#5 A Million Miles Away

 

Album: Tattoo, 1973

Also check out: Irish Tour ’74, The BBC Sessions, and Check Shirt Wizard: Live in ‘77

 By 1973, it’s safe to say Rory Gallagher was at a career peak. Not only did he release the brilliant Blueprint and Tattoo albums, but his tour of Ireland at the end of the year also became something of a landmark, producing both the Irish Tour documentary directed by Tony Palmer and the legendary Irish Tour ’74 live album.

 With the release of Tattoo came ‘A Million Miles Away’, rated as the ‘quintessential Rory song’ by fans on his social media pages in 2019. It’s a song that once it arrived, was to stay on the scene forever. The track features the lineup of Rod de’Ath on drums, Lou Martin on keyboard/piano, and Gerry McAvoy on bass. On the album version, you also get to hear Rory play saxophone, triple tracked over the chorus. It also became a regular fixture of his shows, each appearance of it on live albums (or the BBC Sessions album) a treat for the ears.

 The writing of the song even has something of a tale behind it. Dónal, Rory’s brother, thinks the inspiration for the lyrics may have come from a walk along the cliffs at Ballycotton in County Cork, where Rory enjoyed going to clear his head. Dónal has recalled in a few interviews one instance when he found such a walk anything but relaxing. He and Rory had become separated, and Dónal was getting no response when he called for Rory.

 Fearing the worst, that Rory may have fallen over the cliffs, he was about to call out the Ballycotton lifeboat, when Rory shouted back to him. It turned out Rory had heard Dónal shouting for him but was busy getting some song lyrics down and didn’t answer until he had finished! ‘A Million Miles Away’ is thought to be those lyrics that held his attention. Another contender is ‘Lost At Sea’, from 1975’s Against The Grain Album.

 A nice epilogue is that in 2014, Dónal auctioned one of Rory’s amplifiers and donated the proceedings, €7,500 raised from the auction and a further €3,500 anonymous donation from an unsuccessful bidder to the Ballycotton RNLI lifeboat.

 ‘A Million Miles Away’ is described on Rory’s website thus, “A Million Miles Away quickly became one of the most-loved numbers in Rory’s repertoire. It demonstrates the deep, introverted side of his emotions.’

 Lyrically, the song sets the scene in a fairly lively bar. A pianist is happily tinkling the ivories, the barman is somewhat seven sheets to the wind and the revellers are having a good time, talking and singing. The one person not feeling the mood is Rory’s protagonist, wondering why he is even there. It certainly puts a spin on the old line, ‘alone in a crowd.’

 "Why ask how I feel,

Well, how does it look to you?
I fell hook, line and sinker,
Lost my captain and my crew.

I'm standing on the landing,
There's no one there but me,
That's where you'll find me
Looking out on the deep blue sea."

 The music is somewhat anthemic, adding to the poignancy of the lyrics. It’s perhaps one of those songs where with any other act, the audience would have the lighters swaying appreciatively in the air back in the days before it was the glow of a smartphone screen. Though given how much of a frenzy Rory worked his audiences into, the glowing lighter moment was perhaps inadvisable as a potential fire hazard.

 There are pressures in life to join in with the general ambience of a party, but it’s not something everyone feels. ‘A Million Miles Away’ certainly captures that mood.