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To mark the release of his new album A Terrible Beauty (reviewed here), Christy Moore has shared a video for his new single ‘Boy In The Wild’, directed and produced by Ellius Grace and starring Liam Cunningham and Ollie West.
The official music video, which is directed and produced by Ellius Grace, stars BAFTA-nominated and IFTA-winning Irish actor Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones, 3 Body Problem, The Vault, Hunger, The Wind That Shakes The Barley) and the sensational IFTA-nominated young actor Ollie West (The Sparrow, The Listeners). This is only the second Christy Moore music video in existence, the other being 1983’s ‘Don’t Forget Your Shovel’.
The song was written by his long-time collaborator and friend Wally Page shortly before Wally’s death in January 2023. The single, features Moore’s own son, Andy Moore, on backing vocals.
In his review of the album, Dave McNally notes: Like so many of the best songs, Wally Page keeps it simple in a lyric that encourages a young person who is encountering life’s challenges to make use of their father’s prior experience – “He’s been there before, he knows the score.” It has some similarities with Ewan McColl’s lovely The Father’s Song. The gentleness of Christy’s vocal, aided by both hushed piano and organ played by Gavin Murphy and Andy Moore’s backing vocals, takes you to the heart of something often left unsaid in father and son relationships.
Christy Moore says: “I first met Wally Page when he sang at The Meeting Place in Dublin in 1977. We struck up a relationship that lasted until his death. Along the way we wrote many songs together. I also covered many of his own songs. Months before his death he sent me most of this song. He wondered was there anything in it (there surely was, dear Waldo). I think this is Wally at his very best. Apart from his writing he was a beautiful soulful singer who exuded warmth, passion and humour when he sang. Wally’s gigs in The Cobblestone and The Five Lamps were legendary. Many of us miss him here in The Black Lagoon.”
A Terrible Beauty (1st November 2024) Claddagh Records
Order A Terrible Beauty: CD/Vinyl
