Track by track: Mick Flannery's double album and stage musical The House Must Win

Mick Flannery’s The House Must Win is the ninth studio album from the Cork singer-songwriter.

It’s his first ever double album but it’s also very much drawn from the stage musical of the same name which just showed at the Pavilion Theatre Dun Laoghaire and the Everyman Cork.

The conceptual roots go back two decades to Flannery’s 2005 debut Evening Train, which was originally written as a college project at Coláiste Stiofáin Naofa in Cork City and grew from a single song into a narrative of love, gambling and betrayal between two brothers in a small Irish town. 

The House Must Win reimagines the songs from that debut alongside ten new compositions written specifically for the stage production, with American musician and Hadestown music supervisor Liam Robinson handling all the orchestrations. It was recorded at Monique Studios in Cork with Flannery’s long-time collaborator Christian Best.

Anaïs Mitchell, the Hadestown writer and Grammy winner, duets on lead single ‘Rising Tide’, a delicate ballad built around a near-drowning memory used as metaphor. Lisa Hannigan takes ‘Grace’s Waltz’. Susan O’Neill features on ‘The Rebel’. Jenn Grant is on ‘Creak in the Door’, the song that started it all in 2005. Portland songwriter Jeffrey Martin is on ‘Talk to Me’. West Cork folk singer Marybeth O’Mahony joins Yvonne Daly on ‘One Chance’. Tabitha Smyth, Brian Flannery, Eamonn Flannery and David Flannery are also throughout.

The stage production stars Tommy Tiernan, Tabitha Smyth, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Niall McNamee, Orlagh de Bhaldraith, Damian Kearney and John McCarthy, directed by Julie Kelleher with Ciarán Bagnall on set and lighting design.

Below, Mick shares background on the songs on the record.

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Creak In The Door with Jenn Grant

This song was the genesis for the album Evening Train and thus The House Must Win project as a whole. It describes the scene of an unhappy home, as a mother berates her son about the whereabouts of his younger brother.

Rising Tide with Anaïs Mitchell

This song describes a seaside memory from childhood. I had this melody for a long time, friends of mine telling me to keep it as an instrumental and not ruin it with my thoughts. 

But, alas.

When I’ve Got A Dollar with Yvonne Daly

Since replaced in the musical set-list with a new song ‘My Only Life’, this song was to set up a tension between the three lead characters of the play, Frank, Grace, and Luther.

Take It On The Chin – With brothers Flannery – David, Brian, Eamonn

This was the second song written for the original album, as I tried to flesh out the story and write more “musical-like” songs. It features my brothers and I playing the parts of four poker players sitting in the back room of a bar.

Grace’s Waltz with Lisa Hannigan

The scene in the front bar sees Grace, tipsy, take Frank, her boyfriend’s brother, waltzing across the room, and piqueing his hidden affections for her.

Trippin O’er His Trousers

This is a kind of tongue-in-cheek, small-town shanty. 

The Tender

The lead character of the play, Frank, tells us how he sees his vocation as a barman.

Bonnie Rogue

A mother remembers the early days of romance with the father of her two sons. 

Talk To Me with Jeffrey Martin

Two brothers sing unheard to each other of things that really ought to be heard.

Daddy

A man of business and social standing decries the younger generation for their lack of understanding of this world.

 If only everyone thought as he did, things would have gone to plan.

I’ll Be Out Here with Tabitha Smyth

This song was adapted from its original version to fit the story. In it, Grace’s character realises that she and her lover, Luther, are on diverging paths.

The House Must Win

The bank manager tells us how the established powers feel about their subjects.

The Rebel with Susan O’Neill

The rogue brother, Luther, begs Grace to leave town with him, as he has gotten in over his head.

Take Me With You Then with Yvonne Daly

Grace makes a fateful decision to accompany Frank as he flees the one-horse-town.

One Chance

A song between Grace and Sarah, the boy’s mother, where Grace is encouraged to not let anyone stand in her way as she pursues new horizons.

In The Gutter

The gambler returns, willing to pay his debts and forsake his habits in exchange for his lover’s hand.

Let Me Be

Grace’s disappointment with the various controlling men in her life comes to a head.

All In with David Flannery

Frank sits down with his brother’s nemesis for a fateful game of poker.

Ride On

The gambler is in the wind, his past actions have come to collect.

Evening Train

The tale meets its unfortunate end on the train platform, as the last train departs.

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Buy or hear the album.