Album: Live In Europe (1972)
See also: Irish Tour ’74 (1974), Wheels Within Wheels (2003), Irish Tour ’74 40th anniversary (2014), Check Shirt Wizard (2020)
Rory Gallagher’s brother Dónal once told the story of what happened when the record company took it upon themselves to do a cut of ‘Going To My Hometown’ from the Live In Europe album without letting Rory know so they could show him how the song could work as a single. The effect on the famously quiet natured Rory was incendiary: as Dónal described it, Rory went through the roof, and apparently took the label executive with him!
It has often been discussed how releasing singles could have boosted Rory’s career, got him regular radio play and regular chart appearances. There is probably merit to that argument, but on the other hand, would we have the Rory Gallagher as many of us know and love today? Perhaps not. Any compromises could have completely shifted the game, and it’s an oft mentioned warning what standing on a tiny insect could do to history should someone go time travelling. Rory was very much anti-single for many reasons.
In the Irish Tour film, he says, “I don’t regard myself as a Top 20 musician at all, even though I could write a Top 20 song, but I wouldn’t. I don’t think that’s important, you know. It’s a pity, I think a lot of people might see me and see me on the television, on the screen, and without listening, they turn it off and might think ‘He’s a Top Of The Pops man’, they wouldn’t…Sometimes appearances and songs are not what they seem to be. I just want to be able to continue playing. Want to be able to buy a bar of chocolate in a shop if I want to or go into a bar and have a pint without being besieged all the time. Just want to have an ordinary kind of walking down the streets without being recognised sort of life. Of course, if someone comes over and says, ‘How’re you doing, Rory?’ that’s fine. But I don’t want to get into the Rolls Royce, the mansion and the cloak and dagger style of living.”
In other words, perhaps releasing singles as he saw it opened him up to the kind of major rock star life that was not for him. There is a sense in listening to this and seeing him discuss the matter in other interviews that he felt it would take him away from who he really was, and ultimately, how he wanted his music to be. Rory was regarded as a tad stubborn by many for this, who argued he could have taken his career in so many different ways, but he is also respected for sticking to his guns in an industry that takes the talent, strips away the essence and presents something instantly marketable. And of course, disposable and of the moment. Not something you could say about Rory Gallagher, who has something of the timeless about him.
Of course, “Going To My Hometown” is not just another, could have been single. It’s one of the most popular songs in Rory’s canon. It was never recorded in a studio, but first made its appearance on 1972’s Live In Europe album, released on 14 May 1972. Starting off with Rory accompanying himself on mandolin, it literally brought the house down, as the song grew in crescendo with the rest of the band gradually joining in, with an elated crowd stomping and clapping along in unison. It was also a song mooted as a duet with Lonnie Donegan, Rory’s childhood hero, though as things worked out, they never managed to record it in the studio for any of Donegan’s albums, but there is a live version of the two duetting on the song on Rory’s posthumous 2003 Wheels Within Wheels album.
'Going To My Hometown’ is a classic folky number, the main theme of which is the story of a young guy who has left home to work in a factory, mostly likely a Ford plant. But it doesn’t quite have a happy ending for him, despite the fact there is now a girlfriend and love in his life. This is one homesick lad who just wants to get back to the home turf. And he may or may not get back to the girl!
The day I left,You know the rain was pouring down.The day I left,You know the rain was pouring down.I'm going home again baby,I believe the sun's gonna come on out.Let's go home, boy, let's go home.Yes I'm going to my hometown,You know baby I gotta go.Going to my hometown,You know I just have to go.I really love you, woman,I'll see you in a year, maybe no, maybe yes.
Played live, the song quickly turned into a call and response, with Rory asking the audience “Do you wanna go!” and getting an enthusiastic “Yes!” back – clearly a crowd who would go anywhere with him!
