Kilcar's Rory Gallagher.
BY SEÁN P. FEENY
KILCAR’s Rory Gallagher has just recorded a song in support of the Boys In Green this summer, inspired by Sharon Shannon and in aid of a charity supported by Ronnie Whelan.
Rory is good friends with Sharon who visits Lanzarote regularly and performs with him at Charlie’s Bar, the best little bar on the island, in Los Christianos.
The Kilcar native revealed that it was just by ‘fluke’ that he wrote the lyrics for Boys In Green during one of Sharon’s visits to the island.
“We were all out for a meal in January and Sharon jokingly asked if I could write a song supporting the Irish team to the music of Galway Girl and replace the lyrics day-aye-yay-aye-yay with Olé, Olé, Olé,” he laughed.
Being a big football fan, Rory happily agreed and went home that night and had three verses and chorus written within 20 minutes. “The next night I got up and played the song with Sharon and it went down really well,” he said.
On the following night when we played Rory, Sharon and the band played it again, Damien Milton was in the audience and filmed the performance on his iPhone.
Milton returned to Dublin and showed the video to one of his pals, who happened to be none other the Republic of Ireland and Liverpool legend, Ronnie Whelan.
Rory said: “Damien subsequently got in contact with me and asked me whether we were going to released the track. Now we did it for a laugh and never had any intention of earning any money out of it, but Damien suggested why not release it for charity.”
Milton suggested raising funds for Ronnie Whelan’s chosen charity, the Myasthenia Gravis Association. Ronnie is a patron of the charity and like many people had no idea what Myasthenia Gravis was until the disease came knocking on the door of his home.
Ronnie said: “I had no idea what Myasthenia Gravis (a neuromuscular disorder) was and no idea that my eldest daughter, Elizabeth, had MG when she became ill in 2005.
“It was only when it touched my family that we found out what it was, so I am really determined now to raise awareness about the disease here in Ireland and to try to alert people who may be suffering from it.”
Of course Rory could not say no to one of his football heroes, who has since recorded an introduction to the accompanying video, produced by Englishmen Mark Bennett and James Mitchell, who also live on the island of Lanzarote.
“I’m sure it must have killed the lads to film this video for me,” he laughed, “I’m really delighted with the coverage the song already has received, from national press and it was viewed 5,000 in the first four days which is great for the charity.”
Rory is looking forward to the release of the song Boys In Green and will be in Dublin the weekend of April 13, to meet Ronnie Whelan in person to officially mark the launch.
If you would like to celebrate the launch with him, Rory will be performing in Kilcar Parish Hall on April 13 so be sure to get your tickets now.