Oct 24, 2022
A Celtic Halloween ghost story. Can Death stop Johnny from grabbing a drink after a hard day at work?
It’s Pub Songs & Stories #259.
WELCOME TO PUB SONGS & STORIES
0:10 - “Black Velvet Band lyrics” by Marc Gunn from The Bridge
I am Marc Gunn. This is the audio liner notes for the songs I play.
The show is brought to you by my Gunn Runners on Patreon. If you enjoy this podcast and my music, please join the Club. You’ll get 2-3 podcasts per month. You’ll be able to download a song featured in this show, get sheet music, and access to Coffee with The Celtfather video concerts. That is all for as little as $5 per month.
Thanks to my newest Gunn Runners on Patreon: Lisa and Troy
4:02 - WHAT’S NEW?
Music? You may ask. But where’s the story?
I’m trying another change to the podcast. So I’m gonna share a few tracks in this episode, along with a story about my original song “I’ll Drink from Dusk Til Dawn”, a ghost story, no less, just in time for Halloween.
I’m revving for the end of the year. I launched the Celtic Christmas Podcast last week. And yes, I know we haven’t gotten through Halloween yet. But when you’re a DJ, you have to plan way early.
Speaking of Halloween, if you haven’t listened to “Lament for a Halloween Rabbit”, go check it out. I released that episode last year. You can hear my Bugs Bunny Halloween song in that episode.
And make sure you pick up my Celtic Halloween EP. It’s one of the bonuses you get when you are a member of my Gunn Runners Club on Patreon.
6:36 - “High Jeannie High” by Marc Gunn from Happy Songs of Death
8:41 - RECYCLING TIP
I learned something interesting about recycling recently. I wanted to share. I think most of us know we should recycle. But there are a LOT of hiccups in learning how.
In Birmingham, AL, we could only recycle glass by taking it to a glass recycle dumpster. But in Atlanta, we have a lot more options. So I’m gonna share two quick and easy tips.
First, don’t put plastic bags into the recycle bin. Plastic bags are too thin and they will tangle up in the machinery. That means, they have to shut down the equipment to get the plastic bag out.
You can take all types of thin plastic to the recycle bins at grocery stores. It says plastic bags. And we think about grocery bags. But it includes all thin plastic.
Second, it also includes trash bags. Those should not be dumped into the recycle bin.
I used to bag all of my recycle material into a plastic trash bag and dumb that into the recycle bin. Turns out when you do that, the collectors frequently throw those bags into the regular trash because the trash bag also will get caught in the machinery.
So instead, dump the recycle loosely into your blue bins. It seems weird. But it’s more likely to get recycled.
I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me.
10:51 - UPCOMING SHOWS
- NOV 4-6: Conjuration, Atlanta, GA
- NOV 19: Three Taverns Brewery, Decatur, GA @ 12:00-1:30 PM
- NOV 19: Ironshield Brewing, Lawrenceville, GA @ 7:00-10:00 PM
11:56 - “La La La Geek” by Marc Gunn from Sci Fi Drinking Songs
14:08 - STORY OF I’LL DRINK FROM DUSK TIL DAWN
I wrote “I’ll Drink From Dusk Til Dawn” around 2001, I think. I don’t exactly remember when. But I do remember quite a bit about this Irish ghost story.
The original title of the song was “Johnny at the Door”. I first recorded it with the Brobdingnagian Bards for our album Songs of Ireland. It was one of the few original songs.
[insert snippet of bards version]
This is one of those songs I was super proud of. I wanted to write a traditional-style ghost story and I succeeded tremendously. I had so many people ask us back then where I “found” the song because they thought it was a traditional Irish song. That was a big part of my goal in writing it. I wanted a song that was indistinguishable from traditional Irish songs. So on that front I succeeded.
I also succeeded because of the name–”Johnny at the Door”. It’s a good ghost story name. It evoked wonderful imagery. It’s the story of a man who goes to work just longing for the end of the day and a good pint of beer with his friends. He dies on the journey. And his ghost finishes his quest to have a good pint of beer.
But yes, I changed the name. That was because of MP3.com.
We were doing quite well on MP3.com. I was learning a lot about naming things in search during that time. It was the start of my study of SEO (search engine optimization) which was super important in the aughts.
But this was less SEO and more naming. If you know the song, “Johnny at the Door” sounds cool and kind of creepy. But it doesn’t really get much attention until you hear that chorus.
You see, this was one of my more successful attempts to write a drinking song. But again “Johnny at the Door” doesn’t really say anything about it being a drinking song. Not until you hear it.
I was convinced that if I renamed the song, that it would be more popular on MP3.com. And I was right.
I changed the name and the song shot up on the Celtic music charts. It wasn’t super stellar. But it was good enough that when I decided to re-record it in 2009 for my CD, Happy Songs of Death, that I should use the new name instead of the one that Bards had used on Songs of Ireland.
This recording was produced by Ari Koinuma. He was the Japanese American producer I hired to also produce Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers. Aside from the autoharp, he played all of the instruments on the album.
I think he sang on track as well. But most of the background vocals were me singing in different voices, something I was learning to do on Going for Brogue.
Ari told me later that this was his favorite song on the album. He had fun producing it and building the intensity.
19:19 - “I’ll Drink From Dusk Til Dawn” by Marc Gunn from Happy Songs of Death
You can download this song as an MP3 when you join my Gunn Runners on Patreon.
What are you doing while listening to Pub Stories? I’d love your thoughts and feedback. So take a picture of yourself or where you are or what one of these stories reminds you of. Post it on social media. Use the hashtag #pubstories so I can find it and share your story.
Thanks for listening to Pub Songs & Stories. The show was produced by Marc Gunn, edited by Mitchell Petersen with graphics by Miranda Nelson Designs. You can subscribe and listen to the regular show wherever you find podcasts. You can also subscribe to my mailing list. You will get regular updates of new music, podcasts, special offers, and you’ll enjoy more stories behind several of my most-popular songs.
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