The Times – ‘If Ma Could See Me Now’

25 July 1974

Footnotes first: The Times were an Irish showband, and not US vocal group The Tymes who would have a number one in Ireland six months later with ‘Ms Grace’. The Irish group included the two Swarbrigg brothers from Cootehill in Co. Cavan, credited as writers of ‘If Ma Could See Me Now’, who subsequently left The Times to perform as a duo and represent Ireland twice at Eurovision. The video below attributes ‘If Ma Could See Me Now’ to The Swarbriggs, but I can’t find any other audio of the song online, nor have I found any reference to it being re-recorded or re-released by them. So, I’ll have to trust that the audio below is the original recording by The Times.

The Gilbert O’Sullivan influence is strong here: sentimental piano-pop with orchestral swells, family scenes and childhood nostalgia. Think of ‘If Ma Could See Me Now’ as ‘Mellow Yellow’-style whispery Donovan doing Gilbert’s ‘Nothing Rhymed’. That said, the Swarbriggs add their own bit of local colour. “Where is the lad / who called to his dad / to tell him the county score” is surely the first reference to Gaelic games in any Irish number one song – and since it’s Cavan, one assumes for Gaelic football. By the end, though, when our narrator is wondering “why God wouldn’t let her stay”, the descent into ‘Alone Again (Naturally)’ maudlinia is complete. Still, that chorus is catchy and the whole is more ambitious and contemporary than its showband provenance – relatively speaking.