Brendan Phelan (born 1946) is an Irish songwriter from

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. His best-known song is probably "Dublin in My Tears", recorded by

the Barleycorn The Barleycorn (also written as The Barley Corn) was an Folk music of Ireland, Irish traditional music and rebel music band. The band, consisting of Paddy McGuigan, Liam Tiernan, Brian McCormick and John Delaney, was formed in mid-1971 in Belfas ...

The Fureys The Fureys are an Irish folk band originally formed in 1974. The group consisted initially of four brothers who grew up in Ballyfermot, Dublin. Brothers Eddie, Finbar, Paul and George Furey are of Irish Traveller heritage. Two of the band's s ...

Patsy Watchorn Patsy Watchorn (born 16 October 1944 in Crumlin, Dublin) is an Irish folk singer. He is notable for being a member of the Dublin City Ramblers and later The Dubliners. Music career Watchorn first came to prominence around 1969 as the lead sin ...

, the

Dublin City Ramblers The Dublin City Ramblers is an Irish folk band, originally formed by the name of The Quare Fellas in 1970. The band has had a long line of members and Sean McGuinness is the only current of the original line-up, that also included Patsy Watchorn ...

, Mick Galvin, the Jolly Beggarmen and others. Phelan was born in Dublin. His father, Michael, was a barber, and his mother, Carmel Kelly, was a tailor. However, he was brought up in his grandmother's house in the suburb of

Drimnagh Drimnagh () is a suburb in Dublin, Ireland to the south of the city between Walkinstown, Crumlin and Inchicore, bordered by the Grand Canal to the north and east. Drimnagh is in postal district Dublin 12. History Early to mediaeval Drimna ...

. He was educated at Ard Scoil Éanna in Crumlin. In 1959 began one of several sojourns in

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...

, England, where his father was living and attended St. Joseph's Catholic High School whilst there. He travelled back and forth between the two cities over the following few years. He eloped and married in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

on St. Valentine's Day, 1966 and settled there and about this period started writing songs. After the outbreak of the

Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

in Northern Ireland, he joined Clann na hÉireann, the British wing of Official Sinn Féin. He was deported under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in 1975 and settled back in Dublin. He has been active in politics there on behalf of the Workers' Party. Several of Phelan's songs, such as "Seven Sober Nights", "The Equalizer", "Easter Lily" and "Four Sons" have been recorded by the Beer Mats. "Paddy's Walk to China" has been recorded by Tim Dennehy on ''A Thimbleful of Song''.Oidhreacht an Chláir
/ref> One of his songs, "Cavan Always Follows Me Around", sung by Jerry Crilly, won the Cavan International Song Contest in the early 1990s. The first of his songs to be recorded was 'Paddy On The Screeve' by Na Seanchai, in 1979. Was once described by Dominic Behan as, "Potentially, the finest songwriter Ireland has ever produced". In March 2015 he released his first album ''Bristol In My Tears'', on the Repofire label. This double album featured songs written by him over a period of ''five'' decades and covered almost every field of music possible: Folk. American Country, Sixties Pop, Traditional Irish style, Blues, semi-classical, etc. Soon after the launch of the album in Dublin, he suffered a mild stroke followed by a bout of pneumonia and this seriously hampered the initial promotion of his album, forcing him to cancel or postpone many radio interviews in Ireland and abroad, including Bristol and Slough, towns which were featured prominently in the lyrics and stories relating to the album. It is hoped that Brendan will be in a position to re-launch the album in the Spring of 2016. He is currently writing a childhood memoir.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phelan, Brendan 1946 births Irish male songwriters Musicians from Dublin (city) Living people 20th-century Irish songwriters 21st-century Irish songwriters