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Rory Gallagher ‘Vagabonds of the Western World(s): Continuities, Tensions and the Development of Irish Rock Music, 1968-78’ Matteo Cullen Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English Language and Literature Mary Immaculate College University of Limerick DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis represents my own work and has not been submitted, in whole or in part, by me or any other person, for the purpose of obtaining any other qualification. Signed: _____________________________ Date: _______________________ ii Table of Contents Table of Contents .................................................................................... iii Abstract ................................................................................................ vi Acknowledgements ................................................................................ vii Table of Figures .................................................................................... viii CD Track Listing .................................................................................... ix Abbreviations ......................................................................................... xi Chapter One ........................................................................................... 1 Done or Failed to Do? A Framework for the Study of Irish Rock ......................... 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Rock in Context I: International Transformations ........................................................................... 12 Rock in Context II: The Guitar in Popular Music ........................................................................... 22 Rock in Context II: Ireland, Irish Culture and Society in the 1960s ................................................. 31 ‗Irish Rock‘: Chronology and Definition ......................................................................................... 43 Irish Rock and Irish Cultural Studies .............................................................................................. 56 Rock Music and Irish Music Studies ............................................................................................... 61 Phil Lynott ..................................................................................................................................... 65 Rory Gallagher ............................................................................................................................... 69 Van Morrison ................................................................................................................................. 72 The Cultural Location of Irish Rock ............................................................................................... 74 Method and Structure of the Analysis ............................................................................................. 76 Chapter Two .......................................................................................... 88 Dweller(s) on the Threshold: A Critical Overview of the Irish Rock Industry, 1968-78 ........................................................................................................... 88 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 88 Irish Rock and Its Precedents (I): The Showband ............................................................................ 89 Irish Rock and Its Precedents (II): The Beat Scene ........................................................................ 101 Irish Rock and its Precedents (III): The Folk Boom ...................................................................... 107 Popular Music Production and Distribution in Ireland .................................................................. 114 Management ................................................................................................................................ 122 iii Critical Media .............................................................................................................................. 127 Performance Spaces ...................................................................................................................... 135 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 137 Chapter Three ...................................................................................... 144 Hybridity and Irish Rock Music ....................................................................................... 144 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 144 Hybridity in Cultural Theory ........................................................................................................ 148 Irish Culture and Theorizations of Hybridity ................................................................................ 151 McLaughlin, McLoone and the Case of Irish Rock Music ............................................................ 155 Irish Rock as Hybrid Process: Some Examples .................................................................. 163 Rory Gallagher: Rory Gallagher (1971) ........................................................................................... 164 Van Morrison: Veedon Fleece (1974) ................................................................................................ 171 Phil Lynott: Vagabonds of the Western World ................................................................................... 178 Irish Rock and Indigenous Irish Musics ........................................................................................ 190 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 208 Chapter Four ....................................................................................... 213 From Clontarf Castle to the Western Plain (via Cyprus Avenue and the sun): the National, Space and Place in Irish Rock ...................................................... 213 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 213 National and Other Cultures in Ireland ......................................................................................... 223 Classic Rock and National Imagining ........................................................................................... 230 Irish Rock and the National .......................................................................................................... 233 Rory Gallagher ............................................................................................................................. 235 Phil Lynott ................................................................................................................................... 248 Van Morrison ............................................................................................................................... 264 Some Intricacies of Location: Space and Place in Irish Rock ......................................................... 279 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 321 Chapter Five ........................................................................................ 329 The Green, White, Orange and Black (Atlantic): Black/Irish Interchange and Irish Rock Identities ..................................................................................... 329 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 329 Gilroy, the black Atlantic and Irish culture(s) .................................................................... 337 Black Art, Irish Subjectivities ........................................................................................... 349 Rory Gallagher and the Blues ....................................................................................................... 349 Van Morrison: Caledonian Soul ................................................................................................... 359 Irish Blue: Phil Lynott and African-American Nomadism ............................................................. 370 Conclusion: Black Music, Irish Rock and the Politics of Authenticity ................................. 383 iv Conclusion .......................................................................................... 392 Wheels Within Wheels: The Cultural Location of First-Wave Irish Rock...................................... 392 Bibliography ........................................................................................ 405 Websites ............................................................................................. 421 Interviews ........................................................................................... 424 Images ................................................................................................ 425 Filmography ........................................................................................ 427 Discography........................................................................................
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