“Muirsheen Durkin” (1967) – The Dubliners * Arr. by the Dubliners * LP: More of the Hard Stuff * Produced by Tommy Scott
“Muirsheen Durkin” is sung from the point of view of an Irish potato digger hellbent on transforming himself into a Californian gold digger circa 1849. As folk songs are apt to do, it’s taken different shapes over time—the melody likely came from a dance reel called “Pretty Girls of Mayo,” while a similar song called “Molly Durkin” circulated among Irish Americans in the 1940s from a record by Murty Rabbett. A 1966 45 of “Muirsheen Durkin” by John McEvoy (credited to “The Rambler” on the label) reached #1 on the UK singles chart, but this version by the Dubliners—who were already Irish folk legends by 1967—ought to be considered definitive. Watch them perform it on the Ed Sullivan Show in March 1968 (linked below). Lead singer Luke Kelly personifies the song’s determined immigrant character and you don’t doubt that he will, in fact, make a name for himself in Amerikay. (Was he not performing right then on that nation’s highest rated TV show?) Ronnie Drew, meanwhile, plays the intimidator behind Kelly’s right shoulder, while the other three Dubliners hold forth as gnomish reinforcements.