There’s Something About Mary

The lady has been singing the blues for 40 years now, Mary Coughlan maturing like a fine bottle of poitín…

Having aged like a particularly potent poitín, Mary Coughlan’s voice has gotten deeper and sweeter as the years roll by.

Making her particular brand of love hangover blues all the more enticing.

And inviting.

Playing The Whale on Saturday, November 9th as part of her 40th Anniversary Tour, we asked The Lady Of The Little Sugar Loaf to reveal her musical inspirations, starting with where and when the blues really took a hold of her…

Actually, there was no one moment. How this all began, how I ended up on this journey, it was almost by accident. Certainly not design…

I was 30 when I started singing, so, clearly, no plan. But over the last 20 years, I will say that my relationship with music has changed. It’s now one of the most important things in my life.

Every gig now is a very different experience. Which is how it should be…

As to the songs that still make me break down and cry, Chicken Shack’s I’d Rather Go Blind is a song I heard on a jukebox when I was about 15, and it moved me to tears. I used to go and play it every single day. My first Van Morrison record was Listen To The lion, which seemed to say everything I was feeling at the time, whilst Billie Holiday’s Good Morning, Heartache became a favourite whilst I was living in London and seeing Lady Sings The Blues sending me out to find every record Billie had ever made.

And who could I not include Frank Sinatra, and his version of I Get Along Without You Very Well. Just the most beautiful song there is, I recorded it in 1990. Joan Armatrading’s Willow is another key song. I took a day off in the middle of a tour and went to see Joan. There is a good story there…

Other crucial songs include Donovan’s Catch The Wind, the first song of his that I loved and one that we got to perform together about 15 years ago. Love The Beatles’ I Am The Walrus too – my friends and I discussed what it might be about, for hours, for days, forever.

Finally, Peggy Lee’s Is That All There Is knocks me out every time, and I just had to record this one too. Always good to have impossible highs to reach for…

Mary Coughlan’s 40th Anniversary Tour comes to The Whale on Saturday, November 9th, tickets here: https://whaletheatre.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873648870