TOMMY AND TIMMY – Pierce Turner

TOMMY AND TIMMY

Last time I saw Tommy and Timmy Together they were standing on a bridge near Croke Park Home for a tour - for once I timed it So that I could see Wexford playing a game in that park

Tommy and Timmy looked like they’d been waiting there for hours Standing there with the cool breeze blowing through their hair They seemed entirely at home there on the bridge, Didn’t look like they ever intended moving it

I knew they’d been at the match ‘cos Timmy’s from Wexford

‘Twas a huge surprise to seem them there But they didn’t seem surprised to see me at all I mighta thought they were waiting for me Except they didn’t even know I was there We talked like there was nothing unusual About the fact I’d never seen them in Ireland before And the only time I did was at my gig in the Village When we went out and got pissed together

We’re going to the west, 14th is best Take a right on the Avenue We’re gonna look after you Take us to McManus’s

Last time in the City was In a yellow taxi going home at God knows what hour I remember singing Rogers and Hammerstein The song that is the one that comes from Oklahoma

Oh the cattle are standing like statues

Tommy and Timmy howled with laughter

Tommy we’ll miss you forever after

They used to come to my gigs in The Village. I played with a string quartet at the time. These two hairy guys, smiling and laughing, getting every little nuance of my Irish sarcasm, self-pity, and humour – sat beaming before me like two muppets. Then one summer I was fortunate to be home from New York, where I had emigrated to donkeys ago, and got to see Wexford playing hurling in Dublin’s massive Croke Park. My sister Bernie had secured the tickets through a network of GAA outlets (the Gaelic sport organisers), bars, and supermarkets, or off someone who knew someone.

After the match, we were rolling along with the sea of people, through working class Dublin, when we came to a low size stone bridge. There, with their back to the canal, leaned Tommy and Timmy, upon their elbows, upon the wall, beaming in the sun. I was astounded and astonished, “What?? Tommy and Timmy! What are you two doing here?” “Howzitgoin Pierce” yawned the two lads, smiling as always.

As I left them there, it astonished me how blasé they were, considering I had only ever seen them in New York, although they were from Ireland. After that I lost track of them. Tommy met his lovely wife in the Czech Republic, they came to New York and raised a beautiful family, while Timmy continued to work in McSorley’s on 7th St. Then sadly from out of the blue I was informed that Tommy had died, and was asked to sing at his memorial. So I wrote this song, and sang it very crudely at Arlene’s Grocery in New York that night in front of Tommy’s wife and Timmy

I am proud to say Tommy and Timmy is a Gaelic hurling song, my favourite sport, dedicated to Tommy English and his best friend Timmy from McSorley’s.

Pierce Turner

Hello And Welcome To My Humble Home. I Will Try To Give You An Idea Of Who I Am, It’s Been A Long Circuitous Road To A Pinnacle That I Don’t Want To See Until I Am Incapable Of Climbing Any Further, So It’s Impossible To Tell You Everything.

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