the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem

Wow, do I love these guys.  I was first exposed to them in the early sixties.  I loved their music, I loved their fisherman sweaters, I really loved Liam Clancy.

My friend Joyce (Sweeney, another fine Irish name) and I would listen to their albums for hours, we knew every song by heart.  When her aunt, who knew how much we loved them, took a trip to Ireland, she brought us back Irish fisherman sweaters, just like the Clancy Brothers wore.  At fifteen years old, we thought we were the coolest things on the planet.

A year or so later, we got to see them live and it was a truly joyous experience, one of those memories that stay razor sharp even now, some fifty years later.

So here I was, looking through Netflix when I saw a documentary about the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.  Of course, I watched it. 

Wow, the memories were flowing. 

Then, recommended for me was their reunion concert, which I'm watching and listening to as I type this.

Out of curiosity, I looked them up on the internet, only to learn that all four of them are dead . . .

And I wish I could explain how very sad this makes me feel.  As I looked them up, one by one to see that they had all passed, tears came to my eyes.  It's as if I've lost family, they were so much a part of my life. 

It seems that I should have known when they passed, one by one . . .

I'm very sad tonight.