It was Alexandre Dumas who said 'Rogues are preferable to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.'  It was Key Notes who added 'Imbeciles were probably too busy texting in their votes for Ireland’s Greatest Living Musician.' 

Proving once again that the Irish general public should not be trusted to make decisions (see any General Election 1921-2007), Christy Moore has been awarded the mantle of Ireland’s Greatest Living Musician. Now, aside from the cruel jibe that he only knows nine chords and rations them to no more than three per song, the reality is that Christy Moore (as a music making entity at least) has been virtually retired for the last decade and will always be best known as an interpreter of other peoples music.

As a nation that prides itself on its musical ability, surely we could have come up with a musician more worthy of such a lofty title. While Key Notes has already made it clear that it thinks Neil Hannonis far more deserving of the award; it could also amass an endless (well at least twenty) list of musicians upon whose shoulders Ireland’s Greatest Living Musician would rest easily. 

Now, while Key Notes’ opinion of Christy Moore may be tempered by the fact that its Dad played nothing but The Christy Moore Collection 1981-1991 on every family holiday (from Lille to Lahinch) for four straight years, this blog still believes we can do better than this man as our Greatest Living Musician: