Kevin Herm Connolly, Bennie Reilly, Les Keye, and Jennifer McMahon have shared their 'lockdown 2020' version of Clancy's 'Hope In Your Heart'. The version was released on YouTube today (December 11th).

Paul Clancy, the songwriter and original singer, passed away suddenly shortly after the release of his debut album, Road To The Heart in 2010. At the time, the album was reviewed by Hot Press' Adrienne Murphy, who wrote: "The result is a seamless, usually dead-slow, and in the best sense careful sound, a sort of masculine take on The Cowboy Junkies. Leonard Cohen is clearly a strong influence, both in the style of singing and the sentiments expressed; in this, Clancy succeeded where many others fail, keeping on the right side of maudlin self-indulgence. There are some great observations about love on this record: ‘Sad Song’ describes “the pain that goes/ with yearning for something in another/ that you can’t find in yourself”, while ‘Waiting Patiently’ articulates the real depth of love that is reflected in a fond acceptance of the other’s imperfections."

After his passing, Hot Press founder and editor-in-chief Niall Stokes remembered Clancy in a piece, saying: "I met Paul Clancy playing football. He was one of those guys who had lost his hair, or most of it, young, but he still had a wonderfully boyish presence about him.

"I didn’t know he was a musician when he came to play ball on a Wednesday night at the regular Hot Press astroturf session in UCD. It happens that way sometimes: I’d admired National Prayer Breakfast from afar when they were making a big noise and got to know the lead singer Patrick Freyne through his writing for the Sunday Tribune and then Hot Press. But the connection between Patrick and Paul was never made for me, and so his secret past as an operative in the NPB rhythm department remained undisclosed."

This new lockdown version of 'Hope in Your Heart' – a beautiful, bare-bones offering – features two of Clancy's original band members in Les Keye and Kevin Connolly.

Watch the video below.