17 July 1997 Edition
Jeffrey knows the words
By Laurence McKeown
People who know I am involved with Féile an Phobail (West Belfast Community Festival) often enquire as to why the committee does not invite Daniel O'Donnell to come and play at the Féile.
Now, for those who do not know of Daniel (is there such a person?), Daniel is the biggest thing to come out of Ireland in recent years. Even the stick over Charlie Haughey receiving money from Ben Dunne will long be forgotten while the sweet sound of Daniel is still heard across the airwaves. That means he's booked solid for about the next five years. Sure hasn't Tony tried without success to get him to Féile an Phobail?
I don't like his kind of music but do admit to having met Daniel and he does genuinely seem to be a nice guy. He's very down to earth and he is loved in his native Donegal where he helps promote local community events and enterprises where he can.
To the best of my knowledge Daniel has never uttered a political word in his life. Even on the Mrs Merton show he was all grave and good manners and when he spoke the f... word (fart, not the other one) it seemed somehow in good taste.
It was with some surprise therefore that his name came up in company the other evening while we were discussing the 12th, Orange parades, Garvaghy and little Mo. ``Isn't yer man a button for Daniel O'Donnell?'' someone said. Conversation stopped for a few moments as we puzzled on this profound and possibly controversial comment. ``Jeffrey Donaldson, he's a button for Daniel O'Donnell, isn't he?'' To say that there wasn't an immediate display of assent would be somewhat of an understatement. I know that my immediate reaction was to refute such an insinuation about an innocent harmless lad from Donegal. But as I began to visualise the two I thought that, yes, given certain conditions I could see a similarity. For instance, the apparent stiffness around the region of the neck. If Daniel was to be told tomorrow that he had broken his neck and that if he was to move his head it would fall off then he could well adopt a posture where one could say there was a likeness with Jeffrey.
Secondly, the smile (Daniel's that is, as if you didn't know). If Daniel was to be told that the songs of Willie McCrea had superseded his own in the charts, and if a photograph was to be taken of him immediately after that news was broken to him, yes, I concede, there could well be a likeness. I was amazed in fact to hear Barry Cowan on Radio Ulster on Sunday refer to the similarities between the two. Could it be that a PR job is being done on behalf of Jeffrey? Watch Mrs Merton for confirmation of this.
What Daniel lacks, however, is the ability to foretell the future. I listened to Jeffrey speak prior to the Portadown parade, when a decision about Garvaghy had still not been announced, and he spoke of how, regardless of what decision was made, any protests should be peaceful ones.
Readers of this column will know that I predicted that Orange feet would march on Garvaghy Road, though that was more an educated guess than anything else and I was quite prepared to eat my words - which is not uncommon. However, speaking to the media that day Jeffrey spoke with an air of confidence and why shouldn't he? He already knew what the decision was to be. The rest of us were running around, will they, won't they, and all the time the boul Jeffrey knew the outcome. Why didn't we just ask him? Was there ever a doubt? Had we actually come to believe that maybe the link between unionism, the Orange Order, the RUC, the state and the British government was not as strong as it once had been?
Now that's the sort of romantic, idealistic notion that Daniel sings about. Jeffrey is in a different game. And it's easy to make good PR and reap in the winnings when you know how the chips are going to fall.
People who know I am involved with Féile an Phobail (West Belfast Community Festival) often enquire as to why the committee does not invite Daniel O'Donnell to come and play at the Féile.
Now, for those who do not know of Daniel (is there such a person?), Daniel is the biggest thing to come out of Ireland in recent years. Even the stick over Charlie Haughey receiving money from Ben Dunne will long be forgotten while the sweet sound of Daniel is still heard across the airwaves. That means he's booked solid for about the next five years. Sure hasn't Tony tried without success to get him to Féile an Phobail?
I don't like his kind of music but do admit to having met Daniel and he does genuinely seem to be a nice guy. He's very down to earth and he is loved in his native Donegal where he helps promote local community events and enterprises where he can.
To the best of my knowledge Daniel has never uttered a political word in his life. Even on the Mrs Merton show he was all grave and good manners and when he spoke the f... word (fart, not the other one) it seemed somehow in good taste.
It was with some surprise therefore that his name came up in company the other evening while we were discussing the 12th, Orange parades, Garvaghy and little Mo. ``Isn't yer man a button for Daniel O'Donnell?'' someone said. Conversation stopped for a few moments as we puzzled on this profound and possibly controversial comment. ``Jeffrey Donaldson, he's a button for Daniel O'Donnell, isn't he?'' To say that there wasn't an immediate display of assent would be somewhat of an understatement. I know that my immediate reaction was to refute such an insinuation about an innocent harmless lad from Donegal. But as I began to visualise the two I thought that, yes, given certain conditions I could see a similarity. For instance, the apparent stiffness around the region of the neck. If Daniel was to be told tomorrow that he had broken his neck and that if he was to move his head it would fall off then he could well adopt a posture where one could say there was a likeness with Jeffrey.
Secondly, the smile (Daniel's that is, as if you didn't know). If Daniel was to be told that the songs of Willie McCrea had superseded his own in the charts, and if a photograph was to be taken of him immediately after that news was broken to him, yes, I concede, there could well be a likeness. I was amazed in fact to hear Barry Cowan on Radio Ulster on Sunday refer to the similarities between the two. Could it be that a PR job is being done on behalf of Jeffrey? Watch Mrs Merton for confirmation of this.
What Daniel lacks, however, is the ability to foretell the future. I listened to Jeffrey speak prior to the Portadown parade, when a decision about Garvaghy had still not been announced, and he spoke of how, regardless of what decision was made, any protests should be peaceful ones.
Readers of this column will know that I predicted that Orange feet would march on Garvaghy Road, though that was more an educated guess than anything else and I was quite prepared to eat my words - which is not uncommon. However, speaking to the media that day Jeffrey spoke with an air of confidence and why shouldn't he? He already knew what the decision was to be. The rest of us were running around, will they, won't they, and all the time the boul Jeffrey knew the outcome. Why didn't we just ask him? Was there ever a doubt? Had we actually come to believe that maybe the link between unionism, the Orange Order, the RUC, the state and the British government was not as strong as it once had been?
Now that's the sort of romantic, idealistic notion that Daniel sings about. Jeffrey is in a different game. And it's easy to make good PR and reap in the winnings when you know how the chips are going to fall.