Brendan Behan
Some songs stand out above others, for their words, music or associations, or all three. Brendan Behan died in 1964, unaware that his Laughing Boy would live on after him in a country he never visited: Greece.
The year 1922 sticks in the memory of people in Ireland and in Greece: the two countries both suffered terrible national catastrophes in that year. Greece had a military humiliation in Asia Minor, and a million Greek Christians subsequently moved from Anatolia to the Greek state. The Irish Free State lost its first great leader, Michael Collins, shot down by his fellow-countrymen. The Laughing Boy tells a bizarre story which links the Irish and the Greeks. Although they live far away, they remain close in each other’s affections.
Irish Flag
Ask any Greek person what song symbolizes for them the ending of the Colonel’s dictatorship in 1974, you will get one answer: To Yelastó Pedí. The record-label will tell you that the music was written by Míkis Theodorákis, and that the lyrics were by ‘Mpredan Mpexan’ (Brendan Behan) who never visited Greece, and who on his death in 1964 had no idea that his poem, The Laughing Boy, which he wrote in his youth, and used again in a song in his play The Hostage would live on long after his death.
Greek Flag
Broadcast Details
The Laughing Boy is part of Newstalk’s Different Voices documentary series.
Broadcast at 7am on Saturday February 18th 2012 and at 9am on Sunday February 19th 2012.
The Laughing Boy was made by Silver Seagull Productions.
The project was supported by a grant from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
