Is there any source of information about Liam Clancy's song "For Real"

Question

I'm looking for any kind of source of information, regardless of medium, about Liam Clancy's song "For Real", regarding lyrics, background, commentary, etc. I can't seem to find anything about it.

Answer 1

The song is from a 1997 release by Clancy, O'Connell and Clancy. Liam Clancy, Dónal Clancy, Robbie O'Connell are the musicians : they performed as a group from 1996-99. Robbie is Liam's nephew, and Dónal is Liam's son. Links offering copies of the CD / LP for sale with pictures of the sleeve don't reveal anything more about the song.

After listening to the song and further searching for fragments of the lyrics, I found that the song was written by Bob Franke. Bob (born 1947) is still living as at the time of this answer. He is a widely respected singer/songwriter, writing songs in the folk style which have been adopted as part of the folk repertoire. Bob Franke official website

His songs are much covered : extract from 2017 interview

This list of musicians who have played your songs is awe-inspiring: Peter, Paul, and Mary, Kathy Mattea, Garnet Rogers, Claudia Schmidt, and David Wilcox to name a few. I can only imagine the joy that you must feel when you hear someone else singing your song. Are there any renditions that are your particular favorites? They are all favorites, as you might expect; June Tabor’s version of “Hard Love” showed me things I didn’t know were there, and Lui Collins’ version of “For Real” came at just the right time to encourage me.

This site with the lyrics credits the lyrics of "For Real" to

"Copyright (c) 1983 Telephone Pole Music Publishing (BMI)".

Versions (a selection from many):

Bob Franke, Fast Folk Musical Magazine (Vol. 2, No. 4) The Boston Area

Lui Collins "There's a light"

Clancy O'Connell and Clancy:

Glad you asked the question, I had never heard of Bob Franke before, and was not aware of some of what Liam Clancy had written either......