We're delighted to see that Keywest's performance of 'To France We'll Drive - The Shane Long Tribute' is being shared and posted all across the internet this morning. It seems the euphoria is showing no signs of dying down and rightly so.
But in case you haven't heard the tale of how it came to be then gather round and let me tell you about a little thing called serendipity.
When we arrived in on Friday morning, we were greeted with a post on our Facebook wall from The Artistic Differences - of 24 years fame - which featured the lyrics they had written to a new Shane Long chant. A wondrous chant, set to the tune of Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive.'
In fact it was so good we decided merely posting the lyrics would not do it justice. We needed to get it recorded. We set out to Temple Bar with lyric sheets in our hands and dreams in our pockets, in the hope that we might find a group of fans or a busker bold enough to try singing it.
Alas there were only a handful of fans hanging around the square in Temple Bar but we wandered into a packed pub to see if the musician performing there would be up for a laugh. He was impressed by the lyrics but wasn't sold on the whole idea of actually doing. In fact he suggested that we get up and sing it. Trust me, that it something no one would have wanted to see.
So off we went to Grafton Street in one last desperate attempt to find someone who'd bring these words to life. Low and behold there wasn't one performer to be seen - apart from an old man tap dancing - for nearly all the journey, until .... in the distance .... we heard a faint sound. As we walked on the melodious hum grew louder.
It was the sound of Keywest, the no.1 selling band in Ireland at the moment. The no.1 bloody band in Ireland! Playing in front of an enthralled crowd on Grafton Street, mere hours after they'd found out their new album Joyland had topped the Irish charts.
'They'll hardly want to do this?' we thought. 'This is too good to be true, there's no way they'll agree to it.' But, my friends, this is a week in which anything can happen. We approached them and not only did they agree to it but the turned out to be some of the soundest lads you could hope to meet.
They practiced, they made it their own, they got the crowd together and then it happened - the magic happened.
The Artistic Differences - the wonderful, talented bunch who wrote the song - are also responsible for this:
