn't know it until I was in my early teens. Um so my father, I suppose, in many ways would have kept the story alive initially in his own head, and it's only then when he told me about about the Stalwick rescue that I had a huge fascination with it initially, but then you know, as as you go through your teens and and your twenties and so on and so forth, you know, you knew about it somewhat, but you didn't know about it because it was never part of foreclaw, you know. Then I suppose when I got into my uh little bit older forties, that same full guy, because I'd known the backstory by then, um used to come into the bar at being eight, um, and we actually, you know, some nights it was just him and I in the bar, you know, when the dead I winter. And and I often tried to tease the story out of him, but but you know, he he would give me very little. I mean minimal. It didn't give me anything to go on, you know. So even though that that I knew the story for my father, I got nothing off him, but I knew my my father's story was the story because he would have got bits of the story from from the mall and then form the story as as it was. So um just quickly, I suppose, um the boat ran into trouble, um, ended up drifting quite close. It passed Tory Island and and was headed for the shore. Uh, it didn't it didn't uh get shipwrecked in Tory Island, and um they had been putting out uh them days it wasn't so much Maydays. Well it would have been Maydays to the to the there was no Coast Guard station in Ireland. Um very minimal connection. It was actually picked up by the the the Coast Guards in the west coast of Scotland, which then were related on to our Coast Guard because because our Coast Guard at the time was very, very basic. And the the information was getting fed, I suppose, you know, firsthand, second hand, third hand. So so eventually um a British Navy boat did did try to effect a rescue and ultimately failed um because they took such a wave that actually went down the funnels of the ship, the captain of the ship of the uh naval destroyer by the name of Sabre, the captain took such severe injuries that his career was actually finished, and two of the crew also. So um when they they tried to effect the rescue but failed, and just at that point, the the notification was sent to the Armor lifeboat on the night of the uh 6th of December 1940, when when the wind was blowing, recorded in in the Coast Guard station in air on the west coast of Scotland at 94 miles an hour, steady wind um from the north, huge seas. So yeah, um I had the story and it it never went it never went anywhere. But then for for for the longest time, I want to say for 15 years, 12, 15 years, I had this longing to write something, or you know, it was a long one to write, but I didn't know what it was. I honestly didn't know it. I I would have spoken to I never spoke to John about this initially. I spoke to um different people, different songwriters. What is going on here, you know? But I knew that that the story was of a boat. I knew that, and that boat was good into the wind. I tried to break that down. Is this a sailing boat? I knew there was something huge there, but I had no idea what it was. And um tied with it for years, just nothing was coming. And then one day, honestly, out of the blue, I'm sitting at my conservatory, which incidentally was the very same place that my father witnessed the lifeboat come down or leaving to do the rescue. Um, and I just said, Oh my god. And I said this to Pat and my wife, who was actually in the kitchen. I says, I know what it is. Uh to what she says, you know what it is. I says, I know the song that I have to write. And she says, I didn't know you were even thinking like that. You know, I'd never variabilise it to her. And she says, What is it? And I says, It's the stalwick. And her reply was, What was the stalwick? You know, she had never heard it growing up, and at that stage she's in her 40s, you know, mid-40s. And um I thought, oh my god. And it I had such a powerful, powerful, powerful longing to tell the story. And my next phone call then was, of course, to uh the words, the the words, the wordsmith, Mr. Gallagher, my cousin John from Glasgow. And I says, John, I says, I have a song. I says, We have to tell the story, and and John's reply uh was what is it? I told him this topic, he says, What was that? So John had never heard of it either. So I suppose that's the lead into it somewhat, Kevin. I don't know if if if that's given you enough um background and and how I I got talking to John. But I suppose in summary, um there was 18, there was 28 men on the on the boat that went aground, eventually went aground before the Armour Lifeboat got there. And unfortunately, 10 of them tried to get off, they were lost, they were swept away to their doom, the bodies were recovered. But but when the Armour lifeboat landed on scene, there was um still 18 casualties still on board. And after a huge ordeal in getting there to the scene, uh approximately five, six hours, and then it took them another four or five hours to get them off, and the same back to the island, and nobody in the island actually knew where they were going, what they were doing, because communication back in that day was so vague. But the people and I speak about my father's own account of it, was all the older men did not expect them to come back because the day was so horrendously bad. But they did with with all 18 uh of the casualties on board. And apparently it was just, you know, it was recognised at the time by those that seen them, that watched them that day, almost lose their own lives different times close to Arnmore, that this was a huge feat. But, you know, the they took the casualties, dropped them off in Burton Port, spent the night in Burton Port, and and by all accounts had quite a lot of drink and came in home the following day and anchored the boat and boom, job done. So yeah, that's a I suppose a brief briefnosis of the story and how the song came about. Well, I called John, I suppose, and and at this point I suppose John can can can take it from when I first called him and and and how we got to uh got to the end game.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Yeah, uh just exactly. It's taken me back actually to the to the the beginning of this whole thing. The phone call from Jerry, and like he says, I want to write a song about Stalwick. And of course my first reply was, What's that? What's the Stalwick? And when he told me the story, my first emotion, I suppose, was why have I never heard this story before? This is a this is like a fantastic story. In fact I thought when Jerry told me it, no, it's too fantastic, that that that couldn't have been that bad, it couldn't have been that dramatic. But the more research or the more I heard about it, um the difficulty was going to be getting people to believe that this actually happened. But the thing that struck me in the first place was that if we were going to write this song then we had to tell the story and you had to try and get across the conditions of that night, the danger that was involved, the drama and and the the thoughts of what must have been the thoughts of the men as they as they stepped out that morning. And the more that we delved into it, the more the more fascinated I became. It kind of took over my entire life for about three weeks because you couldn't think you couldn't think of anything else. And uh there was a lot of phone calls. And I suppose in the first instance, Jerry would I would sit on one end of the the phone w with a pen and a piece of paper, just noting down everything that Jerry said to me. And then I would go away and try and put some kind of spin on it, put some trying to make it maybe uh a bit poetic and tell the story in a way that I felt that it should be told. And I thought that's a there's a massive responsibility here on us to tell this story, but also to tell it properly and not not maybe not to insult the memory of the men, but to to keep the memory of of that night alive and to tell it in the boss the best possible way. And when as I say, I I would write down, scribble down all the the things that that that Jerry said, I would then try and put them in some sort of lyrical forum. I would then send them back to Jerry, and I remember telling the story when we unveiled the monument. I can't remember how many lines the first draft had, maybe 44, something like that. And of those 44, 14 of the lines made it in to the final cut. Because what would happen is I I I'd sent them over and Jerry would say, Right, I'm not mad on that line there, or he would say, I think we need to get this particular issue into the song, and so I would go away and I would try again and send it back. And there was loads and loads of back and forwards to that, and I continuously pushed Jerry for information or for little backstories because that's where I found a real fascination. And Jerry would continuously push me to get his vision of the song down on paper. He was very Jerry was very definite about what he wanted and what he didn't want. He wanted the story told, and sometimes he would say, I uh uh that line's not that line's not me. I'm not getting that line. And I might say, What do you want to put in? And he would say, I don't know, but I don't want that. So we had to we we we we'd have another conversation and we'd be come up with something else. So and eventually we we arrived at a point where we were both satisfied that the story had been told to the best of our ability. I'm sure there are songwriters out there that could do a better job, but we had arrived at a point where we said, okay, that that that that's it. And there's there's lines in the song, especially right at the beginning, that that where you're trying to trying to tell of the of the the danger, I suppose. Not tonight of any night. You know, you can just imagine the news coming in that night and the worst possible conditions that I'd been seen in the area. And you've got that that there's a call for a lifeboat, and they're saying, Oh my god, not tonight. And and the chances of survival on a night like this are few. So I suppose we're trying to set the scene there right at the beginning and say w however you imagine these conditions, yeah, well multiply it by ten because it was it was like nothing that had ever been seen before. And so, yeah, that that that was the that was the beginning of it, and we bounced it back and forward for probably three or four weeks, and eventually, I think Christmas Eve, was it Jerry? We sat down in the bar and put the last couple of lines down.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

It was actually uh New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve. And that would have been 2014, just something that you touched on there that you mentioned. And I would have used this, I suppose, that analogy, uh, and I don't know where that came from, but but it's just as you were talking there, it reminded me of, you know, when I was serving my time on the lifeboat, you know, many years after that, and and and I suppose previous to that as well, previous to us recording, there'd be nights you would go to bed and you would say, Oh, Jesus, not tonight, like, you know. Um you'd be listening to the wind and the sea and all the rest, and you'd be saying, Oh Jesus, please, Pedro, don't go off, you know. Um, so I suppose maybe that's and I don't know where the lane came from, John, but but you know, I I would say there was probably as as we spoke about it, that's the sort of stuff we were teasing out. It was as you said, John, it was an intense, you know, few weeks, days, uh days, weeks. Um, but it did it did take over our lives, you know. And we did, as you say, to the best of our ability, get down to to a point where we had it, but we needed the finish.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

And we had four lanes left to right. So this was gonna probably, I want to say, October, November time of the year, uh, with a ramp for a few weeks. So John would normally come home and spend a bit of time, an hour more around New Year. So I says, right, John. I says, let's, you know. I can't remember the the the you know the lead up to that. Were we just struggling with it, or would did we decide to wait until we're face to face and and try to come up with the finish? But we did it on New Year's Eve, and um I'll almost set the scene, you know. What we do, and again, if this has gone out to um to any uh of the police force or the guard of force in Ireland, well I have to apologise in advance. That what we do in the earlies is we generally close up for New Year, bring it in at home with the family, and then in the early hours of the morning, we'll open up the bar again. So there was there was a period, I want to say, from 10 pm to 11 pm, where John and I were were getting, you know, the last few lines. We'd sat down in the corner, John down the holy hour corner. If you remember, I do and uh Kara McHugh, my niece, was actually uh just finishing off her shifts, washing glasses. So we were we weren't talking, we weren't talking, we weren't whispering, you know, so she could hear this whole conversation and we spoke about this afterwards, you know. She says, What are these two up to? You know, she was like so intrigued, but of course she wasn't going to ask. But when we settled on, you know, we we had different drafts, and when we settled on the last four lines, and I think the last four lines are just you know beautifully written, you know, if I can if I can embellish that or or if I'm allowed to say that, and it was just perfect. We both felt, okay, you know, it's done. And as John was writing this down, writing down the lines on to the to the draft we'd really done. I just picked up the guitar and started playing, you know, on the guitar. And the melody was right there. It was do you not know where it came from? And and as I said before, I didn't question it. But I remember saying to John, I don't know if John remembers this, it's John record this. And John says, Why? I said, that's the melody. And he's like, Are you sure? I said, Yeah, I'm sure. Um and it was as it was as pure as that at the end. It was almost a okay guys, you save taken this, you save um you sort of taken these guys back into into a light, and it was almost like, okay, we'll um we'll give you the melody. It almost felt like that. Um you know, closed the book and we were very happy with it. Obviously, then you know John was in Glasgow, I was in Ireland, and we um we weren't getting a chance to to go through the melody. So I would have done a lot of that on my own, you know. Um and I remember at the time we were getting some work done on the bar, I want to say around the February time, uh after 2015, and there were um two very good friends of mine who were huge and are still our great influences in the local music scene in Donegal, uh, John Muldowney and Aurie McBride Aurie McBrearty were in doing some work on the bar. And um as we pulled the old bar across, we actually came across an old, old bottle that was still in the seal of a Kentucky bourbon by the name of Early Times. It was in a plastic bottle, and I says, Jesus, lads, you know, we've had gold here. I I I didn't drink and I don't drink, but I remember, you know, in one of the nights we says, okay, at the end of the night, lads, you know, you just can have a night cap on this, you know, and we would put on a fire and we'd sit down and we'd chat about this and about everything. And um at that stage I had I had worked through the song enough to be comfortable, I suppose, singing it, you know. And I said, lads, have a listen to this. Because I knew there were good ears to pass this on to, or, you know, to get some sort of, you know, feedback on it. Um and I sang it. And there was complete silence. And I always remember John Mulderney turning around to me and says, What the hell is that, sir? You know, John is from Letter Kenny, you know. I said, That's a song. I said to myself, and and I don't know if you knew him at the time or not, John, but I said, That's a song to myself. And John, John put together. And he says, Go on, do me a favour. He says, Sing that again. And he was they were blown away by it, you know. And it was very much in his infancy. Um, they were totally like, What in the name of God did you guys just come up with, you know? And and I suppose that gave us the uh the confidence to to take it to the next stage, you know. They were they were they were huge. We sat in it, I don't know if we sang it much, John, for the next while. I I can't I can't remember that part.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

No, I don't think we did. I think I think it was it was there, and you were sort of refining it over the over a period of months.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

Yeah. But then I I turned 50 the same year in August, and Aurie, the aforementioned Aurie McBreaty, who um is a music producer actually, which I should have mentioned previously. Both the lads were in celebrating my 50th with me, and for my 50th birthday, Aurie says, I have nothing to give you uh in person, but he says, I want to I want to record that song in Attica Studios, which is the premier studio in in Donegal, and I'm like, Really? And um he didn't tell me he was going to be there. I I just thought it was gonna be me, him, and another mutual friend of ours, Decan McClafferty. And I went down thinking this was gonna take like an hour, two hours max. I was expecting to be back home that night. So little did I know that they had some of the finest musicians and vocalists come in to do the instrumental part and also the harmony part, which absolutely blew me away. Um that that that night will always always stick with me. I remember one night I says um at one point during the day I said to them, I says, I should call Pat and and tell her what ferry I'm getting in. To the reply was, you can tell Pat you won't be home tonight because we're gonna finish this tonight. And uh we finished it at one o'clock in the morning, and there was you know, I'll tell the story, John, before you come back in. We had it all layered, or you worked it all day. Musicians came and went, and at like one o'clock in the morning, he says to me, He says, Listen to this and ask me if you have any questions, which which I says, okay, listen to it. And there was one part during the day where we had four brothers come in, Clon McRoory from from West Donegal, Ranafast, and initially in the recording, Aurie made them just hum the melody, you know, it was like which I found strange, and then like they did that a couple of times, and then like an hour later, he asked them to go and sing the melody. So I found that strange at the time, but I didn't question it. So so when he asked me at the end of the night, was there anything that I have any questions on on what happened? And he says, I'm about to press save. He says, Is there anything you want to change? Any questions? So the only question I had was earlier on, this is like five hours before that, I says, Why did you put the lads into the studio just to hum it? And he says, I'm glad you asked me that question. And I said, Well, is there is there a reason for it? And he says, Yeah. So he says, We did a four-part harmony on the uh on just humming it. And I says, Right. And he says, we did another four-part harmony on the singing of it. And I says, Yeah, absolutely. So he says, What is two four part part harmonies? To which I didn't understand the question. I says, What do you mean by that? He says, So you have four-part harmony and then you have another four-part harmony. What does that mean? I says, is there an eight-part harmony? I says, Can you do that? And he says, No. He says, but from this moment on, he says, you or John will never sing the chorus. Because that's the only part that did joined in was the chorus. And I says, But what do you mean by that? He says, from this day forward, on the writing of that song, it's not you or John that's speaking, it's the crew. And he says, That is the harmony. You will never sing that chorus again. He says, That chorus is the crew, and the two four-part harmonies, because it was eight on the crew, it like I was like, Oh my god, you know, that blew me off my socks, to be quite honest. It's a very special moment, and uh yeah, John.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

Yeah, again, bringing me back to the time because there was so much of that every time that you felt that you had heard everything there was to hear about the stalwick, something else would turn up, that was somebody would would have a memory. And Jerry would phone me out of the blue and say, You never guessed what happened today. And he might tell me a story about what happened during the recording, which just linked in to 1940 in some some strange way. Getting back to trying to get the lines in and and and to try and and and put forward the whole vision of what was going on at that time. My favourite part of the song is the bit where we we imagine Jack Boyle on the pier talking to the crew, as he must have done either when he approached them originally or just before they went out, or maybe both, and said to it looking out there and said to each man, You don't have to do this. Nobody is going to think the less of you. There's no shame here if this time you say no. And of course, all of these men said no. I think I heard somebody saying somebody said, Come on, we'll give it a go, something like that. And it it again the story happened in 1940, it's the middle of the the Second World War, and these guys again out it must have the correlation there of people sort of going over the top and in a battlefield because you knew in your heart that you would need to get lucky to survive this, and each one of those men must have known that. And I and I often think again I talk about the backstory, and I think about what did these men say to their wives or their children when they left their homes that night or or that that morning? And what what was their feelings? And it's Jerry Jerry spoke about earlier, they were barely out of the bay when they were almost lost. And at that point do you think let's turn back? But they didn't. It's a remarkable story of courage and bravery that the likes of which I I I just I've never heard in a a sort of personal context, because it it is very personal. It's about people that that you knew, you know, that you you know their families and then and the day, you know, and once the once my part was done, if you like, and Jerry came up with the with the melody and spoke to to John and Ori and the whole ball started rolling, it was like it really was a snowball. It was gathering all the time. As I said earlier, it kind of took over my life for three or four weeks while we were writing it. Jerry was talking about lying in bed and hearing the wind and thinking, I hope we don't get a call tonight. Every night when I went to bed, it was like you couldn't sleep because you this thing was running through your head, and you thought, how do we deliver this story and how do we get it right? And those those those little the story about the old men kneeling down or crying because a man and an Armed Moor man, a hard-bitten Aaron Moorman in 1940, tears didn't come easy. But that's that's an eyewitness report from your father that saw tears in their eyes because they they thought they knew they were losing their friends. The story is just such a fantastic piece of history that I'm just so so pleased to have been part in some small way of keeping that story alive. More than that, maybe, because I think we not only kept it alive but we pushed it to the to the forefront and and said that after however long 40 odd years, 50 odd years or whatever it was between the the night of the rescue and that New Year's Eve. What was that? Oh no, it was more 60. 70, 74, yeah. Maths is not my strong point, yeah, yeah. But uh yeah, so 74 years later, uh, and as you say, with very little having been said in that, and that's that that that's borne out by the fact I'd never heard of it, Pat had never heard of it. So many people that I spoke to on the island didn't know about it. Uh and so 74 years later, and that's just from a gerum in Jerry's head that sort of eventually came to fruition someday when you were looking out the window and said, I know what this is, and it is the still wick. And yeah, as I say, just absolute privilege to be involved in in something like that because the story is fantastic, and even after even after it was recorded, people are still talking about it. People people, you know, it it's it's become it's become a thing. And it's the the it's a great feeling to hear the song sung and to hear everybody joining joining in. And like I suppose every so often somebody's going to say what's that song about? And then the story, the story gets told again. And all credit to the men who done it, like, you know.

SPEAKER_03 31:54

Well John, you mentioned that this story was very personal, and and I suspect that uh very personal for those family members that are still on air and of uh the descendants of the of the crew. So when the song came back to the island, how do you think it was received, maybe Jerry, from uh the family members?

SPEAKER_02 32:16

Yeah, so the the day I recorded, well I I recorded on a Wednesday night. Back to the island on Thursday morning, I had it in my phone, and I must have played it ten times on the car on the way up, you know. I was so pleased with how it it came, the finished product as such. I didn't share it with anybody all that morning because I knew there was one person that I wanted to hear it first. So I went I went up to my father, my late father. He had no idea where I was the day before, and I said, and I had a set of earphones on my phone, just the ordinary plug-in, you know, the old-fashioned ones, and I says, I want you to listen to this dad. My mother had no idea what he was listening to, and I just press played, and and I was watching his facial expressions more than anything, you know, because he would have heard the song obviously before I recorded it, but the finished product of you know of the song and the harmonies and and and the music being put to it. I was watching him and and I could see the tear running down his eye, you know, running down his cheek. And uh my mother says, Right, what are you giving him? You know, what what's he listening to? And he took off the earpin uh the earpiece and I says, Well dad, what he says now he says they'll never be forgotten. They will never be forgotten now, he says. And thank you. You know, we should thank him because he was the keeper. He was the keeper of the story. Uh there's no question about that. He was the person who kept them people alive in his head that eventually transferred over to my head and onto John. So, you know, I have to give him a huge shout out. There there's there's parts of it as John was talking about there uh on the second verse, you know, the person who kneeled on the ground and prayed on the second verse was my grandfather, and that's when my father knew. Oh my god, you know, this is his father, one of the most able seamen, you know, on the coast, looking at this expression. But I remember my father, um, and I and I every time I come to that lane, you know, I just tip my hat because that's bringing my grandfather back into the into the room, as I like to call, you know. And um, but but my father told the story many times in a different recordings. But I remember one recording that he done, he was asked, well, how bad a night was it? You know, where he says, I'll tell you how bad it was. He said, It was so bad, he says the men in the life would even kiss their wives before they left. Yeah. So you know, and the name is kissing your wife wasn't uh in public wasn't very it wasn't as prevalent as it is now, I suppose. So that was uh you know, it's a great, it's a great snapshot, you know, of of but one when I took it back, Kevin, with the recording, I suppose to follow on to your question. Um before we did anything with it, I took it to a member of each family. Um because this was never gonna go nowhere if we didn't get the blessing from the families um and to a person they were they were more than happy, they were gobsmacked actually. That we thought and I suppose I thought about this quite a lot, you know. I suppose and John as well. You know, I wasn't directly related to any of the crew, neither was John. So that gave us sort of there was no nepotism involved. It wasn't like weren't our forefathers and our uncles are there was none of that. We were just writing this as two people that you know had admiration for what they'd done and felt the responsibility of telling the story, you know. We're in uh this is this is so hard to believe, John, but it's 12 years now since we recorded that. Well, yeah, since we since we wrote it.

SPEAKER_00 36:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:04

Um, yet no matter where I am, no matter where I sing that song, and I've sang it in different towns and different countries, every time I sing that song to a new audience, it's like, what in the name of God is that?

SPEAKER_00 36:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

It just and I don't know if it's the hook of the story or the bravado, you know, these men got gold medals for this rescue, and and gold medals are not handed out, you know, as Patrick Boyle once very eloquently said, you know, you just don't get them for nothing. Or I don't know if it's a hook, my father's son. I I don't know what the real hook or or the catchment of the song is, but honestly, without fail, when I sing that to a new audience, it's always always evokes something special. And and that, you know, where does that stop? It will still be going, I'm convinced, long after we've left the soil. And that's I suppose you know it's not a legacy, but it's it's you know, as John said, it's something to be very privileged to be to be able to do, you know. And and I'll be forever grateful for for John's input on that. And it maybe, maybe we're just maybe it just came to us to tell the story. Maybe we were picked. I don't know, but you know, let's not question it.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

No, let's know it. It was uh it's an absolute pleasure to be involved, as you say, Jerry. And I I remember just uh uh on the question, how was it received? I remember the launch, one of many launches, because Jerry put so much work into publicising this thing when it when it did eventually get finished. And the first one was obviously an early spar, and the place was packed. And I'll always remember that day. There was a lot of emotion. I can feel it now as we speak. The families of the men were there, the medals were brought out and looked at again, and it was just it was a fantastic day, and it was it was yeah, it was one of the proudest days of my life to be able to stand in the lounge that day and hear what the people were saying about this and and see how the song had regenerated the interest in that day. So yeah, and so thanks for thanks for asking us to recount that. I've I've thoroughly enjoyed the the reminiscence here and uh it's been great.

SPEAKER_03 38:19

Well, it's an important piece of history, and uh as you as you both have articulated, this will uh be out there last longer. But but my final question for you guys, because uh there there'll be probably nobody that listens to our podcast and Beaver Islander and more that won't know the song, but it's got broader reach than that, too. And I I just looked at your Spotify account, for example, and you've got uh 63,000 downloads on it. But tell us about how this landed in and the rest of Ireland or other places.

SPEAKER_02 38:57

It's funny. Um so funny you asked that question. Very briefly, I'll I'll I'll I'll just I'll get back to that. When the song was recorded, and and John says on the day of the launch on the bar, somebody said to me, You have brought these people back to life. And that was really, really cool to hear that. You know, they're back, they're living again. Really cool. The proceeds from the sale of single CD, we decided to build a monument on the pier on Iron Moor, just called the Stalwick Monument. Tells the story, a beautiful finish. Um, that was launched. Uh, it's an anchor. Um, and that's a whole different story. And and if if Kevin, you don't have enough hours in your podcast for us to go through all the stories that came off. Another time. That's another time. But on the day that we launched it on the uh 7th of August in 9, twenty seventeen. It was approximately four months after there was a horrible tragedy of a helicopter down off the coast of Mayo, where four rescue on the helicopter, rescue 118, were lost. On the day of the launch, 17th, the 7th of August 2017. Two people who who launched the monument were my father and a son of one of the crew, Brian Byrne, whose father Neil Byrne, and uncle were on the crew. But more significantly, I think, um the other person was a woman by the name of Liz Hayes, who was a daughter of one of the survivors. Um a really, really you know, poignant, poignant moment. And uh I I would say, John, the whole dedication would have lasted at least 45 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

Yeah, round up.

SPEAKER_02 40:51

And just as we were coming to the end of it, I had asked through my contacts if it would be possible to have some sort of um if the air corps, if the rescue 118 crew, they were s you know searching at that time for for still searching for their their friends many months later, if it would be possible and they couldn't give a commitment and they didn't come a commitment. But just as I was coming to the very last part of the uh of opening the memorial, in the distance I could hear this, you know, if I'm sure anybody on Beaver would would know the sound of a rescue helicopter, it's just boom, boom, boom, boom. And I could I could hear but I couldn't see it. And just as I was finishing, it it it sailed around the rop the the corner of the island, came over and and was stationary above us for a minute. Just it was you know, I can still feel that moment, and they just I suppose they acknowledged their appreciation of what these guys done in the midst of their own sorrow and looking for their comrades, and then as they do, they dipped the nose of the helicopter as a salute and flew off. Magical moments, you know, there's so many moments I get goosebumps with so many parts of this story. But but come back to your question, Kevin, how has it been received? Uh I'm currently in Spain and I had two friends come out yesterday out for a few days, spend a bit of time with them while they were waiting to catch their their flight in Dublin. That song was playing over the uh PA in Dublin Airport was I'll go.

SPEAKER_01 42:36

Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 42:36

And I'm like, oh my god. So you know what? I don't question anything these guys or you know, I don't question anything this song gives us, and maybe that was just a prelude to this conversation, I don't know. But to answer your question, how has it been received? Well, I think the fact that it's been played in Dublin Airport and at four o'clock in an afternoon, it's landed with a lot of people.

SPEAKER_03 42:59

Absolutely, absolutely. Well, that was a great job. I mean, it took us really through that whole scenario, and you know, I love how much passionate and uh you guys put into this, but just genuine heartfeltness in terms of making sure that this story is told, but told properly too. So I think hats off to you, kudos to guys. I mean, I don't I don't know anybody that doesn't think this is a mic drop moment. So thank you both.

SPEAKER_02 43:26

And Kev. Yeah, and Kevin, just before you go, for anybody that wants more information on it, is there is a page, Facebook page, dedicated just called the Stalwick. If anybody wants to get more of the information, the back there's there's tons. I mean, there's there's there's not a song on this. There's a there's a there's a blockbuster of a movie in the this whole story. And it it tells a story not just of compassion, it not just care, it's leadership. It's got every buzzword that's been used today in the world, uh, no matter what it is you do, it's all there in that package.

SPEAKER_01 44:58

Tonight of any night of the coxswain of the cruces of survival on a night like this are few. December nineteen forty From the coast of Donegal Came a great north when there could have been the cruelest of them all. Fourteen men were missing, eighteen more in great distress. Jack Boyle knew that their future, and his hands had come to rest. He knew a man who knew the sea. If any man would know, we'll show the way without delay. Oh don't said I'll go. I'll go and do the best I can. I'll do what must be done. I'll go cause I'm a lifeboat man. I am my father's son. I'll go and do the best I can. I'll do what must be done. I'll go cause I'm an island man. I am my father's son. Neighbors watch them gather on the cast a word he died eye. And wondered how that life would crew could possibly survive. They all agree that some at least the greatest price would pay. And the old man shed a tear and knelt down on the ground to pray. While standing on the pier with his hand, big squad of men. Jack told each one that they might never see their homes again. And he told them there would be no shame. If this time they said no. Each traced the cross upon his brow, stepped up and said I'll bow. I'll go and do the best I can, I'll do what must be done. I'll go cause I'm a light old man. I am my father's son. I'll go do the best I can, I'll do what must be done. I'll go because I'm an island man, I am my father's son. Against the storm, against the gale, against the mighty wave. Those men were rightly honored as the bravest of the brave. And let everyone salute them. And thank God for men like these who would risk their lives for strangers and peril along the seas. Oh Don Ward and Gallagher remember these names well. With the boils and the burns and Rogers, they face the seas from hell. With the waves above them crashing down on a heaven mast below. God bless them every one. Amid the violence say I'll go. I'll go and do the best I can. I'll do what must be done. I'll go cause I'm a lifeboat man, I am my father's son. I'll go and do the best I can, I'll do what must be done. I'll go cause I'm a island man, I am my father's son. Now this volunteer, lifeboat crew, a sullen out and war. They faced the biggest storm that they had ever seen before. But they brought them eighteen sailors home and left them on the land. Now they're safe and well and home again by the grace of God's own hand. Now the spirits soar above the waves and they ve'en eternal rest. Unsurely if there's justice, they are seated with the best. And I'd like to think and at last our God whispered soft and low and welcomed home the eight brave men who made the vow to go. I'll go and do the best I can, I'll do what must be done. I'll go cause I'm an island man, I am my father's son. I'll go and do the best I can, I'll do what must be done. I'll go cause I'm from Haran Moore. I am my father's son. Yes, I'll go and do the best I can. I'll do what must be done. I'll go cause I'm an island man. I am my father's son. I will go and do the best I can. I'll do what must be done. I'll go cause I'm from Iron Moor. I am my father's son.