The Dalys - Early Morning Rain/ Chanson D'Amour

 

 

Very pleasant take on Gordon Lightfoot's classic from Cork folk duo

 

Label: Fontana

Year of Release: 1969

 

"Early Morning Rain" is one of those fascinating singles which seems to have been recorded by an unimaginable array of artists - Paul Weller, Peter, Paul and Mary, Steve Forbert, The Settlers, Neil Young, Elvis Presley, Judy Collins, Eva Cassidy, Billy Bragg and The Grateful Dead have all had a stab at it, and I'm sure there are other artists besides who I've just completely forgotten to mention. It's a deathless and utterly wonderful song which proves that Bob Dylan had a point when he said that Gordon Lightfoot was the greatest folk performer in the world. At some point or another, all of us have been that man on the airport tarmac pondering our life choices while the person we love is already out of reach (maybe not literally, but that's obviously not the point).

 

While Lightfoot's original version of the song will always be my favourite, part of its popularity with other artists may lie in the fact that it's so damn difficult to screw up, and has a threadbare arrangement which allows them to stamp their own identity on it with relative ease. The Dalys were a folk duo from Cork who issued a raft of singles in the sixties, beginning their recording careers with "Without You" on Decca in 1964 and finishing at the end of the decade, seven singles later, with this. 

Duo takes of the track aren't unheard of but are somewhat less commonly chanced upon, meaning the Peter and Gordon styled interplay between John Daly and Paddy Carroll here lends the track an added fleecey warmth against the chill of the early morning airport farewells in the lyrics. 

It's not clear what happened to either of The Dalys after this single became added to their long line of flops, but it would certainly seem as if they never entered a recording studio again at least. If anyone knows of their current whereabouts, please do share them. 

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