As the curlew took flight over the empty fields of West Cork on the 22nd of August 1922, it was the bird’s call that told the world that “the big fella had fallen and that Michael was gone.” 
St.Patrick’s Lament, released on Friday the 17th of March was inspired by the above lines which feature in a song called ‘The Ballad of Michael Collins’ by Johnny McEvoy.
I remember sitting down at the piano after a visit to Dublin Castle in 2019 and feeling very moved by the stories of the many heroes that shape Irish history. That thought process led me to thinking about the songs that had been written in their memory and it was the song dedicated to Michael Collins that gave me an urgency to write something of my own.
And it was the poem at the beginning of the song that led to this piece being born. Thinking about the bird ‘The Curlew’, I imagined the sight and scene from the bird’s perspective as it flew over Béal na Bláth when Michael Collins was shot and killed.
And from there, the melody appeared under my fingers, in the key of A, one of my favourite keys to play in. It existed for years as a voice note before I uncovered it again in 2023 and wrote the second part of the piece.
It felt like the simplest of melodies but anyone I played it to remarked on it’s beauty. From there, it found its way into the talented hands of Martin Quinn, a studio engineer, producer and musician at Jam Studios in Kells and trust me when I say that anything Martin touches, becomes something really special.
We worked on this piece over a day and a bit in his studios and it found a life that I never expected it would. It has exceeded all my expectations.
Thank you for your interest and time for these creations. I really don’t know where they come from.
Sinéad McNally 