John Spillane very honoured to write song about Michael Collins

CORK singer/songwriter John Spillane has spoken of the honour of being asked to write a song about Michael Collins.

The frequent West Cork visitor was asked by the Michael Collins 100 committee to compose a song about the Big Fella to coincide with the unveiling of a new Collins statue on the Grand Parade in Cork city at 12 noon on Friday October 20th.

‘The song is composed and I’m just putting the final touches to it. I haven’t settled on a name yet as it’s so new. It’s a huge honour for me and my family to be asked to do this as all my family are from West Cork and Collins was such an iconic figure in West Cork and around the country,’ John told The Southern Star.

‘It’s about Collins when he was younger on his father’s farm riding a white horse. I visited Woodfield recently and explored areas surrounding there, and then came up with the idea for the song.’

When he sent his song to the committee they unanimously approved it, and it will get its world premiere on the day of the statue’s unveiling.

‘There are so many elements to Collins that you couldn’t put his life into a story, so I concentrated on the West Cork element of his younger years. It’s a prequel to what happens later in his life.’

John was more than surprised to be told by committee member Tim Crowley that Collins often spoke about a white horse, called Gypsy, which he used to ride on their family farm.

‘That was really interesting as intuitively I happened to be in the right zone when coming up with the idea,’ said John.

John will be accompanied by Rosaleen O’Leary on the uilleann pipes on the day, before the unveiling of the statue by sports stars Ronan O’Gara, Jimmy Barry Murphy and Rena Buckley. He said he would look into releasing the song at a later date.

Meanwhile, a stainless steel capsule was placed in the foundations last week underneath where the statue, which was made by sculptor Kevin Holland, will stand in the Grand Parade. 

Students from four schools, including Clonakilty schools Gaelscoil Mhichíl Uí Choileáin, Scoil na mBuachaillí and Lisavaird National School, also placed items in the capsule.

It also been confirmed that the Defence Forces will have the Sliabh na mBan armoured car, which was with Collins at Béal na Bláth, in position on the Grand Parade for the unveiling of the over-life bronze size statue.