Blarney Stone | Tracks Bar | John Sullivan’s Public House | Ophelia | YouTube Rabbithole
Alright @YouTheReader,
Today’s tune is Ophelia by The Lumineers. It wasn’t on in the background of one of these fine drinking establishments, but as you know, we start every month’s first Pint&Pen&Paper with a Lumineers tune in chronological order from their album. I’m typing jibberish…
On to the pints!!!
#GuinnessChallengeSeason
@Kids don’t try this at home. Not just because you’re underage and will have plenty of pints to drink if that ends up being your thing when you’re older but also because Guinness is actually best served in a pint glass from a tap. A pint of Guinness varies depending on the drinking establishment. If the keg it sits in is rarely poured, it can lead to some underwhelming taste. Rather than stealing gimmicks, I’d like to start taking Notes while drinking Guinness. My grandfather from Connemara, whom I never got the chance to meet, Thomas Davis, used to drink pints and by all accounts was a self-taught thinker. The one rule I’ve imposed on myself is that I will only have 1 pint per sitting from each establishment I review, so @AnyoneWorrying, don’t worry about my drinking habits. The Guinness Challenge is to “cut the G” on your first sip (more like a gulp and a half). If this is your first time hearing about it, I didn’t come up with the fun challenge @YouTheReader can try the next time you have a Guinness. The 0.0 to 10.0 scale will be extraordinarily nuanced but as a reference point, the only perfect 10.0 I plan ever to give out is at the Guinness Factory in Dublin one day.
Song On In The Background: Give Me One More Reason by Tracy Chapman
Notes if you can’t read my sloppy scribble: The MLB Wild Card is on TV, it’s the Twins vs Blue Jays. This Blarney Stone has no affiliation with the Blarney Stone on Trinity that I reviewed during the first weeks of Pint&Pen&Papers. The Guinness head schtick is about the size of a quarter. Their burger is recommended. They have a very cool Budweiser framed sign hanging up. On their walls, they have framed pictures of Jeter, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and A-Rod. From their ceilings, they have these old-school glass fans you see in pool rooms. Old-school joint.
The Blarney Stone across the pond is located at the wall of Blarney Castle in County Cork. Kissing the Blarney Stone is a tradition that goes back several centuries, it gives the kisser the gift of eloquence and persuasiveness. For ages, the origins of the stone were unknown, with some legends being that it was acquired way back during the Crusades while others say it is the same stone at Stonehenge. In ‘14, geologists studied that the famous rock is made of 330-million-year-old limestone from Ireland. (History) I did not kiss a rock at Blarney Stone on 8th Ave, I didn’t see any limestones on my adventure, but they do serve a might fine pint of Guinness. I look forward to grabbing another pint of Guinness at Blarney Stone again one day!
Song On In The Background: The Remedy by Jason Mraz
Notes if you can’t read my sloppy scribble: The previous bar also had Jason Mraz on besides Tracy Chapman so I checked if he was playing at The Garden… The answer is no. Tracks got its name because it is right next to Penn Station. Rutgers and Tennessee college flags hanging on the wall. Seafood spot. They have some autumn fall leaves hanging on the ceiling. On the walls, they have train stations from NYC and neighboring towns all over.
Tracks are owned by Irish-American New Yorkers who wanted to create a place that had the homey feel of an Irish pub with a great selection of food and drinks at reasonable prices. They have done just that! One of the owners of Tracks has it in his blood as his grandfather owned a bar on 1st Avenue and 53rd Street in the 1930’s (where Parnell’s currently is). Since it is right next to the Garden, you never know who may stop in before or after a Ranger, Knicks, or concert. Below is a picture of the G-Men’s head coach Brian Daboll, GM Joe Schoen, and former Knick stud Allen Houston. The train stations hanging up on the wall are old prints and murals related to the history of the LIRR, even featuring a rare model of the 1964 World’ Fair. As an NYC Train historian (I went to the museum and wrote about it for months that counts) it was the R32 Brightliner car, thank me later. I look forward to grabbing another pint of Guinness at Tracks again sometime!
Notes if you can’t read my sloppy scribble: The bar has 2 floors, upstairs available tonight, they use it for parties. Wheel of Fortune and Sports are on TV. A lot of networking going on. Exposed bricks behind the bar. They have some nice pub grub like wings and burgers. The beige ceilings give the bar a real old school, Irish pub feel. Their simple square tiles on the floor give it a New York old-school feel as well. The bartender is from County Cavan and went to County Galway, sadly doesn’t know any Davis from Galway 😕.
Located just two blocks from Madison Square Garden, John Sullivan’s Public House is another great spot to grab a pint after a game or concert. It has a very nice Irish pub feel to it, the tiles and ceilings do it. Their menu options are mostly American bar foods with some Irish flare as well. Very unfortunate that no Davis’ from Galway was known this go around, one day. I look forward to grabbing another pint of Guinness at John Sullivan’s Public House again soon!
Ophelia by The Lumineers is the folk band from Ramsey, New Jersey’s, 2nd song on their sophomore album called Cleopatra. This is up there with one of their more popular hits as it peaked at #66 on the US Billboard Hot 100, #28 in Ireland and #52 in the UK. For most songs, I go off of my interpretations of what the lyrics mean, however, Wesley Schultz explained what the words meant to him so I’ll lean on that.
The way this song opens with the stomping is distinct and the ah, ah’s (I, I’s) were actually by accident. The Lumineers’ lead vocalist, Wesley Schultz, told RapGenius“Jer was searching for new verse melodies on the piano and singing to himself, and I was strumming on a guitar but mostly listening to him. The visceral ‘ah, ah’ began as a placeholder for lyrics to be later added, but ended up feeling right. So we kept them at the start of each verse.”
I always interpreted this opener as a guy reflecting on mistakes he made when he was younger. While he has some regrets, it’s passed him, and presumably, Ophelia feels the same.
Schultz: “It keeps talking about this idea of a massive disconnect. I felt very disconnected emotionally from a lot of different things and I don’t know if I actually understood that I felt that way. I thought I was really good at being on the road and at life I guess and I was really just surviving the road. I never planned to say those phrases, it just poured out and I didn’t really know how to feel about it. We went with these lyrics because I think they did the song justice. I don’t know why I said that line, but it feels very appropriate and just fits the moment. When I think back, that’s me feeling really disconnected from the people around me.”
So with that in mind, I think the disconnect could be caused by the fame the band had from their first album. The “new girlfriend” could be about this album. Before I knew all this information from Schultz’s quotes, I thought the new girlfriend was him trying to move on from Ophelia, while simultaneously deep down not wanting to. She couldn’t see past the blinders meaning he was hoping she could see through him seeing other people. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, “blinders” could also mean “an excellent performance” so an even deeper meaning could be that while the band was doing great touring and living up to their new fame, she may have had a hard time seeing that he felt disconnected.
The Lumineers had been working on this tune since ‘12. While they famously would go on to catch their first big breaks as a band in Denver, Colorado, “the flood” reference could very likely be about Hurricane Sandy, which took place in their home state of Jersey in the fall of ‘12. Schultz said, “Jer had come up with the chords to the chorus and verse back in 2012, or maybe even earlier. And as soon as I heard it, I began to sing what became the chorus, melody, and lyrics – it was very natural…I didn’t sit down and try to write this, but rather just began singing and these words just came out and were kept. Ophelia was a jumping-off point for the Cleopatra album in the sense that we knew it was going to be a strong song, and we chose to try to finish writing it first so that we could have it as a foundation for the rest of the album – almost a signpost for where this new album was going.” (RapGenius)
I was a senior in high school during Hurricane Sandy and we didn’t have school for a week. The Halloween party that year was pretty fun. While of course, it was awful and very destructive, it was kinda nice living in the 90s for a week with no phones, everybody just living in the moment.
The paycheck here could be about the band’s first album and touring. It also could represent further disconnect in his relationship with Ophelia because they want different things. If you look at it from a different perspective, not the band’s POV, but a normal guy, his little paycheck may not be able to support her big dreams.
That’s all she wrote typically means it’s over abruptly. That said, the optimist in me thinks her simply saying she loves him gets him out of his disconnect. I think that because how the song ends is…
…He admits he is thinking about her all the time and is a fool in love…
… Ladies, I’m sure you already know all about this, but us fellas don’t always know how to express how we feel…That’s why a lot of us just watch sports, not a lot of deep thought involved…Thoughts and prayers to all the fools…
…I could be reading into this too much, but The Lumineers are great at telling stories in lyrics so it’s gotta have multiple meanings…All I know is I’m going to be heading into work tomorrow humming “Oh, Ophelia” because it’s a very catchy song. The piano is amazing.