Pecker Dunne

The Last of the Traveling People

Paddy "The Pecker" Dunne is quite well known amongst Irish folk cognoscenti, most notably for his songs "Sullivan's John", "Wexford Town", and "The Last of the Traveling People". Although he appeared on many television, radio shows, and documentaries, his day to day income usually came from plopping his case down on a sidewalk outside a football match and trusting to the generosity of the people who stopped by to listen. He himself only made two albums, the first in 1976 when he was 43, and the last, The Best of Pecker Dunne which issued in 1987.

Pecker is indeed one of Ireland's traveling people. Traditionally these were the itinerant "tinker" tinsmiths who went about the land fixing the farmers' and townspeople's pots and kettles. To what degree the tinkers really hail from gypsy stock can be argued endlessly by scholars and pub customers, but in Ireland they have been so often intermarried with the local population (the theme of "Sullivan's John", by the way) that it was their lifestyle that set them apart.

The tinker trade itself has long since vanished (today everyone just throws old pots and pans out), and it's been the performers whose caravans originally followed the fairs and circuses (Pecker's grandmother was a tightrope walker) that continued to best earn their living on the road. There are perhaps around 30,000 Travelers in Ireland today, and they are often stereotyped as lazy lagabouts who spend their time caging handouts and getting into brawls. Many factors (such as the reality that their kids need an education) has forced many out of their nomadic lifestyle, although some still head out on the road in the summer. Even the Pecker eventually settled down to a permanent abode in Killimer, County Clare.

Despite not living the easiest or the most commercially lucrative life, Pecker certainly seemed to have done all right. Ronnie Drew, founder of the the Irish folk group the Dubliners made sure to introduce his version of "Sullivan's John" on the 1967 album More of the Hard Stuff by saying "This is a song I got from a well known traveling musician in Ireland, better known as the Pecker. It concerns a farmer's son who went away with a tinker's daughter." Even then Pecker was looked on as one of the grand old men of Irish music although he was only 34. And today many a successful Irish musician continues to hold Pecker in awe. "I never met Bob Dylan", original Planxty member Christy Moore said, "but I sang with Pecker Dunne."

The Pecker continued to play for many years after many of his fellow musicians and balladeers such as Dominic and Brendan Behan , Ewan MacColl, Luke Kelly, and yes, Ronnie had passed on. Sadly, the Pecker, too, is no longer with us. He died December 19, 2012.

References

Folk Music Hero and Champion of Traveller Culture, http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/obituaries/2012/1229/1224328248376.html

"The Pecker Dunne", Rambling House, http://www.ramblinghouse.org/2009/07/the-pecker-dunne/

"Funeral of Pecker Dunne", Peter O'Connell, " Clare Champion,http://www.clarechampion.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12794:funeral-of-pecker-dunne&catid=61:events&Itemid=55