A Free Man In Paris

I’ve had a love affair with Paris since I was a kid. I went there first in the ’70s with a female student who lived in our family house on the southside of Dublin. Her family and mine have been friends for about 40 years.

I’ve always felt at home there. I can speak the language almost like a native, and from the start I was struck by the architecture and the beautiful way the city is laid out. As a seven-year-old I can remember going to the Luxembourg Gardens and renting a sailboat to play with for a couple of centimes. The city has a magical quality – as have the people, who are always so stylish. That captured my imagination early on. It’s a great movie to be in!
Now I have a three-year-old daughter. So I thought I ought to do the right thing. I moved to Paris about three years ago and now regard it as my home. I have a small but wonderful circle of friends, and know all the local bistros, bars and restaurants. I travel abroad a lot for gigs with the Flowers, and if, say, the local bar-owner sees me passing by with my guitar case he’ll rush out to ask me where I’m going. I then get the customary kiss on each cheek when I return. That really makes me feel part of the community.
I live in the 18th Arrondissement, between Sacre Coeur and Porte de Clignancourt, which is where the famous flea market is. I can walk out my door and in one direction it’s typically Parisienne, with nice little terraces and cafes, and the other way it’s extremely African, including North African, Central African, Senegal, Belize and Cote d’Ivoire. That part of Paris is a real cultural melting pot.
Parisians have a reputation for being a little stand-offish, but maybe the 18th is different. I find them extremely friendly. When I’m on tour I get texts from some of them and when I get back they want to know all about how it went. What I miss most on tour is the cosy local bistro that serves excellent food at extremely reasonable prices. It serves one of my favourite dishes, souris d’agneau, which is basically a lamb shank marinated in some extraordinary way, with mashed potatoes done their way, with garlic.
Depending on where you go Paris can be very expensive. I met somebody in Le Fouquet’s, the famous brasserie on the Champs Elysees, and it cost €8 for a mineral water! But where I live, the cost of living is a little cheaper than Dublin. Rents are about the same, but you can buy places at prices you simply can’t get in Dublin.
Perhaps the only thing I dislike about Paris is that it’s landlocked, which is bad for a lad brought up on the southside of Dublin within reach of the 40 Foot! That said there are a couple of lakes you can drive to which have beaches, and it’s only a two-hour drive to Normandy, I miss being near the sea. It can get hot and muggy in the summer, so if you’re visiting, late spring or early autumn is probably the best time.
We get the same top international music acts you get in Dublin – I recently went to see Tom Waits at Le Grand Rex and Sigur Ros at The Olympia – so it’s worth checking out what shows are on when you make your plans. My neighbour Bart, a writer, wants to take me to hear North African jam sessions in bars in the Saint Denis area – there’s a lot of interesting world music happening at grass roots level that is also worth checking out. There’s a deep awareness of Irish music here among the Parisians, and there are a lot of Irish expats, and several Irish bars, an Irish Cultural Centre and an Irish College too.
There’s a radio station called FIP which has a great unpredictability about it, and the DJs don’t talk very much. The other day I heard a concerto by Mozart followed by Sharon Shannon, then Coldplay and a piece of Brazilian music! I love that eclectic mix. It’s as good as having a wonderful iPod on shuffle. It’s well worth tuning in to, even if you don’t speak French.

Prenup’s album Hell To Pay is out now and they will tour Ireland in November and December