I’ll never forget the first time I heard ‘Lakes’ – a clip of an otherworldly live performance by Paul Brady (accompanied by Andy Irvine) first broadcast on RTÉ in 1977 – or indeed the second time, Christy Moore somehow mining new depths...

Though the exact authorship of this Irish American ballad is uncertain, “foreign money” gaining “no credit” might well indicate its roots in the US Civil War: the acceptance/rejection of Confederacy and Union bank notes having been a matter of regional discretion.