Here's to you, Ronnie Drew

It began as an idea over a dinner among friends. Now it has mushroomed into one of the most special recordings in the history of Irish music – a collaboration between many of the leading lights of the current scene that pays special tribute to the great Ronnie Drew.

The recording took place in a wild flurry of coffee and creativity in Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, earlier this week. U2, Kila and a host of musicians, including Christy Moore, Shane McGowan, Damien Dempsey, Andrea Corr, Sinead O’Connor, The Dubliners, The Chieftains, The Fureys, Bob Geldof, and many more, took part. By the time it’s finished, the recording will feature the cream of Irish rock and folk music, as well as a number of international names.
The song, entitled ‘The Ballad of Ronnie Drew’, is a collaboration, which involves the Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, as well as Bono, the Edge and the former Golden Horde singer and songwriter Simon Carmody, himself a friend and collaborator of Bono’s, and central to the story of how the project came together.
“Simon seemed to think that Robert Hunter was a big fan of Ronnie,” Bono revealed. “Hunter is a fascinating character. He learned German to translate some of the works of Rainer Maria Rilke and his translations have become recognised as among the most faithful, and the best, by academics and experts – which is a very interesting story in itself.
“To be honest, I can’t quite remember how it all happened,” he added. “There was some vino involved, it has to be said, but – as far as I can recollect – myself and Simon were waxing lyrical about the great man. I think the idea was that we would all try and write a song for Ronnie to sing... but in translation, ‘a song for Ronnie’ became ‘a song about Ronnie’. Simon suggested asking Robert to get involved in writing the song. We contacted him and got through – and he was really up for the whole thing.”
“Me and Bono were just out having a meal and a bottle of wine, and talking,” Simon recounted, “and Bono had this idea about Ronnie Drew – like, why don’t we do a song for him? It was just a feeling, that it would be a nice thing to do something really joyful and up and positive.
“We were talking about lyrics and lyricists, the way you do, and I mentioned Robert Hunter. I was always a huge fan of the Grateful Dead, American Beauty and all of that, and Robert Hunter is just a genius lyricist. And there are so many folk references in the Grateful Dead’s work – you get a vibe off people and I sensed that he’d know all about Ronnie.”
And so it proved. “Bono has a whim of iron,” Carmody laughed. “When he gets an idea he delivers. His attitude was just: ‘let’s see if he’d be up for it’. Book a studio. Just do it. And it’s been incredible, the way it’s taken shape.”

Hunter’s agreement gave momentum to the plan. When his lyrics arrived via email, the U2 frontman and Carmody forged ahead with the idea of putting a record together that would celebrate the contribution of the man with the gravel voice to Irish music, adding lyrics, and finishing that part of the writing process.
“He’s like the King of Ireland, Ronnie Drew,” Bono said. “And we are his subjects.”
My partner Mairin Sheehy recounted the story of the mynah bird, told by Ronnie to Liam Mackey and Paddy Murray on The Murray And Mackey Show a few years ago. The punchline relates to the fact that a woman from the South Circular Road had taught the mynah bird that was in Dublin Zoo to greet everyone with a beard with the immortal words: ‘Hello Ronnie Drew’. The beard was his trademark.
“He doesn’t have the beard now,” Bono said, ruefully. “When you’re fighting cancer, your mood is critical... we want to let Ronnie know how much he is respected and loved. This is a big fight. He will win it, but like any fighter, its easier if there’s a crowd cheering.”
More than anything else, the point here is to celebrate. “Why not express a bit of emotion?” Carmody asked.
But first they needed a melody!
“Edge said to me – you’ve got the studio booked but you don’t have a song,” Bono recounted. “I said I have lyrics and an idea. So we went in and did a demo that we finished today. It’s not just good, or very good. I think it may even be great... we’ll see.”
There is no better advocate of U2’s work than the singer – and his boundless enthusiasm is infectious. It’s one of the reasons he has always been capable of bowling over the sceptics. His passion for what he and the band do is immense. When we spoke he was fresh from the demo session – the song finished, he was high on the feeling of achievement.
Understandably so. He invited us to the car and as we drove around Stephen’s Green with the song pumping from the speakers he switched between elaborating on the recording plans to singing along with crucial moments. “Here’s to you/ Ronnie Drew/ Here’s to you/ We love you/ Yes, we do/ Ronnie Drew,” he sang, improvising the counter-vocals that’ll likely run against the falsetto lead line in the finished version.
“I hope you young people realise you’re the first people in the world to hear it,” he said.
The demo has a lovely ballad-y sensibility, driven by Edge’s rhythm playing – “He’s playing a trez, which is a Cuban instrument, like a big mandolin,” Bono explained – but it also has a brilliant pop feel that will guarantee it instant mainstream radio play, certainly on Bono and Ronnie’s home turf – and probably further afield. It is hard to imagine that it won’t become one of the biggest downloads ever, and a No.1 single, in Ireland. And that’s just on the basis of the demo.
Bono leant into the back of the car. “I would love to hear Mick Jagger singing this bit,” he said and sang along in a Jagger-voice. As we navigated the Green, the street names were reeled off in the lyrics: “Leeson Street, Baggot Street and Stephen’s Green,” the familiar landmarks The Dubliners and Ronnie traversed in the O’Donoghue’s days being capped by imagining a new one, a statue to Ronnie on the Green – “the most fitting tribute that’s e’er yet been seen,” the song runs, or words to that effect.
“The response has been fantastic,” Bono revealed. “Every musician we asked has said yes. Glen Hansard is trying to get in from the Czech Republic to sing on it and he’s happy just to be in the chorus. That’s typical of the reaction. Ronnie is held in such high regard. Kila have agreed to be involved as a band, so it’ll be Kila and U2.”
Kila are brilliant, I observed.
“I love those guys,” he said, before adding: “It’s a small piece of history, but a piece of history nonetheless.”
And so it is.
I spoke to Simon Carmody mid-recording. “Everyone has been brilliant,” he said, “so generous with their time, and delighted to do it. John Reynolds is producing. The Dubliners were in this afternoon and they loved the vibe. Barney McKenna is still upstairs, playing away with the lads from Kila. Christy Moore came in, nailed it down perfectly in 25 minutes – he’s amazing. Damien Dempsey, Ronan Keating – there’s loads more coming in. It’s been really good fun.”
It promises to be a hell of a record – and a more than well-deserved tribute to one of the legendary, and enduring, founding fathers of the modern Irish music movement. “Here’s to you…Ronnie Drew/ We love you/ Yes, we do/ Ronnie Drew…”
One more time with feeling…