Draft:Go Lucky Four

The Go Lucky Four were an Irish country/folk group consisting of Gerry Burns, vocalist, John Sullivan, guitar, Finbar Carolan, guitar, and Eamonn McGirr, banjo. They met when all four were young school teachers at St Thomas's school in Belfast.

Their first appearance on stage was at the school Christmas concert in 1965, and they received a tremendous ovation. Afterwards, they began playing gigs at Belfast clubs and pubs where they were hugely successful.

When Nelson's Pillar in Dublin was blown up in the early hours of March 8th 1966 by Liam Sutcliffe, it was the major news story of the day in Ireland and the chief topic of conversation wherever people gathered. It was no different at St Thomas’s school. During the discussions on the matter the four young members of the group decided to write a song about it while the news was “hot”.

They enrolled the help of Billy McBurney who owned a record shop and recording studio in Belfast. He and Finbar Carolan wrote the lyrics and called it "Up Went Nelson". Their manager Gerry Crean suggested they should keep it simple and use a well known melody, such as the melody of John Brown's Body, (Battle Hymn of the Republic), with its militaristic beat. He contacted record producer Cel Fey, and arranged to have it recorded at McBurney's Recording Studio. It was recorded within days of the blast, and released in early April 1966 on the London record label. Initially neither the BBC, nor the Irish radio stations played the record. However, the group's manager used his influence to have it played on the pirate radio station, Radio Caroline. It became an instant success in Ireland, and went straight to number one in the Irish charts published on April 8th where it remained for 8 weeks. It became a minor hit in the UK.

They were immediately propelled to national fame and were regarded as one of the best folk groups in the country drawing huge crowds to their gigs. They released an LP “The Go Lucky Four - Irish Capers” in 1967.

As the popularity of country/folk music declined in the early seventies they decided to disband and go their seperate ways.

Group member Eamonn McGirr persued a solo singing in New York and had an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for endurance singing.

Additional information:

https://www.welovedonegal.com/up-went-nelson.html

https://www.discogs.com/release/2174550-The-Go-Lucky-Four-Up-Went-Nelson-Off-To-Dublin-In-The-Green

https://gript.ie/on-this-day-8th-march-1966-nelsons-pillar-in-dublin-is-blown-up/

https://www.ukmix.org/forum/chart-discussion/chart-analysis/10917319-northern-ireland-charts-1960s