Irish pop music occupies a huge amount of space in both my music collection and my heart. More often than not, these are bands whose relatives in the United States probably outnumbers their record sales. (With the exception of U2, of course). Sometimes the music hints at the bands' heritage. Other times, that celtic sensibility is nowhere to be heard. If the band said "shit" instead of “shite,” they could just as easily be from Pittsburgh as Dublin. I distinctly remember hearing tonight's song and then immediately tracking down every other single I could find by the band — several of them in hand-made picture sleeves that were probably designed and assembled at somebody's kitchen table. For a while, a myth circulated that the band had actually come to America and recorded their one and only full length LP at Bearsville Studios with none other than Todd Rundgren. Nobody we knew had ever seen it or heard anything from it. It became the Holy Grail for my friend Andy and I. We looked everywhere for it. And just when we were ready to concede it's non-existence… a ray of hope: tidbits of information downloaded from a fledgling internet hinted at not only the existence of the legendary Bearsville recordings, but also the album's actual re-release on some obscure German label! In the end, that was indeed the version of the LP I managed to track down on Ebay. And you know, ironically, nothing on that album really added up to those four scruffy 45's — and this song in particular, “Who's Gonna Tell Mary,” by The Moondogs. Today's Happy Medium Song of the Day is, without a doubt, one of my favorite pop twists on the traditional boy-meets girl, boy gets girl scenarios ever recorded.
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