They’ve released two CDs of their own, Flyin’ It and Pushin’
It, on which they revisit a few Saw Doctors songs, but also feature many new
songs. I was surprised by how many Saw
Doctors songs they did. As he does on
the CD, Anto covered Leo’s “Share the Darkness,” which he calls “his second
favorite song that Leo’s ever written. I
wanted to do my favorite song of his, “All Kinds of Girls Make My Willy Go
Hard,” but Leo doesn’t remember how it goes.”
Probably for the best. They also
did the title track to Villains, a true folk song on which they ponder who the
real bad guys are. The beautiful “True
Love Stays with You Forever” was a treat, while “Tommy K,” which features its
own dance that Liz and Marcus were happy to demonstrate, may have been the
biggest surprise. The night ended with
the timeless “Clare Island” complete with sing-along and stroll around the
basement.
In between were dozens of songs I’d never heard before, but
that were instantly memorable. Another
Woody Guthrie moment came from the credit union song. It’s a place where “they treat you like a
person, not a pimple” and you could get a home renovation loan without anyone
getting hurt. “All credit!” Leo would
sing, and we’d all answer back “You said it!”
“Carmel Mannion’s Son” came complete with an involved story, though not
as long as the one that preceded their cover of Dylan’s “Most of the Time” wherein
Anto was called upon to get Bob Dylan high, and a strange evening ensued. Apparently, most of that story was true, or
so they said.
There were some notable folks in the audience tonight. I’ve done 120 plus shows, and this was the
first one my mom attended, thanks to another sister who drove down from Minnesota
and didn’t give her a choice. She may
have thought it silly before, but I think she gets it now. There were also many Irish ex-pats in the
house, which was apparently more than expected.
Leo roundly made fun of the fact that the Irish are never on time for a
show, due to their tendency to spend too much time in the pub beforehand. “I’ve never had any other nationality ask for
a song that’s already been played,” Leo mused. When they protested he asked, “Who were the
last people to arrive tonight?” I was
impressed he’d noticed. There was much
good natured ribbing between the performers too, mostly about the fact that an
Irishman and an Englishman were getting along.
There’s more to Anto’s story than just being the bass player for the Saw
Doctors for the last dozen years, he’s also a founding member of the Waterboys
and played saxophone and mandolin with them.
He played both tonight, as well as guitar. I am pretty sure that was the first sax in
the basement. Toward the end of the
evening he did the Waterboys’ “Fisherman’s Blues,” which may have been my
favorite song he did all night. I told
him about seeing Ted Leo sing it once, which he thought was pretty cool, even
though he had no idea who Ted Leo was.
I haven’t been nervous about a show in a long time, but I
was surprisingly nervous about this one.
I shouldn’t have been, they couldn’t have been more charming or
grateful. I’m pretty sure they will do
it again sometime.
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