And on the first Mothering Sunday since we lost ours six months ago I’m singing Teasy’s praises with Rainy days and Mumsdays.
A twist on our occasional series Rainy Days and Songdays, our fusion of music and travel.
There can only be one place to start with this Rainy days and Mumsdays… where it all began in her beloved Brockagh, Co. Donegal in the north-west of Ireland.
Now all mums are unique, and we weren’t to know that other children weren’t lullabied to sleep with Irish rebel songs like Johnston’s Motor Car.
But Teasy’s cow eyes would twinkle when she would break out into ‘Down by Brockagh Corner one morning I did stray…’
Grannie’s song
It was invariably Irish trad songs, revived by bands such as The Dubliners, The Clancy Brothers and The Furys that she would return.
With Donegal Danny and Derry Hair/Danny Boy, another close to her heart to remind her of her brother Danny, one of four who emigrated to America.
The crossover between Irish/Scottish folk and American Country music led her to rootsy Americana.
And John Denver and his anthem Annie’s Song which he wrote in celebration of his wife in ten minutes on a ski lift in Colorado.
And whose Greatest Hits album I would buy for her with the pocket money I’d saved up one Mother’s Day.
Annie’s Song would be the background music to my brother’s wedding, mine, and when it came to it, her funeral.
As Grannie’s Song for her grandchildren.
Pipes are calling
Today’s Mothering Sunday coincides with International Bagpipe Day.
Now, in Mum’s 70 years in Scotland where she had decamped to be with my Mum she became a big fan of the pipers practising in the fields near our house.
And I am reminded of a special two days I spent with Mum at the World Pipe Band Championships.
In Glasgow Green in her adopted Glasgow.
Where our hosts wined and dined us admirably despite Mum’s attempts to pay.
Always up for any experience we explored the National Piping Centre.
And even took in a performance from the Red Hot Chilli Pipers until her ears gave in.
But that appetite for life, a quality which made her such a voracious traveller, still burns bright.
And on today more brightly still.
When I will jig in her memory and I’ll give three cheers for Teasy McNulty and Johnston’s Motor Car.
