Music / The Saw Doctors

"And I wish I was on that N17
Stone walls and the grass is green"

The Saw Doctors are an Irish Rock band from Tuam, County Galway. They formed in 1986, toured until 2013 and have been doing the occasional show since 2015.

The band has had a great deal of turnover, with the only remaining original members being Davy Carton (Lead vocals & guitar) and Leo Moran (vocals & guitar). One of the early members quit on them when he won the Lotto.

Currently, Davy sings lead on about ¾ of the songs, while Leo takes most of the rest. That mix used to include Pearse Doherty (the bass player) and John "Turps" Burke (numerous instruments, including the mandolin) when they were still with the band.

Discography:

• If This Is Rock and Roll, I Want My Old Job Back (1991)
• All The Way From Tuam (1992)
• Same 'Oul Town (1996)
• Sing a Powerful Song (1997) - a compilation album
• Songs From Sun Street (1998)
• Villains? (2001)
• Play It Again, Sham (2002) - another compilation album
• Live in Galway [live] (2004)
• New Year's Day [live] (2005)
• The Cure (2006)
• That Takes the Biscuit (2007)
• Live at the Melody Tent [live] (2008)
• To Win Just Once / The Best of the Saw Doctors (2009) a third compilation album
• The Further Adventures of... The Saw Doctors (2010)
• 25:25 (2012) - 25^th Anniversary compilation album. They really like releasing compilation albums.

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The music of this band provides examples of:

• Audience Participation Song:
  • "N17" at any live show (and it appears at every live show)
    Davy: I wish I was on that...
    Crowd: N17 / Stone walls and the grass is green
  • "Tommy K" has gestures to go along with the chorus, which Leo will demonstrate if too few people in the crowd are doing them. There are also an alternate set of gestures to prevent spilling your beer, if you're holding one.
  • "Hay Wrap" is often the concert closer, and the chorus turns into a Call-and-Response Song of "Bale 'em bale 'em!" "Hay, hay!" that gets faster and faster.
• Big Rock Ending: "Hay Wrap" at a live show ends with all the band members playing their instruments at a breakneck pace.
• Break-Up Song:
  • Played With in "I Hope You Meet Again" in that the singer isn't the one who was broken up with. The song is him trying to console his friend.
  • Averted in "Broke My Heart" which has nothing to do with a breakup; it's about a teammate not letting the singer attempt to score a game-winning goal in a game of Gaelic football. Whether the team still won the game is not established.
  • Played Straight in "Wake Up Sleeping"
    Oh, I'd really love to wake up sleeping in your arms again
• Car Song: Averted with "Red Cortina". Despite the title being the name of a model of car, the song is about first love.
• Comfort Food: "Chips" is about eating a burger and chips to assuage the pain of getting shot down romantically.
• Confessional: "Bless Me, Father" is a song where a not-at-all repentant person recounts his carnal activities in confessional.
  Bless me, Father, I couldn't resist
  Oh, Father, you have no idea what you've missed!
• Dancing Is Serious Business: It was to the eponymous DJ "Tommy K". At the time he was operating in Tuam, dancing had to stop for Lent, per the order of the Catholic Church. Tommy was the only DJ willing to go against them on that.
• Death Song: "Carry Me Away" is about an aquaintance of some of the band members who liked to fish on Lough Corrib. His final wish (which was carried out) was to have his ashes scattered there.
• Driving Song: "Galway and Mayo" is about the singer's father taking the family on drives around the eponymous counties.
• Dumbass DJ: Averted hard with "Tommy K". The song paints him as just shy of being the patron saint of music for dances.
• Everything Is an Instrument: There's a rythmic clicking sound in the instrumental song "High Nellie". It was made by turning the wheel on an upside-down bike.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin:
  • "Away With The Fairies" is about going away with the Fairies
  • "Indian Summer" is about an Indian Summer
• The Fair Folk: The whole point of "Away With The Fairies"
• First Girl Wins: Averted very strongly in "I Useta Love Her". The whole song is the singer going on about how much he used to pine over this girl, but that's long gone now.
• Friendship Song:
  • "Best of Friends"
    We will always be the best of friends
    But I won't see the likes of you again.
  • "Never Mind The Strangers"
    Never mind the strangers, 'cause I'll always be your friend until the end.
  • "World of Good"
    Though times will change, it's understood
    I wish for you the world of good
• Gift of Song: "Your Guitar" is a song to the singer's son
  I wrote this song with your guitar
• Hidden Track: "Apples, Sweets, or Chocolate" starts playing after about 5 minutes of silence following "I'll Be On My Way," the last track on Songs From Sun Street.
• Home Guard: "F.C.A." is about the singer joining the eponymous organization, which are the reserves for the Paddies with Propeller Planes. He doesn't think much of it, though he is appreciative of the high quality boots^note  the FCA was often nicknamed the "Free Clothes Association" and the high-quality army boots were regarded as one of the few worthwhile perks of joining and very appreciative of the farewell his girlfriend gives him before he leaves.
• Homesickness Hymn: Several
  • "Back to Tuam" is about how excited the singer is to be going home.
  • "Going Home"
  • "Irish Post"
  • "N17"
    Behind all these muddled up problems
    Of livin' on a foreign soil
    I can still see the twists and turns in the road
    From the square to the town of the tribes!
• I Am the Band: Many people have been part of the band over the years, but Leo and Davy remain the core.
• "I Am" Song: In "Joyce Country Céilí Band" the Saw Doctors take on the identity of the eponymous Band and sing about themselves and what they can be hired for.
• "I Want" Song: "I Want You More" is the singer telling a girl how much he wants her and listing all the things he wants her more than. But, as he is clearly a teenager (or early 20's at the oldest), the list of things is patently ridiculous; including a carton of wine, duty-free cigarettes, and tickets to a major sporting event.
• Indian Summer: "Indian Summer"
• Instrumental: "High Nellie" is unique in the band's catalog in that it has no vocals.
• Intercourse with You: Many songs, usually involving creative ways of expressing it.
  • "F.C.A."
    For the cause of Mother Ireland, she couldn't have done more!
  • "I Useta Love Her"
    See I met this young one Thursday night and she's into free expression
    And her mission is to rid the world of physical repression
    Then we had a session
  • "Share the Darkness"
    Why don't we share the darkness tonight,
    Make it warm and burnin' bright
    I'm not sayin' nothin', I'll be polite.
    Why don't we share the darkness tonight?
  • "I'd Love to Touch The Bangles" is a song about how desirable The Bangles are. In the last chorus, they drop all pretenses and substitute the word "bang" for "touch".
• Large Ham: Davy Carton. Leo, in contrast, tends to be more laid-back.
• Lead Singer Plays Lead Guitar: Zig-zagged currently. Davy and Leo both play guitar and who sings lead depends on the song.
• List Song: "Want You More" is a song to a girl where the singer is listing all the things he wants, then telling the girl he wants her more.
• Location Song: Many songs are about their hometown of Tuam.
• Love Is a Drug: The whole point of "Addicted" off of The Cure
• Love Nostalgia Song: "Red Cortina" contains the oft-repeated line "First love stays with you forever"
• National Anthem: The last few notes of "Amhrán na bhFiann"^note "The Soldier's Song" in English form the last few notes of "F.C.A." It also appears at the end of "Apples, Sweets, or Chocolates".
• No Music Allowed: "Tommy K" mentions how, in days of yesteryear, all the dances had to stop happening during Lent.
• Ode to Youth: This is the subject of "Wisdom of Youth"
• Protest Song:
  • "Every Day" is a song about all the Irish women who had to go to the UK to get abortions. This situation has since been rectified.
  • "Letter From Louise" is about how the eponymous Louise is hopeful for an end to The Troubles.
  • "Howya Julia" is a parody of the reaction (including hypocritical prudishness) when Bishop Éamonn Casey was revealed to have a secret son in 1992.
• Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: "Bebo" is about someone trying to avoid one of these by swearing off the (now defunct) social media network.
• Rain, Rain, Go Away: The whole point of "Will It Ever Stop Raining?" is the singer lamenting how he's all ready for summer, but the weather isn't cooperating.
• Self-Deprecation: The title of their first full album is If This Is Rock and Roll, I Want My Old Job Back.
• Songs of Solace: "Same 'Oul Town" is about someone who is lonely in a small town.
• Special Guest: The Saw Doctors wanted to do a cover of "Downtown". They asked Petula Clark to join them and she did, much to the band's pleasure.
• Time-Shifted Actor: Played With. The cover to If This Is Rock and Roll, I Want My Old Job Back shows what appear to be older versions of all the then-current band members. It's actually a picture of their fathers, and a photo of the real band (wearing essentially the same outfits) is on the back of the CD case.
• Title Track: The albums All The Way From Tuam, Same 'Oul Town, Sing a Powerful Song, Villains?, and To Win Just Once all take their names from a song on the album (and not necessarily the best known track on said album: "Share the Darkness", "To Win Just Once", and "Clare Island" were all on Same 'Oul Town and each of them gets a lot more play in concerts than the title track)
• Unusual Euphemism: Many, usually involving Intercourse with You.
  • "D'you Wanna Hold My Guitar" isn't about a guitar.
• Word Salad Lyrics: "Hay Wrap" consists almost entirely of random quotes the band members heard from farmers engaged in baling hay. Without that context, the song is nigh-incomprehensible. (If you are familiar with that life, though, it's one of their most hilariously relatable. Especially the part about begging to go up on top of the bales on the trailer.)