Along with Madness, Dexys Midnight Runners was one of the bands I listened to quite a bit in the early 80's. I suppose it was the fact that - like teenagers who listened to rock and roll in the 50's - I enjoyed the traces of the music's roots without at first knowing what they were. Dexys Midnight Runners combined Irish folk with black American music, a hybrid dubbed "Celtic soul". Madness on the other hand based their sound on Jamaican ska and, like the Rolling Stones with Muddy Waters, named themselves after a song by their musical hero, Prince Buster.
Dexys' lead singer Kevin Rowlands has struggled with drug addiction and financial problems in the years since the group's heyday so it was good to see him back on TV last night, transporting me back to those days with Come On Eileen.
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