The Great American Saloon Series/When Irish Guys Are Slinging
Mysak, Joe
THE GREAT AMERICAN SALOON SERIES WHEN IRISH GUYS ARE SLINGING G UINNESS IS GOOD FOR YOU. The slogan is pasted all over Dublin, all over Ireland. I think I have even seen it scrawled on the side of...
...There is a price to be paid for all of this jolly good time, of course...
...Maybe it has to do with growing up in the Northeast, as a Roman Catholic (unlapsed), attending Catholic schools, and going to those same schools' St...
...Now for the music...
...This is a true story...
...And that is, The Troubles...
...And I defy anyone to give me the exact words to "Building Up and-Tearing England Down," a construction workers' song which features the nice verses: For the likes of you and me/will never get an O.B.E./Or a knighthood/ for good service/to the hod...
...Bet the ranch she's a doll...
...Chased with a glass of Black Bushmill's, it is heaven itself...
...After fifty, spritely becomes looney, and should be avoided," he offered...
...THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR MARCH 1990 31...
...There is no way of getting around them...
...For as long as the English are in Ireland, they will be the sand in the craw of Irishmen...
...These are songs that want to be spng after one has gone through the requisite number for a buyback, and the Pavilion does not frown on such doings...
...But do not confuse a pint of good Guinness stout drawn by a professional publican with the more noxious beverage of the same name served up in bottles...
...Now Katie...
...Yet trying to cut this out of a brogue led one Slovak, pal to surmise that it was Drinking buttermilk all through the weeds...
...Get it down," he said...
...Kelly...
...The honorable writer Doran saw the wily poet, and raised him...
...But not at the Pavilion, thanks...
...Joe Mysak, managing editor of the daily Bond Buyei is The American Spectator's chief saloon correspondent...
...This was not news to anyone who has pictures of the first Polish Pope at the old family homestead...
...All those irreplaceable artifacts were lost in the blaze that burned the family home to the ground, thank God...
...I did it once at Harry's at Hanover Square, drinking in the euphoniously named company of Dunne, Doran, and Delaney, when I saw things turn ugly as they tried to decide who was more Irish...
...Tracy...
...Otherwise, the decor is fairly spartan, although there is a particularly nice set of porcelain barrel decanters on display...
...Just listen, now, to the tales...
...Bridget," said the Celtic poet during one session weighing the merits of different names, and the risks involved...
...And Irish music...
...And don't let me hear you be asking for 'Mother McCree' or `Toora-Loora-Loora...
...You can't go wrong...
...Guinness is available on tap, if you know where to find it...
...The Pavilion itself has the varnished wood look typical of mostpubs, peculiarly bright lights, and comfortable chairs...
...Finally, the prices are a little heavy...
...And especially not after Makem sings his own quite stirring anthem, "Four Green Fields...
...This is by Joe Mysak well past the stage where you talk about what great guys each of you are, and about what great wives and girlfriends you have, and even past that odd stage where you talk about how terrific each other's wives and girlfriends are...
...He then proceeded to launch into "Wish I Was a-Hunting," a dashing number that sets the tone, for the night and for the place...
...The key line is Drinking buttermilk all through the week, whiskey on a Sunday...
...Hold it...
...Stay for both sets...
...Or "The Whistling Gypsy Rover," a soft and lilting little tune, with the chorus, He whistled and sang 'til the green woods rang, and he won the heart of the lady...
...Makem, one of the best-known Irish singers and composers, one recent evening...
...Or maybe it was "Bonnie Highland Laddie...
...in New York City...
...f course, that feels so good that it's time for another of those great pints of Guinness, and there is the barman, Kieran, drawing it, three-quarters, it looks like coffee with cream—he lets it settle for a moment to the color of black coffee...
...One of the most convivial spots to drink it in New York City, a town of convivial Irish bars, goes by the name of Tommy Makem's Irish Pavilion, on 57th Street near Lexington Avenue...
...Mysak isn't an Irish name...
...The Pavilion, obviously, is no place to make a fuss with the issue...
...Indeed it is...
...Nobody at the Pavilion demands the patrons take up step-dancing, or learn Gaelic...
...Take "Whiskey on a Sunday...
...Makem himself, when he is on stage, frequently takes the time to give you the right words to the choru$ so you can dive right in—a favorite of his is "Waltzing With Bears...
...It is not an easy thing to encourage a singalong at 57th and Lex...
...So down the hatch with another Guinness...
...But the dishtowels...
...It probably means nothing to Delawareans...
...I did it, then, for the pure sport of the thing...
...Or "Whiskey in the Jar...
...Patrick's dances...
...The steak of beer," fellow scribe Nick Boyle once called it...
...And sure, two blocks away from Bloomingdale's is not exactly what I consider premium turf for a great saloon...
...Besides "The Black Velvet Band," more favorites: "The Liar...
...Around 10:30 or 11, the Guinness has taken hold, and slides down very silkily indeed...
...We had them...
...But you get draft Guinness...
...Even the chunky Bridgets are usually spritely, which can be attractive up until a certain age...
...Or "Three Drunken Maidens," who loved to push the jug about...
...Certainly, it all means nothing to Midwesterners...
...There is Guinness, and music, and talk, and for those with no talk, memories...
...But let a band open up with "The Black Velvet Band"—Weg in the neat little town they call Belfast—and the sweet sickness of nostalgia rises in the heart...
...We play traditional Irish music here," said the pear-shaped but golden-voiced Mr...
...No, they don't sell Aran sweaters, tam-o'-shanters, or Belleek china there...
...Yes, there is a pattern developing here...
...consider the dishtowels, for exam- L ple...
...Or "The Jolly Beggarman...
...The meat of drink...
...These are songs that want to be sung, but they are also songs that are wont to be mangled...
...The Celtic poet told once of visiting Ireland, and of his Aunt Maureen coming out and seeing him off and giving him a parting gift: " 'Now here you go, John, here's a nice dishtowel with a map of the thirty-two counties of Ireland on it for you to go hang on your living room wall,' and I said, `Gee, thanks, Aunt Maureen (now what the hell am I going to do with this...
...But there is no sense in being, as the saying has it, more Irish than the Irish...
...He adds a little more, a little more, just so, and there is a perfect pint set before the patron, and there you are seventeen again thinking about Mac's sister, Colleen, that blondish redhead, or worse yet, pondering what became of Bridget after grammar school...
...In sum, there are no distractions...
...They're adorable...
...I think I have even seen it scrawled on the side of a church by one wag...
Vol. 23 • March 1990 • No. 3
