Posted by Mike M
on May 26, 2012, 11:33 pm, in reply to "Columbia Records Sessions"
68.44.234.x
Topic: Behind the Scenes 6: THE IRISH UPRISING album
Here is some stuff on the Irish Uprising album (often referred to as the Irish Legacy album by the Columbia people) from Teo Macero’s papers. There are some discussions about royalties/payment for the album, and the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem’s manager, Jerry Campbell, also notes the lack of sales for the album.
Some of the memos from Columbia make it clear that there was some effort made so that the Irish Uprising and Freedom’s Sons albums did not conflict and compete with each other. Freedom’s Sons’ release was postponed so that it would not come out at the same time as the Irish Uprising, although some people seemingly disagreed with this decision because they believed that the markets for the two albums were largely different. Most of the memos on this topic, though, I’ll include in my post on Freedom’s Sons, since that was the album delayed by The Irish Uprising.
It is also interesting to note that the producer of the album, David Rubinson, had his own song list that he wanted the Clancys and Makem to do. One wonders how much control he had over their choices and conversely how much input they would have had on an album like this? Some of the items he lists did not make it onto the final album I believe (Boolavogue, The Dawning of the Day, Slievenamon, A Fenian Ballad, and The Bold Fenian Men).
---------------------------------
Memo from Morton M. Drosnes to Walter Dean, Nov. 30 1965:
“Jerry Campbell called me yesterday with regard to the still unsigned contract for the ‘Irish Uprising’ album. It seems that he and/or Pat Clancy have two problems. As you will remember, it was agreed that their proportionate royalty would be based on playing time. Pat wants to know what this breakdown is. I assume that David Rubinson can furnish this information to Campbell or Pat Clancy unless you have any objection.”
Memo from David Rubinson to Walter Dean, Dec. 21, 1965:
-10% royalties for the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem for the Irish Uprising album
“...in my discussions with the Clancy Brothers they seemed very happy to be able to be involved and just wanted to be sure that there would be some royalties.”
Artists payment $1,380.00 Advance
Recording for Irish Legacy album February 15 2.30pm-5.30pm
7.00pm-10.00pm
11.30pm-2.30pm [these times can’t be right, but I’m not sure if the mistake was in the original or in my transcription of the document]
Memo from David Rubinson to Jerry Campbell, the Clancy Brothers’ manager, Feb. 21, 1966 [all words in the list in caps were typed, everything in lower case was written in]:
“The Legacy repertoire, which I want the fellows to do, as yet unrecorded, are the following songs:-
“KEVIN BARRY ok
BOOLAVOGUE ok
TIPPERARY SO FAR AWAY ok
FOGGY DEW ok
SOLDERS SONG ok -- in gaelic for Tuesday
A NATION ONCE AGAIN ok
THE DAWNING OF THE DAY (THE DAY) - Tuesday
GREEN ON THE GREEN -- Tuesday w. tape
WHO FEARS TO SPEAK
[crossed out]
SLIEVENAMON -- Tuesday
A FENIAN BALLAD x
BOLD FENIAN MEN – Tuesday”
Memo from K. Glancy to David Rubinson, Oct. 25, 1966:
“Have you worked out anything yet vis-à-vis ‘FREEDOM’S SONS’ for us. The ‘Irish Uprising’ release is so special for us and our Clancy Bros. market is big. They are [“are” is underlined] different markets.”
Memo from Jerry Campbell to Bob Scharbert, Columbia Records, Aug. 1, 1968:
-The Clancys want promotional copies of the Irish Uprising album to give out
-They had to give their own copies away since they were not given any promo copies
“The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem are paid on a percentage of the sales, and I am sure you are familiar with the very low gross obtained from this album.”
Letter (a copy) saying that royalty statements should be forwarded to their manager Jerry Campbell’s office; it is signed by “Thomas Clancy” “Patrick Clancy” “William Clancy” and “Thomas Makem
Mike M389 
Message Thread
« Back to index