NEWS
Press Release via AS Written, October 2021
DONIE O IS THINKING BACK BUT LOOKING AHEAD
Most of us have spent the last nineteen months or so wishing for some way to transport ourselves back in time, back to before masks were a must-have when leaving home, and before things like social-distancing had to be factored into all of our plans. Most of all – especially for all of us who live and breathe music in so many ways – we just wanted to have music back in our lives again. That feeling of longing, of nostalgia, of better days left behind us, is what BACK IN ’68, the brand new single from DONIE O is all about.
Written by his fellow Tipp man, the late John O’ Connell, BACK IN ’68 – in normal times – would have a touch of lonesome hidden in its grooves anyway, name-checking as it does, so many of those venues of lore and legend nationwide where an incalculable number of hearts first danced their way into range of Cupid’s bow. Back in 1968, however, none who graced floors such as that of the Emerald in Ballinasloe, the Majestic in Mallow, the Astor in Castleisland, Dundalk’s Adelphi, the Sound of Music in Glenamaddy, or – one well-known to Donie O himself – the Premier in Thurles, would ever have believed the kind of world we’d have in our rear-view mirrors come 2021. But here we are…
And where we are, is on the move again! Slowly but surely, we can finally hear the music begin to lift us once more. And that’s where the magic lies in Donie O’s recording of BACK IN ’68. For those who can still feel the glow of those golden 20th century days and nights, this song is like running into an old friend after too long apart, something we can all relate to now. But at the same time, for those whose memories have travelled a shorter stretch of road, but for whom the last nineteen months will certainly never be forgotten, the emotions at the heart of this record are theirs too.
This is a song to remind the listener – every listener, especially now – that life must be lived forward. Yes, we can remember, and yes, we should remember. We are, after all, every moment we have lived. But let us remember this too: we’re not done living yet!
While Donie O’s vocal, perhaps his most passionate yet, will call to mind the likes of the Las Vegas in Templemore, the Carlton in Kilkenny, the Atlantic in Tramore, or maybe the Crystal in Dublin, its message is not that our memories are all we have. Far from it. No, its message now, in 2021, is that we still have so many memories yet to make, so that come tomorrows yet unseen, we’ll have more songs like BACK IN ’68, reminding us that while we might glance back every now and then, we live moving forward. And we keep smiling, and we keep dancing as we go…because after all…
“Wasn’t it great in ’68/ To have been around back then…”
And it was. But as Donie O reminds us, “The best is always yet to come.”
~ BACK IN ’68, the brand NEW single from DONIE O is now available to request from radio stations nationwide, and will be general-release on all platforms from FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29th. For info on pre-adding/pre-saving his new single, follow Donie O on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @donieomusic, and at www.officialdonieomusic.com
On The Right TRAX 