Clontarf songwriter is ‘up to 90′

SOME of the world’s best musicians don’t come close to writing and producing 90 songs, but a Clontarf resident can now celebrate that very milestone.

Michael Green has compiled all his musical life’s work into a book titled: ‘I’m Up To 90: Rhymes, Reasons and Rhythms behind 90 Original Songs’  which covers a wide array of subjects that are relatable to his life.

“Song writing is a retirement hobby of mine which I have been doing for years now for a bit of pleasure but mainly for my family,” says Green.

“You’re talking the best part of 60 years now. I suppose when I was about 12.”

Love and romantic songs, songs of place, sports songs, songs with a message, Christmas songs, fun songs and children’s songs are seven sections which the book is divided into.

The sections were not influenced towards a specific time in life as Green says his inspirations come spontaneously.

“I could just wake up tomorrow and say: where will I slot that into one of the seven sections?” he says. 

Although he doesn’t promote his work, Green puts all of his creations on his Youtube channel (search: Michael Green or Miranmike100) and one of his songs has impressively reached over 13,000 views.

The song, ‘Happy Birthday to Miriam’, has been a huge draw for other people with friends or loved ones named Miriam, and one of the comments underneath says: “I have a friend called Miriam. Perfect!”

The book is not just a collection of Green’s songs. It also tells the story behind each song. He gives a little detail of the reason he wrote each song or the events that inspired him to write a particular song. 

For example, his ‘Thank You Lads’ song was written as a tribute to Martin O’Neill, Roy Keane and the Irish soccer team for getting us to the finals of the European Championships which take place in France next month. 

Green says he compiled his collection because he wanted to make sure that after his “demise” his family wouldn’t spend years regretting that they hadn’t paid enough attention to his songs while he was alive.  

He explains the anecdote of when he was on a recent 1916 tour. He heard many people say “Ah! I should have paid more attention in school when the teacher was telling us about 1916, it’s very interesting, isn’t it?”  

Green says he hopes he has saved his children from a life of similar regrets. Now on over 105 songs since the publication of the book for his family, Green has many blank pages left to fill and who knows: he might just write the next big Christmas hit!

REPORT: Brein McGinn