The Irish Rovers   •   Silver Anniversary (20 Track CD)

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  • Silver Anniversary
    • 1989 - Attic ACD 1303 CD (CAN)
  • Tracklist
    1. What Wid Ye Do
    2. Mick Maguire
    3. McDonalds' Raiders (W. & G. Millar)
    4. Reels (Trad. Arr. W. & G. Millar, W. McDowell)
      1. Pigeon on the Gate
      2. Teetotaler
    5. Castle of Dromore
    6. Rare Old Mountain Dew
    7. Maggie Mae
    8. Mama Was a Moonshine Man (W. & G. Millar)
    9. New York Gals
    10. Unicorn (Shel Silverstein)
    11. Come and Dance to Paddy's Reels (W. & G. Millar)
    12. Song of the Antrim Coast (Trad. New Words by W. Millar)
    13. Jigs (Trad. Arr. W. & G. Millar, W. McDowell)
      1. Frost is All Over
      2. Rakes of Kildare
      3. I Will If I Can
    14. Flower of Sweet Strabane
    15. Shores of Americay
    16. Maid of Fife-O
    17. Summertime Is Coming
    18. Sweet Jazz Babies (W. & G. Millar)
    19. Come By The Hills
    20. Wasn't That A Party (Tom Paxton)
  • The Irish Rovers
    • George Millar, Jimmy Ferguson, Joe Millar, Will Millar & Wicil McDowell
  • Credits
    • Produced by Jack Richardson for J.A.R. Productions
    • Remixed for this album by Bill Henderson (Tracks: 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16)
    • Album Design: Doug Fleming Graphics Ltd.
    • Photography: Dee Lippingwell
    • All tracks: Trad. Arr & Adapted by W. & G Millar, unless otherwise noted.

Sleeve Notes

" Let us go forth, the tellers of tales,
And seize whatever prey the heart longs for and have no fear.
Everything exists, everything is true,
And the earth is only a little dust under our feet."

Quite some time ago, an old Belfast acquaintance, David Hammond, wrote these words to me. They must have been penned with people like The Irish Rovers in mind.

Twenty-five years of musical dust under our feet now! Dust that turned out a grand crop of singing and musical tales.

We passed through the folk clubs of the sixties—places like The Ice House, The Purple Union, The Hungry I, and The Troubador (to name a few)—to the great concert halls like Carnegie Hall and The Sydney Opera House. We've seized our lot of "happiness times".

I suppose, underneath it all, in the beginning, the only "prey" we were after was the laughs, and the miles, and the good times that lay just down the road in the next 'pub! Somehow or other, our music carried us along. We took it to heights that we once only dreamed about. We even opened our own "Unicorn Pubs".

We are still the same old "Irish Rovers" — my brother George and cousin Joe, Big Jimmy and Wilcil. We have never missed one year's touring in all our 25 years. It's been a great party. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

There's an old saying in Ireland (there are lots of old sayings in Ireland!) that says "A bird never flew on one wing" and that goes for The Irish Rovers as well. A lot of great people helped us along—and Les Weinstein and Bob Silk, our managers for all these years, top the list. Here's a big toast to you all!

I hope we have another 25 years of music to share with you.

"May we all live as long as we want to. And may we want to as long as we live!"

All Of Our Best
Will Millar, 1989

"Wasn't that a Party!"
Our love to all the close people of our lives — the ones who "held the fort" while The Rovers toured the world. And to the long list of names that we keep in our memory, with gratitude for all the help along the 25 years of musical miles.

The Irish Rovers