He drinks tequila
March 18, 2010 5:15 PM Subscribe
Move over Jedward. Ireland's most watched YouTube video is of family trio Crystal Swing - the wonderful Mary, Dervela and Derek. You may have seen them on Ellen's Paddy's Day show or RTE's The Late Late Show.
This sounds like something I would hear in a German Spelunke. Mix it in with some Astra, Andrea Berg, Howard Carpendale and Roger Whittaker and you've got a party!
Halt die Fresse! Ich hab Feierabend!
posted by chillmost at 5:33 PM on March 18, 2010
Halt die Fresse! Ich hab Feierabend!
posted by chillmost at 5:33 PM on March 18, 2010
WTF Ireland?
posted by GuyZero at 5:45 PM on March 18, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by GuyZero at 5:45 PM on March 18, 2010 [2 favorites]
I mean they really do look like they have wandered in off an episode of Father Ted...
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:00 PM on March 18, 2010
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:00 PM on March 18, 2010
Steve Coogan must be upset that this video from 30 years ago has surfaced.
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:24 PM on March 18, 2010
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:24 PM on March 18, 2010
Why am I watching this?
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:30 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:30 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
I am with Secret Life of Gravy. Can I have some more context as to why I should find this amusing, talented, laughable? I don't get it. Really.
posted by msali at 6:33 PM on March 18, 2010
posted by msali at 6:33 PM on March 18, 2010
Is it xenophobic of me to think that dude looks exactly like Shane MacGowan with better teeth?
posted by mattholomew at 6:33 PM on March 18, 2010
posted by mattholomew at 6:33 PM on March 18, 2010
Not an appropriate duet for siblings, even in Midleton.
posted by Abiezer at 7:02 PM on March 18, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Abiezer at 7:02 PM on March 18, 2010 [2 favorites]
I like it better than "Telephone". It's shorter, for one thing.
posted by Faze at 7:05 PM on March 18, 2010
posted by Faze at 7:05 PM on March 18, 2010
So it's a nostalgia showband act that's been give the Internet irony go-over? Hope they make a shed load of money from the interest.
posted by Abiezer at 7:13 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Abiezer at 7:13 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
I mean this in the best possible way: they have Eurovision written all over them.
posted by grounded at 7:27 PM on March 18, 2010
posted by grounded at 7:27 PM on March 18, 2010
This sounds like something Terry Wogan would love. I kinda do too!
posted by Flashman at 7:51 PM on March 18, 2010
posted by Flashman at 7:51 PM on March 18, 2010
Years ago, when I was visiting Ireland for the first time, I stayed with a friend and her family. At one point, I was out browsing with her and her 15-year-old brother Donal. One shop we were in had some ghastly chirpy Muzak arrangements of things like "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" and "How Are things In Glocca Morra", and at one point my friend's brother came up to me, nudged me and said, "I just want ye to know -- this is the sort of music that embarrasses us."
I got about 15 seconds into these videos before hearing Donal's "This is the sort of music that embarrasses us" in my mind's ear.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:30 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
I got about 15 seconds into these videos before hearing Donal's "This is the sort of music that embarrasses us" in my mind's ear.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:30 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
Seen your Jose?
posted by charlesminus at 8:34 PM on March 18, 2010
posted by charlesminus at 8:34 PM on March 18, 2010
If I was in a bar where they were playing I would totally be filling the tip jar and hoping to go home with any one of the three of them.
posted by Edward L at 8:55 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Edward L at 8:55 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
My favorite thread of the day because you lead me to the Honeymooners doing the Hucklebuck.
posted by Edward L at 9:28 PM on March 18, 2010
posted by Edward L at 9:28 PM on March 18, 2010
If I close my eyes I hear a Cher imitator duetting with an Elvis impostor. (Yes, I mean while I listen to the video.)
posted by sallybrown at 9:29 PM on March 18, 2010
posted by sallybrown at 9:29 PM on March 18, 2010
It's my understanding that European connections notwithstanding, Ireland remains a small, semi-inhabited island dotted with isolated villages, towns and a small city or two where any freak of culture can catapult a virtual unknown into the spotlight overnight. A quarter of a million views on Youtube in two weeks. That's what a rising star goes for these days on the old Black Rose.
Betwixt you and I and those [presumably] half-million eyeballs, Ronald Jenkees has over 37 million views on the Youtubes and he's a fucking nobody.
Call us when these two starstruck, drug-addled bastards off their mother in an incestuous matricidal pact. Only then will these videos, or these people, become interesting.
posted by jsavimbi at 9:29 PM on March 18, 2010
Betwixt you and I and those [presumably] half-million eyeballs, Ronald Jenkees has over 37 million views on the Youtubes and he's a fucking nobody.
Call us when these two starstruck, drug-addled bastards off their mother in an incestuous matricidal pact. Only then will these videos, or these people, become interesting.
posted by jsavimbi at 9:29 PM on March 18, 2010
Just interjecting with some evidence that Irish bands can borrow influences from elsewhere... and arguably sound better than the original.
posted by markkraft at 9:57 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by markkraft at 9:57 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
Reminds me of the Irish Hit Parade on AM 950 WROL up here in Boston.
posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 10:01 PM on March 18, 2010
posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 10:01 PM on March 18, 2010
I saw the Late Late Show clip cold a week or so ago and rather enjoyed it for its late-60s flashback Countrypolitan vibe. Only later did I learn that I was supposed to be snickering and/or appalled instead.
posted by Lazlo at 10:41 PM on March 18, 2010
posted by Lazlo at 10:41 PM on March 18, 2010
I didn't know the Ultima 4 theme had lyrics.
posted by benzenedream at 11:46 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by benzenedream at 11:46 PM on March 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
Why am I watching this?
posted by Secret Life of Gravy
I am with Secret Life of Gravy. Can I have some more context as to why I should find this amusing, talented, laughable? I don't get it. Really.
posted by msali
Hmmm. There's a few odd things about this for me. Clearly, it's cheesy. It's embarrassing [as EmpressCallipygos notes]. It's nostalgic, as some pointed out. It's uncomfortable - eek: siblings and 'talk dirty in spanish'... so wrong!
My favourite part is the "Rural TV" intro, the repeats of the phone numbers at beginning and end of the clip and the overall eighties production values. No matter how far urban, European, high tech Ireland thinks it has come, it's like we are only a degree or two of separation from Dervela, Derek n Mary. Irish folk are sending it to each other all over the world and having laughs together, not necessarily in a snide way but, it seems to me, as 'insiders' sharing a moment of - possibly aghast - recognition.
posted by honey-barbara at 12:39 AM on March 19, 2010 [6 favorites]
posted by Secret Life of Gravy
I am with Secret Life of Gravy. Can I have some more context as to why I should find this amusing, talented, laughable? I don't get it. Really.
posted by msali
Hmmm. There's a few odd things about this for me. Clearly, it's cheesy. It's embarrassing [as EmpressCallipygos notes]. It's nostalgic, as some pointed out. It's uncomfortable - eek: siblings and 'talk dirty in spanish'... so wrong!
My favourite part is the "Rural TV" intro, the repeats of the phone numbers at beginning and end of the clip and the overall eighties production values. No matter how far urban, European, high tech Ireland thinks it has come, it's like we are only a degree or two of separation from Dervela, Derek n Mary. Irish folk are sending it to each other all over the world and having laughs together, not necessarily in a snide way but, it seems to me, as 'insiders' sharing a moment of - possibly aghast - recognition.
posted by honey-barbara at 12:39 AM on March 19, 2010 [6 favorites]
There are a lot of things to laugh at in this video (Derek's unblinking stare, Derek's Stop Making Sense suit, Derek, Mary's glamorous flirting with the camera) but then the two kids come across as genuinely sweet and enthusiastic in the interview and you just want them to keep having fun. Also, Derek's Hucklebuck is a force of nature.
I have heard that the mother's a bit of an, and I quote, "Odd Fish" which the interview in no way dispelled. There's a very strong stage mammy vibe off of her but the kids seem alright so whatever.
Ireland is a pretty shit place to be at the moment; our government has been on the brink of collapse since the recession hit, our economy is in tatters, and both our banks and the Catholic Church are revealing themselves to be more corrupt and evil than we thought on an almost daily basis. Ireland needed a shared cultural moment that wasn't completely fucking depressing and these earnest showband throwbacks have been a welcome antidote to the cynicism that is rapidly becoming our national default mode.
Why yes, I have watched these videos too many times, why do you ask?
posted by minifigs at 1:58 AM on March 19, 2010 [9 favorites]
I have heard that the mother's a bit of an, and I quote, "Odd Fish" which the interview in no way dispelled. There's a very strong stage mammy vibe off of her but the kids seem alright so whatever.
Ireland is a pretty shit place to be at the moment; our government has been on the brink of collapse since the recession hit, our economy is in tatters, and both our banks and the Catholic Church are revealing themselves to be more corrupt and evil than we thought on an almost daily basis. Ireland needed a shared cultural moment that wasn't completely fucking depressing and these earnest showband throwbacks have been a welcome antidote to the cynicism that is rapidly becoming our national default mode.
Why yes, I have watched these videos too many times, why do you ask?
posted by minifigs at 1:58 AM on March 19, 2010 [9 favorites]
I'd heard about this crowd, but this is the first I've seen of them and I have to agree with Secret Life of Gravy, why am I watching this?
I just don't get it.
Also why can't RTE just cancel The Late Late, Ryan Tubridy is an improvement on Pat Kenny, but then again who wouldn't be?
posted by Fence at 2:54 AM on March 19, 2010
I just don't get it.
Also why can't RTE just cancel The Late Late, Ryan Tubridy is an improvement on Pat Kenny, but then again who wouldn't be?
posted by Fence at 2:54 AM on March 19, 2010
They should do a bunch of shows in Massachusetts. You know it's pledge time in around here when the PBS affiliate switches to an all-Celtic Woman format. Used Kleenex stamped with a shamrock would sell briskly in Greater Boston. I know a guy who quit his job in the mutual fund industry to sell peat logs for Irish Americans to burn in their fireplaces. Crystal Swing would rake it in here and their talents are irrelevant.
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:06 AM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:06 AM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
God, no wonder Irish dads drink.
(Not anti-anyone! Just read a bit too much Frank McCourt!)
posted by Jody Tresidder at 5:58 AM on March 19, 2010
(Not anti-anyone! Just read a bit too much Frank McCourt!)
posted by Jody Tresidder at 5:58 AM on March 19, 2010
Can I ask two questions? Okay, three....
2) Is it me, or does the keyboard work in no way match what is being played?
3) Why is it that everyone, no matter how posh or yokel their accent, always sings in some awful mid-atlantic drawl? Even if the song they are copying is in a non-US accent?
posted by sodium lights the horizon at 6:39 AM on March 19, 2010
2) Is it me, or does the keyboard work in no way match what is being played?
3) Why is it that everyone, no matter how posh or yokel their accent, always sings in some awful mid-atlantic drawl? Even if the song they are copying is in a non-US accent?
posted by sodium lights the horizon at 6:39 AM on March 19, 2010
I was kind of hoping this would go unnoticed internationally......I was kind of hoping that this would have remained in it's own little bubble......I was kind of hoping Ireland had become more sophisticated.
Ah well. It's all a bit of fun really (for some).
(apropos of The Late Late Show in general)
I'm glad I didn't see this live, I actually thought for a few weeks that Tubridy was an improvement on Kenny. This all came crashing down where he was terrible with the kids on the toy show. I'd prefer if they brought back Kenny.
posted by Homemade Interossiter at 6:42 AM on March 19, 2010
Ah well. It's all a bit of fun really (for some).
(apropos of The Late Late Show in general)
I'm glad I didn't see this live, I actually thought for a few weeks that Tubridy was an improvement on Kenny. This all came crashing down where he was terrible with the kids on the toy show. I'd prefer if they brought back Kenny.
posted by Homemade Interossiter at 6:42 AM on March 19, 2010
Homemade Interossiter: "I'm glad I didn't see this live, I actually thought for a few weeks that Tubridy was an improvement on Kenny. This all came crashing down where he was terrible with the kids on the toy show. I'd prefer if they brought back Kenny."
Ryan Tubridy's Toy Show was probably the first one I've enjoyed since Gay Byrne finished up. He seemed a bit nervous at first but he didn't patronise the kids as much as Pat Kenny did.
The real problem with the Toy Show these days is the over reliance on having the kids demonstrate the toys. Remember back in the day when they'd have three kids on the middle to show three toys and let Gay's magic army of helpers show us the rest? It was much better.
posted by minifigs at 7:10 AM on March 19, 2010
Ryan Tubridy's Toy Show was probably the first one I've enjoyed since Gay Byrne finished up. He seemed a bit nervous at first but he didn't patronise the kids as much as Pat Kenny did.
The real problem with the Toy Show these days is the over reliance on having the kids demonstrate the toys. Remember back in the day when they'd have three kids on the middle to show three toys and let Gay's magic army of helpers show us the rest? It was much better.
posted by minifigs at 7:10 AM on March 19, 2010
I come to work with the Replacements' "Alex Chilton" in my head and I get hit upside the head with that?! I need some ear bleach stat!
posted by Ber at 8:28 AM on March 19, 2010
posted by Ber at 8:28 AM on March 19, 2010
Yeah, this is part of the reason I don't watch Tubridy, or that insufferable asshole on Saturday nights, but thanks for filling me in Metafilter, thanks a fucking bunch.
Also, the mother scares me.
posted by Elmore at 9:29 AM on March 19, 2010
Also, the mother scares me.
posted by Elmore at 9:29 AM on March 19, 2010
It's my understanding that European connections notwithstanding, Ireland remains a small, semi-inhabited island dotted with isolated villages, towns and a small city or two where any freak of culture can catapult a virtual unknown into the spotlight overnight.
Case in point: U2.
posted by incessant at 9:57 AM on March 19, 2010
Case in point: U2.
posted by incessant at 9:57 AM on March 19, 2010
There is a very good send-up of the whole thing here
posted by toadinthehole at 4:09 PM on March 19, 2010
posted by toadinthehole at 4:09 PM on March 19, 2010
There is a very good send-up of the whole thing here
Was that a man dressed up as a woman dressed up as a man?
Awesome.
posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 4:49 PM on March 22, 2010
Was that a man dressed up as a woman dressed up as a man?
Awesome.
posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 4:49 PM on March 22, 2010
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