Aimee Mann pays tribute to The Mary Wallopers with performance of 'Cod Liver Oil And The Orange Juice'

Having previously expressed her appreciation for Dundalk ballad group The Mary Wallopers via comic strip, Aimee Mann has shared a cover of 'Cod Liver Oil And The Orange Juice' – which she describes a "our tribute to The Mary Wallopers".

Taking to Instagram, she shared a clip of the performance, featuring vocals by Ted Leo, recorded this week at their show at Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles.

"Ye are legends!" The Mary Wallopers commented under the video – to which Aimee responded: "No, YE!!"

The Dundalk band have played a major role in bringing 'Cod Liver Oil And The Orange Juice' – originally penned by Ron Clark and Carl MacDougall, and made popular by Hamish Imlach in the '60s – to a brand new audience, on these shores and beyond.

The track features on The Mary Wallopers self-titled debut album, released back in October.

 

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In addition to Aimee Mann's remarkable career as a singer-songwriter – releasing numerous albums both as a solo performer and as a member of 'Til Tuesday, and earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song – she has also recently been sharing her work as an artist and cartoonist with fans. According to her Instagram bio, she's currently working on "a graphic memoir."

Earlier this year, she shared a comic strip dedicated to The Mary Wallopers and their version of 'Cod Liver Oil And The Orange Juice'.

"When I was in NY, Ted played me a song by The Mary Wallopers called 'Cod Liver Oil And Orange Juice'," the comic reads. "It sounds like a traditional Irish song but it's actually a Scottish song from the 60s. I'm obsessed with it. Apparently cod liver oil and orange juice was what expectant mothers were given back then. So there's this undercurrent of tragedy mixed with a maudlin humour, plus lots of Scottish dialect.

"The interest deepens when you realise that Ron Clark and Carl McDougall, the writers, wrote it after hearing one too many versions of 'Virgin Mary Had A Little Baby' on the folk circuit," she continues. "So there's a feeling of a bit of 'fuck you' to organised religion as they tell this story of a tawdry sexual encounter in a tenement basement. The Mary Wallopers' singer has a keening quality that sounds like poverty, booze and bad decisions. When you don't have a lot of choices, your choices usually aren't great..."

Take a look at the full comic strip below:

 

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Read our latest interview with The Mary Wallopers here – and revisit a classic interview with Aimee Mann here.