Dear Reader –
Today - things you will only hear said in Sligo PLUS Hanson’s MMMBop as you have never heard it before, but first - news of a new weekly feature…
**All hyperlinks in bold.
The Big Thing
I’m going to try something new in today’s letter. It’s for anyone who’d like to test their musical ears and maybe even their knowledge about how music works. You might even learn something along the way too…
So - from now on there will be a question about the featured song at the bottom of the letter each week. It will have a difficulty rating of somewhere between 1 and 5 (1 being the easier end of the scale). Comments with the answers are welcome.
I’ll give the answer (and explanation if required) the following week.
Where else but Sligo?
A selection of comments I have heard about Sligo over the last week alone…
“It’s only since returning here as an adult that I realised how beautiful a place it is”.
“They lived in Rose Hill - and that was posh at the time”.
“We need a minister - we have nothing here”.
“It’s the hidden gem of Ireland, but we’re kind of happy with that”.
“It’s the people from Sligo who give out most about the place”.
“Sometimes you realise how small a place it is in the bigger scheme of things”.
“We have the best music scene in the country”.
“We don’t want to be a Galway”.
“Come on to f*** Rovers”!
Where else but Sligo indeed.
What’s New?
SUMMERHILL COLLEGE…are in the A Schools All-Ireland final this Friday. A huge achievement for any Sligo team. Well done on all you have achieved so far lads, and don’t stop now!
OFF TOPIC BUT GREAT: For anyone currently in the phone/social media battleground with their children - Margaret Lynch will give you a lot to think about in this brilliant column.
SCARY POCKETS…are a funk band who release weekly covers on YouTube. Core members are Ryan Lerman and Jack Conte, who enlist the help and support from a rotating roster of the best session musicians, singers and producers in the Los Angeles area. Check them out below…
Finally…
Sinéad and I were out over the weekend and heard one riff from the below song faintly in the background. Our thoughts immediately turned to trying to figure out what song it was. Both of us first thought of Declan O’Rourke but realised soon after that we were wrong. It was one of those that would have ruined our evening had we not got it. Finally, from this riff I managed to get the song’s melody into my head but my singing it did nothing for Sinéad! Eventually she said Hozier, the song immediately came to me and our night was saved!
Questions:
Difficulty Level 2 - How many beats in a bar?
Difficulty Level 3 -How many bars in the intro?
Till next time - Kieran.
