Setter Songs Revisited

[Joan Clancy]

In a previous discussion I was quite surprised to realize that between all of us, we could only come up with two songs about Irish Setters. "Shannon" and "Abergavenny". I decided there HAD to be more, so I started searching last night.
There really doesn't seem to be too many, but I found a few, and will upload them to my page as I find them..
So far I have found -
Songs with "Irish Setter" in the title:
"Irish Setter" - John Fahey (intrumental, long)
"Drunken Irish Setter" - Copperhead
Songs that mention Irish Setters: (not about setters, but mention them)
"Hey Loretta" - Loretta Lynn
"She'll get over losing you" - Angela McCluskey
""Find a Girl" - Eric Hester
Cartoony/Puppet songs with setters:
"See my Vest" - Simpsons - (Feel this sweater, there's no better than authentic
irish setter.)
"Ballad of the Sad Cafe" - Sesame Street - (You can cry to your cat or your Irish
Setter, either way you'll feel alot better).
"Something Better Comes Along" - Muppets - (You can't live with 'em, you can't live without 'em.
There's sometin' irresistabl-ish about 'em.
We grin and bear it 'cause the nights are long.
I hope that somethin' better comes along.
It's no good complainin', and pointless to holler.
If she's a beauty she'll get under your collar.
She made a monkey out of old King Kong,
I hope that somethin' better comes along.
Ah, but what could be better than a saucy Irish Setter
When puppy love comes on strong?).

Educational/Inspirational Childrens songs:
"Point and Freeze (irish setter)" - Nancy Simmonds
"I am a Miracle" - Colleen the Irish Setter Puppy (musivation.com)
and "Ivy the Irish Setter" - ( phonics lesson plan).

Very few.
In Irish we have the old folk song "An Madra Rua", but that's techically about a fox, but I'll include it anyway since I don't understand the words and can just pretend it's about my 'red dog'.
"Three Roses" by Dewey Bunnell (America) mentions two dogs by the fire, which were actually his two Irish setters, so that might count...

My all time favorite Setter Song has become......
"Start Me Up"!!!! (Thanks Henk). I can no longer hear that song without seeing visions of Henk surrounded by red dogs getting psyched up for a days hunting!

Still searching.........

Joan Clancy (NY)

[Laura Kolbach]

very interesting! thanks for sharing!!!

[Joan Clancy]

If I'm not mistaken, you are thinking of the song "Shannon" by Henry Gross, which I have on my playlist. It is very much in the style of beachboys music, and was written about the passing of Carl Wilsons (of the beach boys) Irish Setter.

Quite interesting to see in Henry Gross' biography, that both he and Carl Wilson had Irish setters named Shannon : )

"The Story of "Shannon"
When I was twenty-one years old a wonderful girl came into my life by the name of Kathy Reinmann. As if having her in my life as a friend, a wife and a friend again for the next twenty three years, until she died of lung cancer five years ago this coming August, was not enough, she brought along with her into my heart her two year old Irish Setter, Shannon. She was an uncannily human dog whose ability to manipulate her human counterparts cannot be understated. I was touring around the country quite a lot in 1975 promoting an album called HENRY GROSS, the one with the yellow cover on A&M Records. I had the pleasure of doing long strings of dates with a group whose music always inspired me, The Beach Boys. Carl Wilson, arguably the finest solo voice in the group, was warm and welcoming from the very first show I played with them on a freezing cold day at the University of New Hampshire. After getting to know each other we realized we shared a love for much of the same music and a passion for fine vintage guitars. On a break from touring, while I was in Los Angeles, Carl invited me to his house to spend a day talking guitars, cars and rock & roll. While he was preparing lunch his two Alaskan husky dogs reached up on the counter and inhaled our food. I told Carl, while admiring the military perfection of the raid executed by his huskies, that I had an Irish Setter at home named Shannon. He was quite moved as he told me that he had an Irish Setter named Shannon that had been killed only recently when hit by a car. We spent the rest of the day jamming and driving around Carl's world which as a friend and to be honest a Beach Boy's fanatic was a thrill.

When I returned to New York City, where I lived, I began work on my second A&M album, PLUG ME INTO SOMETHING. A few weeks later just as we were about to master the finished album I was sitting on my bed with Shannon strumming my guitar trying to write a song when I was disturbed by the loud bass sounds from the Latin music blasting from the apartment above me. Rather than complain I made an amazing discovery. If I tried to play records of my own choice I could drown out the intrusive bass sounds but was unable to concentrate. But I found that when I played an environments record called "The Ultimate Seashore" I could drown out the bass and have a pleasing and relaxing background sound that didn't interfere with my writing. In a matter of minutes with the ocean sounds guiding me, and my 1964 Gibson Hummingbird acoustic in my hands, my thoughts drifted to Carl, The Beach Boys and with a glance at my girl Shannon, the indescribable sadness that losing such a beloved partner in life must be. The song seemed to write itself taking no more than ten minutes and with almost no cross outs on the paper. I made a tape of it on my giant Sony cassette recorder and sent it off to Carl. I was hoping to stop the presses and record it for PLUG ME INTO SOMETHING which Carl had already sung on, adding background vocals to the opening song, ONE MORE TOMORROW, but it was too late. I had to wait for the next album to record it. I always wished I could have had Carl sing backgrounds on SHANNON but conflicting schedules dictated it wasn't meant to be. I believed after it was recorded for my RELEASE album, that it was destined to be a hit and lobbied hard for it to be the first single. You see, the man upstairs who had played the loud Latin music, beginning the entire chain of events, came down when he heard me playing mixes over and over to decide which I liked. However, rather than hearing the expected complaints, he said he loved the sound of the record and wanted to know where he could buy a copy. I reasoned if a salsa music fan who spoke little English loved the record through the ceiling, Shannon, Kathy and I had a hit on our hands. Fortunately, history and lady luck proved me right. And that is the true story of the song SHANNON. (For SHANNON lyrics, click here.)

HENRY GROSS

I think that's the one you mean, unless the beach boys also recorded one.
Joan