4 May 1989
I don’t remember ‘Far, Far From Home’, though of course this may also be the case for most of Daniel’s elderly fanbase. So, as per my standard operating procedure for any tracks I find here that I don’t know, I will listen to it for the first time LIVE as I write this. Expectations? If I eke some kitschy enjoyment out of this I’ll be doing well.
[One listen later]
Well, the raspy Steve Earle growl actually suited young Daniel, and that nihilistic Johnny Cash-style worldview of mass Irish emigration is – only joking: it’s a schmaltzy waltz-time standard that romanticises the ’50s emigrant boltholes of Camden Town and Boston. (No mention of my own eventual emigrant destination of Paris, which I admit would sound surreal in that context.) Daniel does what it is Daniel always does, with—I presume—Mossie on accordion and Donie on guitar. They drop the obligatory key change pretty early: the second verse, which at least tells me that the song will end soon.
I can’t be too snide at ‘Far, Far From Home’: it’s not intended for me and has no ideas above its fairly humble station. Anyway, time to hit the ‘publish’ button and await Daniel’s standing army of novena-going pensioners getting their grandkids to drag me on my socials.
