Luke Kelly — great talent and inspiration for Bono

Posted by TheYank at 8/19/2009 7:51 PM EDT

I won't claim to be anything like an expert on Irish folk music. I like it when I hear it, but I don't often seek it out. However, like I said I do like it and I own a few albums.

So, when I first moved to Ireland I hadn't heard of the Dubliners nor Luke Kelly, the Dubliners' singer who had died in 1984. My father-in-law was a big fan of Kelly and the Dubliners and his enthusiasm rubbed off on me. Of those Irish music tapes & CD's that I do have, the Dubliners albums are my favorites.

Last night RTE showed a 1999 documentary on Luke Kelly. I only caught the last 15-20 minutes. I was annoyed when I found it on because I would like to have seen all of it. I wasn't too worried, however, because I figured I'd find it on the RTE web site today and then I'd share the link with all of you.

Unfortunately, I presume due to rights-related issues, RTE hasn't made the program available for online viewing. However, I scoured the internet and found the documentary. It's well worth watching. Interviews mixed in with fairly long clips of Kelly & the Dubliners. One clip I'd never seen before was taken from from the Dubliners appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1968.

One of those who contributed to the documentary was Bono, who was a big Luke Kelly fan. In fact, I think young Bono consciously (or unconsciously) mimicked Kelly. I've seen clips of Kelly singing a number of times over the years and in some of the older black and white clips of Kelly singing you can see how Bono aped Kelly.

The young Bono often twisted himself around as Kelly did and stood with his hand to the side of his head as Kelly did. These days when I see film of young Bono I'm reminded of a young kid trying to copy the batting stance of his favorite baseball player. {Watch the video and let me know if you agree. I suppose you'd have to have seen a lot of Bono to even make the comparison.}

I'm not criticizing Bono for this. In fact, I like it. I like the fact that this young would-be rock star so clearly admired this man who was a folk singer. I just find it amusing. I think this goes in Bono's credit column.