Barry...That's nearly the same as I wrote earliar on...but I couldn't remember who it was sung by.

Hi Trisha,

Go to www.208.justsayweb.de/208/208o/audio/208o_down_tunes.htm and you can have a listen to some of it.

Enjoy

Barry

hi barry thanks for info on song

The Indians used to play 'One song away (from being home)' as their last song. Quite appropriate really..

We sang the national anthem
for whatever country we were in at the time! hah
Incidentally, I'm listening to that MariAAAAAN mongomery version right now.
the large a is to denote the fact that I searched and searched for marion montgomery and couldn't find it lol
no wonder its a not o

Its definitely not the sunny leslie version ...noweher near as soulful
XX

While there were many reasons for the demise of the showbands (many sensible ones suggested on this discussion thread), few contributors seem to mention the word "talent". There were many very talented musicians but there were a large number of chancers and third-rate musicians in the showband scene. 
Playing live is all very well and you'll get away with a lot, but most of the showbands used session musicians on their recordings.  Those that didn't often wasted many a studio hour struggling to get a song finished with any semblance of quality. 
On more than one occasion, a player was told that the dodgy notes would be fixed on the mix, and as soon as he was out the door, the phone would be lifted and some session player would be in within the hour!
There were, of course,  bands who were superb - Ray Lynam's band is one, and in fact they went on to become session players in their own right.
The Irish audiences are primarily to blame: they haven't got a note in their heads!  Look at the various talent shows  - "Your a Star" for example - and see the way the votes go: if a singer choses a big ballad and screams his or her head off, the fact that s/he hits 6 different notes (none of them in tune) where one is required, will attract a bucketful of votes.  And the UK ones are nearly as bad...
I also note some begrudgrery towards a certain Sir Bob - yeah. he's a bit pompous, but he did write some classic songs; he also hit the nail on the head about this "banana republic" - and when you read the Moriarty Report, wasn't he absolutely right?

I disagree with the comment: 'Irish audiences are primarily to blame: they haven't got a note in their heads'. We are not talking about talent shows, we are making comments on Irish Showbands & their demise. Do you honestly think that the paying public would go out in all weathers, travel any amount of miles, to hear & dance to  'a large number of chancers and third-rate musicians'? I for one certainly wouldn't. Do we particularly care if they used session musicians on their recordings? We went to dances to listen to 'live' music...to be entertained & have a good time. Fair enough to say that maybe some of the 'warm-up' bands were a bit rough round the edges, but even some of those went on to be the 'main attraction'. Bands like Tweed, the Memories & Chips were brilliant to see perform. I suppose I could add some C&W bands in there too. But at the end of the day, it was the good old paying public that judged whether these bands were booked again at a venue. If the crowds didn't turn out, then the bands weren't asked back.
Isn't it good to see so many members give their opinions on this topic?