What Can I Say About Peggy?

What could I say about Peggy?
Nothing but the truth.
I loved her songs and her singing
I heard away back in my youth.
Her songs were food to my Soul
Her voice was a thrill to my ear.
I loved her then as a child,
It was mutual and sincere.

I love her today as a friend
And the memories shared together.
Her songs still lift my soul
Like the lark warbling o'er the heather.
What can I say about Peggy?
Thanks for the joy she has given.
Blest be the dawn of our friendship
When Peggy was only seven.

Dan Keane.

The above, written in perfect Copperplate, was handed to me by octogenarian Kerry poet Dan Keane when I told him I was writing a piece about Peggy Sweeney. When I met and talked to the singer herself she spoke in equally glowing terms of Dan. But, then, she struck me as the kind of person who would have great difficulty speaking unkindly of anyone. Any mild criticism of a fellow human being seemed to be invariably followed by; "Ah....he (or she) is alright".

Peggy was born in Rathea, Co. Kerry, the second youngest of seven children. My hinted request for a D.O.B. was met with Kerry specificness; "In the second half of the last century". When I point out that David Mamet, in his book "True and False" claims that nobody with a happy childhood ever went into show business the tumultuous reply is like the Smearla river in flood. I am left in no doubt about her happy childhood, despite the fact that her father died when she was only six. Her grandfather was a very good fiddle player and by the time Peggy was a year-and-a-half old she was able to hum the tunes that he played for her. Her father was a dancing teacher and her mother, a beautiful singer, (who was very much a woman before her time), taught her all her songs.

She emphasizes that she grew up in a house of laughter, song and dance "which brought us all a long way, the day wasn't half long enough for us and if I had to do it all over again I'd do the very same thing".

Peggy can in the words of Thomas Prior; "....answer to the truth of a song" when she sings "Rathea In County Kerry" written for her by cousin, Brian Burke;

When I think of the days that once I spent
In the hills of County Kerry
Those happy days before I went
And took the Holyhead ferry.
Well we danced and we sang
'Til the morning shone shone,
Though my grief I try to bury
For our lives were free in good company
In Rathea in County Kerry.

A story emanating from the Presentation Convent in Listowel has a two-pronged connection with W.B. Yeats (first it brings to mind his line: "I made my song a coat"). When Sister Austin asked Peggy to recite "The Sally Gardens" the quietly confident child recited a line or two and got stuck; only to volunteer; " I can't sing it Sister.....but I will sing it".

From an early age she competed. But competition is not her forte and she says :" I had to compete" adding Modestly; "I won a couple of All-Irelands with the Lixnaw branch of Comltas". She competed, as a member of Scor, and left unbeaten in Kerry or Munster and believing that competition destroys the love of singing; " When I reached the age where I didn't have to compete any more that's when I really enjoyed singing".

She has also judged competitions. That is not her favorite exercise either but her advice to young singers is: "Enjoy what you're doing, I like to see a child -or an adult- enjoying their song". She tells beginners to pick a simple song and work up from there. She believes that a child competitor should always be put at ease and not pressurized into competing, by anybody.

Although she grew up among a lot of famous people (Bryan McMahon et al) from Listowel and the surrounding area she says that she didn't see them as famous; she knew them all so well. Talk of John B. Keane brings her to her other great love, amateur drama.

She says;" I love being somebody else for a couple of hours". I didn't have the neck to quote David Mamet for a second time. And anyway I can't vouch for the validity of his claim that; ".....the person onstage is YOU. It is not a construct you are free to amend or mold. It's you. It is YOUR character which you take onstage".

The great thespians of the world might not agree with Peggy's claim that to do one of John B's plays you have to be from Kerry. "The only accent that would lend itself to one of his plays would be the Kerry accent". She sang for Presidents ....but her fondest memory is of the night she performed in the National Concert Hall with the late Eamon Kelly. She says; "I was nervous but Eamon was twice as nervous".

She made her first album " The Songs of Sean McCarthy" in January 1991, just two months after Sean McCarthy had called her to his deathbed and requested that she record his works. This was followed by The Cliffs of Dooneen", "The Turning of the Tide" and "More songs of Sean McCarthy". "The Songs of Sean McCarthy" was released on video in August1999. Her latest album "Kerry; A Kingdom of Song" is also due out on video before Christmas. All her albums are available from; www.kerrymusic.com
And from herself; Peggy Sweeney, Mountcoal, Listowel, Co.Kerrry.

The perfect diction and beautiful voice moistened many an exiles eyes during her several tours of Britain, as Bean-a-Ti, with The Irish Rambling House Concert group. She agrees with Charlie Landsborough that the ability to give a spititual message through songs is "a Blessing from above". When her old school friend, Kay Forristal, brought out her book of poems called "New Beginnings" Peggy wrote the forward: "Spirituality is free flowing and ever changing. This aptly describes the connecting relationship between Kathleen and I. We have known one another since childhood yet, neither time or distance has failed to quench this unseen dimension of our lives.Our spirits have been inextricably linked through the medium of verse and song. Through this thought-provoking book, we celebrate decades of true friendship and inherent spirituality".

What (more) can I say about Peggy?

by
Mattie Lennon
22nd April 2002

Mattie Lennon is a broadcaster, writer and busman
who has been told he has the perfect face for radio.