Poignant last recordings by Big Tom
THERE is poignancy, yet what seems to be a sense of purpose in the performances by the late Big Tom on his final concert which is now released on DVD and a double CD containing five previously unreleased tracks plus 18 of his best known songs.
From the cover photo of Big Tom waving to the crowd at the Derry concert, filmed for TG4 late last year by Big Mountain Productions, to their excellent, and previously unseen, footage of Tom at home with his family, there is a feeling in this video of a man reflecting on a life well lived, yet a strange sense of foreboding in some of the songs he sings about moving on.
Perhaps the comparison is a bit tenuous to make with the last recordings of Johnny Cash. But there are strange similarities between Tom’s last recorded songs such as I’m Grateful, The Pleasure Has Been Mine, God Must Be A Cowboy or the Michael Commins co-write The Wind on the Hill with Cash’s Hurt or The Man Comes Around or We’ll Meet Again from his American IV album.
From the cover photo of Big Tom waving to the crowd at the Derry concert, filmed for TG4 late last year by Big Mountain Productions, to their excellent, and previously unseen, footage of Tom at home with his family, there is a feeling in this video of a man reflecting on a life well lived, yet a strange sense of foreboding in some of the songs he sings about moving on.
Perhaps the comparison is a bit tenuous to make with the last recordings of Johnny Cash. But there are strange similarities between Tom’s last recorded songs such as I’m Grateful, The Pleasure Has Been Mine, God Must Be A Cowboy or the Michael Commins co-write The Wind on the Hill with Cash’s Hurt or The Man Comes Around or We’ll Meet Again from his American IV album.