Flogging Molly
“Drunken Lullabies”
Side One Dummy Records: www.sideonedummy.com
Following their phenomenal debut, “Swagger,” I was curious to see if Flogging Molly would again hit that high mark, and indeed they have composed a sophomore album equally worthy of praise. “Drunken Lullabies” continues in their tradition of pairing earnest, emotive, and often poetic lyrics with their inspired rendering of the celtic/punk rock hybrid. Whereas contemporaries such as the Dropkick Murphys proudly weigh in heavier on the punk rock, Flogging Molly are foremost Irish, fully armed with all of the Irish folk musical amenities (barring perhaps the bag-pipe). Singer and primary song-writer Dave King sings songs that tell stories of love, death, struggles, days past and lessons learned… and delivers these lyrical gems with a tenacity and passion that raises the blood-pressure. The last track, “The Son Never Shines (On Closed Doors),” is a beautiful melancholy acoustic number about an aging mother’s longing to see her son.
She said the son never shines on closed doors
I open to find only hurricanes blow
Take me away back to the green fields of May
Because the son never shines on closed doors
Death Comes like a thief in the night
To steal while you sleep
Your soul’s flickering light
Well maybe it’s then
She said, I’ll see you again
Because the sun never shines on closed doors
Elsewhere, the lyrics on the title track poses the question “Must it take a life for hateful eyes to glisten once again / Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess / Singin’ drunken lullabies.” From there, “What’s Left of the Flag” touches on the death of King’s father when he was ten, and also personalizes political strife in Ireland (he grew up in Dublin), while “May the Living Be Dead (In Our Wake)” reveals a appealing sentimentality as he sings of a girl: “Her breath pure as whiskey my heart fell in love / Now the devil is courtin’ a different tune / And I laugh as his tears wash the rain.” Actually, pulling quotes out of the context of the song somewhat weakens their impact, and it’s hard to decide where to make the incisions, but you get an idea.
King does not write all of the songs here, however, as there is a cover of “The Rare Ould Times” by Pete St. John. Also Nathen Maxwell (electric bass) has written and sang one of my favorites on this platter of plenty, “Cruel Mistress,” a coarse sea-faring tune that has perhaps a bit of a Spanish feel. Another stellar song on this release, “Another Bag of Bricks,” brings the Pogues’ “Turkish Song of the Damned” to mind. However, they do enough to embellish this exotic gypsy-inflected track so as not to appear overtly derivative. In fact, I’d say Flogging Molly has carved a niche for themselves, not only as top notch musicians and song-writers, but as a band with their own distinctive sound and style… and perhaps best of all, enough heart to fill that vapid arena housing the majority of modern music
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