In Memory of a Great
(in his own words)

In 1964 at a local fair I listened to a record being played over and over again, a unique voice it must be said,  I find out later it was Joe Dolan. Yes it was and he had The Answer To Everything  if you knew him nothing was a problem. Having left a lot of dancehall girls throughout  his career with an Aching Breaking Heart, deep inside he loved all his fans More and More Everyday. Joe kept everything simple and did things in his Own Peculiar Way. Being destined to travel the world, Joe always kept his feet firmly on the ground and would  Sit On Your Doorstep if you lived in his beloved Mullingar. He was equally at home in the towers of Tar And Cement of Dublin, Cork or Derry or amongst his county folk with their homely Houses With The Whitewashed Gables, yes and most of us had `Woodchip on the Walls`. Affectionately known as the The Westmeath Bachelor, Joe had lots of Love Of The Common People.

1969 Joe stormed the British and Worldwide charts with  Make Me An Island.  But do you know, this burst of International fame, to a lad like Joe well  It Makes No Difference to him. Another British success with You're Such A Good Looking Woman  sent the girls wild Teresa the Sweet Little Rock 'n' Roller plus others such as Crazy Woman the Lady In Blue even Sister Mary were all wooed into thinking that song was about them, No it was not about them, but about every girl, as he never made a difference for creed or class, old or young.

With his name up in lights as far a field as Vegas, Joe was never tempted to Take The Money And Run even though he was The Most Wanted Man In The U.S.A.  To his home support and country he pledged You Belong To Me Baby and told them I Need You and on the Silent Nights he told them he needed them even More And More because its all about our relationship; yes, It's You, It's You, It's You.  As a tribute to his nephew Adrian’s song writing talent he recorded Ciara, just the name for my granddaughter yes Somebody To Call My Girl and I’ll sit down with her and recall all the great times we had with Joe and all the lads.

Game for a laugh (no pun intended Dustin) Joe did a duet with the Turkey well they stuffed every one in the local charts with Good Looking Woman.

Sadly Boxing Day he was taken from us, but his Endless Magic which was The Universal bond between Star and fan goes on.  Joe, Everybody Hurts some way by your passing leaving us all Dreaming Of You and what might have been.

At the funeral, Joe’s long standing friend Frankie McDonald played Ave Maria before he and Joe’s niece Sandra led the congregation in a fitting tribute -----I had personally hoped to hear Danny Boy but the best deliver of that was in the audience there will be no Better Man at it in my opinion… Joe often sang about 16 Brothers everyone he met was his brother but his real brother and best friend Ben led the mourners.