Lisa O'Neill :: Rock The Machine (This Ain’t No Disco)

See current films by Myles O'Reilly on / mylesoreilly
Lisa O'Neill performs live for This Ain't No Disco, the online Irish music showcase directed by Myles O'Reilly hosted by DJ and visual artist Donal Dineen.

[@corvidfactory]

A good friend of mine ended his life earlier this year, and this was put in the playlist of his favourite songs. His death completely blindsided us all, and one night when we were all sat around mourning him and sharing stories, this song came on his playlist and punched us all in the gut. It was the first time we'd heard it, and amongst all the classics and pop bangers it was the first song that really made it plain how much he had been struggling. It is so painful and yet so full of strength that I'm sure he came to it time and time again for comfort and resonance in his darkest times. I'm so grateful for this song, so that I can be with him once again during his darkest hours, where for so long he mostly suffered alone. Thank you for this. And for anybody out there who is struggling and feels alone or at the end of their rope: there is always somebody you can talk to; always light in the darkness. Find a support group in your area or call the Samaritans. Trust me, and trust the people around you, that there is always another option.

[@myles.o.reilly]

Thank u sharing these words 💖

[@saoirse32anois]

Your friend, based on your words, had a good one.. his journey has ended, forever hold his presence a chara.

[@JohnMac2023A.D.]

May he Enter into a Holy Rest 🙏✝️🙏

[@strumbadstroller7350]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I lost my eldest son a few years ago. He just didn't want to be here anymore. He was Gay & before he left he told me that he wished he wasn't as he believed that life would have been easier for him if he were straight. I respect his choice, but so wish that I could have had enough influence on him to get him to stay. R.I.P Lee x

[@corvidfactory]

@@strumbadstroller7350 i’m so sorry for your loss too, i hope your son found some kind of peace. It takes a lot of time and a lot of strength to respect these kinds of decisions. I hope you’re continuing to live, with him in your heart.

[@aburipley9045]

I miss the graft, I miss the boys, I bleed for purpose in the void. Killer line.

"Plead" for purpose.

[@johnnyhall3942]

I think bleed is very powerful.

[@ohplease587]

Where have I been. No words to express my love for this song.

[@grmm6845]

I'm a Longshoreman from Canada, I love hearing music about our trade. I'm lucky enough to work on a dock where all the ships have their own cranes, so the machines haven't taken our jobs yet. We still have to get on the ship and hook the steel onto the cranes by hand.

[@jimtobinynwa]

This video is 5 years old and I'm hearing it and Lisa O'Neill for the first time. What a powerful, sad song and powerful singer

[@myles.o.reilly]

A great song is only as old as the first time you hear it! Enjoy exploring Lisa ✨️

[@_chary990]

that old man at the beginning got to me, he just wants to talk, like so many do.

[@wayfarer691]

i hear you. they just shut him off.

[@ChrisSmith-xh9wb]

I know how he feels. I am now in my seventies, "not doing much, putting in a bit of time". I wish I had made the effort to learn an instrument when I was younger, I could then spend my days doing something creative like playing music. I guess he is thinking the same.

[@mattweaver6462]

Excellent observation and a very cool tune!

[@alanmoore9438]

@@wayfarer691 Yes I agree.What harm would it have done them to spare him a few moments of their time.

[@matthaeushilpold2134]

@@ChrisSmith-xh9wb You can still do that. It's harder to learn new stuff as one gets older, but you also have more time to practice, so that evens it out a bit.

[@cpq2nrjh]

Lisa asks Frankie, "Are you enjoying life?" Frankie answers, "Not really" - Lisa's expression of sadness and concern is so very touching to me. Lisa's last glance at the departing Frankie says so much.

[@TheWookster76]

I thought the same... its a pity she didn't have more time for him!

[@Terppa777]

"A protest song which I wrote 50 years too late.." No Lisa, it's not too late at all.

[@weepete2t8adw]

I was born in Belfast, and still reside here. This kind of music has somehow escaped me in my 24 years of life, until my best friend showed me this very song yesterday. It made me cry with pride. Thank you.

[@griffind3775]

As a working person who’s spent a decade building homes for others this gets me every time Beautifully done

[@Chris-qt5cb]

Beautiful. Saddest song I've heard for years but full of strength. A vote from a working fella for what it's worth. Thanks for sharing.

[@seventyfourseventyfour]

I come back to this video every few weeks. One of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard.

[@meganross4336]

Isn't it just

[@auditor05]

How absolutely grand they are playing in the back of a caravan. Well done.

[@snevkreb14]

I keep coming back to this song. The text is so powerful. Even a relatively young person like me can see that the age of digitization, automation, and technical development is scraping off chunks of culture and traditional living, and it's saddening. Also, the instrumentals are so fitting! Reminiscent of a rumbling machine engine, droning on in the background, slowly trying to overpowering the words of the docker... Until it stops. Thanks you so much for making this

[@chrisbonnell2221]

I'm losing will love My hands are soft as cotton gloves Machine has eaten up my job My meaning, my cause. Machine with the strength of a hundred men, Can't feed and clothe my children, Can't greet a sailor coming in, Or know of desperation. I shovel coal down Spencer's dock. I took your dear into Wedlock. In you did bear us a beautiful flock, We will rock the machine down on the dock. We will rock the machine until it stops. Oh Lo' if you show me gold! Like a herring I will go. Roaring liffy when you're high Like a cormorant I will dive. In the cold wind flow I will rise, We're going off to win back time. We're going off to win back pride. We will rock the machine until it dies. Today dear I'm unemployed. Before I spoke you read my eyes. I feared of nothing or no one. But I feel old and I'm so young. I miss the graft I miss the boys, I plead for purpose in the void. Time is inward, ticking tighter, I wish my load was a mountain lighter. I shovel coal down Spencer's dock. I took your dear into wedlock. And you did bear us a beautiful flock, We will rock the machine down on the dock. We will rock the machine until it stops. Oh Lo' liffey you show me gold! Like a herring I will go. Roaring liffy when you're high Like a cormorant I will dive. In the cold wind flow I will rise, We're going off to win back time. We're going off to win back pride. We will rock the machine until it dies. We will rock the machine down on the dock. We will rock the machine until it stops Track "Lisa O'Neill" on Bandsintown I'm losing will love My hands are soft as cotton gloves Machine has eaten up my job My meaning, my cause. Machine with the strength of a hundred men, Can't feed and clothe my children, Can't greet a sailor coming in, Or know of desperation. I shovel coal down Spencer's dock. I took your dear into Wedlock. In you did bear us a beautiful flock, We will rock the machine down on the dock. We will rock the machine until it stops. Oh Lo' if you show me gold! Like a herring I will go. Roaring liffy when you're high Like a cormorant I will dive. In the cold wind flow I will rise, We're going off to win back time. We're going off to win back pride. We will rock the machine until it dies. Today dear I'm unemployed. Before I spoke you read my eyes. I feared of nothing or no one. But I feel old and I'm so young. I miss the graft I miss the boys, I plead for purpose in the void. Time is inward, ticking tighter, I wish my load was a mountain lighter. I shovel coal down Spencer's dock. I took your dear into wedlock. And you did bear us a beautiful flock, We will rock the machine down on the dock. We will rock the machine until it stops. Oh Lo' if you show me gold! Like a herring I will go. Roaring liffy when you're high Like a cormorant I will dive. In the cold wind flow I will rise, We're going off to win back time. We're going off to win back pride. We will rock the machine until it dies. We will rock the machine down on the dock. We will rock the machine until it stops

[@craigwilliams5968]

Superb poetic lyrics x

[@CCMK123]

My grandfather was a docker on the Liffey. This song gives me shivers.

[@willceltic6717]

I'm so pleased I've found this beautiful music. Heartbreakingly perfect!

[@wigon]

The bit at the beginning with the old chap was very touching. Lovely song as well. Amazing video and sound work as always Myles. Your work and the amazing artists you work with are extremely inspirational.

[@blazer9356]

Defo man bit shit they didnt let him finish.

[@Henry_Croskery]

Everything about this is f*cking brilliant. The chat with the aul fella, Lisa's voice, the lyrics, that tune that builds and f*ckin builds... Su-fkn-perb!

[@killfritzsmythe9506]

Bloody hell - really hits the low bone. Lisa's music takes me to those dark corners of my heart and soul I've tried to avoid for too long - and for that, I am grateful to have discovered her. Perhaps the most precious singer-songwriter of our time, I'd say without hesitation.

[@alexandrajames8734]

My Dad was a docker in Liverpool, he took me to the dock road once when I was a kid in the 60's. There where so many men coming out at the end of the day you could not see the road, walking or on push bikes. Later in the 70's the free port was opened with hugh container bases. Most of the men lost their jobs including my Dad who never got work again after that. Ruined a whole community having those container bases.

[@alfredpato619]

In a world with so few simple, beautiful things to share, this is worth sharing. Thank you.

[@desmond34]

Jesus....unreal.....there should be an announcement to the world, that this is here on KZbin.

[@myles.o.reilly]

Thanks Desmond. Check out the rest of the show on www.thisaintnodisco.ie

[@deladonics]

@@myles.o.reilly YO! I had no idea these were parts of a bigger episode Fantastic

[@jamesauton7112]

Much love to Ireland from North Carolina !

[@shanedinnigan3240]

A timeless classic. Her voice rings out like a diamond in a coal-mine

[@DanDDirges]

Oh my sweet Lord! A stunning masterpiece! Once in awhile somebody comes along and blows up all the rules and creates a game changing work of art!

[@nathanskilbeck2596]

I relate this to the miners of all those Yorkshire pits what were shut down by Thatcher.

[@jaken6855]

I believe this song is for the Irish that suffered hundreds of years under English rape.

[@jaken6855]

But yeah pits and that......

[@cpf6125]

You're correct mate it's a very irish, soulful, celtic song at heart but the lyrics are from the perspective of a deindustrialised worker - not necessarily Irish - who has found his trade sold out from under him ... I can understand the connection with the pits of England ... it wasnt the yorkshireman or the geordie or the lancastrian miner who subjugated Ireland ... it's a beautiful song that (I hope) can overcome even those national boundaries ... the working men of britain were also victims to John Bull's tyranny imo. It's a beautiful fucking song and, though I love the 'RA and Rebel Music, I hope the message of solidarity and unity through tragedy, strength through the expression of working class grief ... that (hopefully) transcends national boundaries to reach the heart and soul of the workers ... Tiocfaidh Ar La.

[@jaken6855]

@@cpf6125 very well put ! We can all say Thatcher was a pit demon

[@jamesdolan4042]

@@jaken6855 Sometimes, and maybe often it's necssary to interject with blaming colonization but not here. Relating and comparing the song the the plight of the Yorkshire miner is relatable and very appropriate here - from an Irishman.

[@eugenebarry6317]

I am delighted for this girl and her band for collecting for best original folk track at the folk awards in dublin 2019 so well deserved I keep expressing to many of my friends how talented pure timeless voice she has this song really moves me for one reason or another I love it my brother and sister were at the awards on the night to receive and award for my late grandmother Margaret barry she would of loved her well done Lisa and band ❤️

[@darringodden7225]

It don't matter how! Just move your body even if you pick up a brush and sweep the foot path Someone will talk to you and you will feel part of it. Love this one Lisa.

[@Ogma3bandcamp]

Oh Myles, you did it again.

[@seanthomasdougherty9758]

I must have listened to this song a thousand times, and each time it is as if I heard it the first time.

[@damofx]

nothing can ever top this woman, I adore her

[@Putnamsmif]

'Or know of desperation...' So much emotion, feeling and empathy in this song, I have to stop playing it 'cos it makes me well up every time. When I first heard it I thought it was about the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th century, but I've since learnt it was about the dockers from the 1960s and '80s. But it could just as easily be a metaphor for neoliberalism and all the jobs being lost to automation today as well. The rich will always value profit over people.

[@michaelboylan5308]

Oh Jasus Ireland,,,,,will you please stop producing superb singers and superb songs,,,I cant run fast enough, There must be other things to do in the world,,but when I listen to this magnificence I cant remember what the other things are, Now a bloody folk Callas in the back of a tinkers van,,with Persian carpet, i thought Greenwich Village 59/63 was nirvana,,,now, Ms O Neill/Spencers Dock,,superb, M,O R, buy a foal off the travellers

[@johnobrien3111]

Again beautiful poetry by a beautiful artist tyvm

[@pixelpackingpiccys]

Hypnotic and wonderful. I met Lisa and her band completely by accident. I was doing a photoshoot with a young girl in the village of Cranford, England. And the bands van drew up alongside the kerb, I got chatting to one of the guys and it turned out they were there to do a gig at a local venue.

[@joeheley2126]

Sometimes the world can get you down, but then I remember that Lisa o neil is making music in it, and suddenly it dosent seem so bad.

[@jenniferparker4015]

I first heard this ladies music on Peaky Blinders. An amazingly talented singer and backing musicians. All the tired horses in the Sun so hauntingly sung in the Peaky Finale. I wish you much success in the future Lisa O'Neill

[@gertrudnussbaumer2233]

What a beautiful, strong and touching voice Lisa has, listen to her gives me shivers, thanks for singin and playing!!!

[@paulwilkinson7144]

This tune makes me cry

[@cormdogg]

Christ what a tear jerker and what an insanely beautiful voice in Lisa

[@dtzjones7632]

Lisa is amazing her music is heart felt

[@JohnMac2023A.D.]

I only today just discovered Lisa O'Neil, delighted to have done so!! ♥ ☘️🙏

[@RupertC63]

Never heard of this singer until this day - and absolutely love this song!

[@BIGbrando84]

Another beautiful tune from Ms O’Neill. I wonder if ol Frankie found some happiness

[@xxxsinjunxxx]

ummmm. Wow! straight to the heart with this one.

[@Destruction320]

Is it just my vivid imagination or do I really hear the voice and laughter of the old man from the beginning at the end of the video when all the hugging goes on? If it's not just my fancy, then I have to say it was a nice move.

[@cpf6125]

I dont think so but 5.35 to 5.50 could be ... either way the conversation at the start plus the lyrics makes me.cry my eyes out ...

[@JohnMac2023A.D.]

I must have listened to this song a 100 time's !!!♥️✝️

[@barryolaith]

Thanks so much for that. It has me in tears because it made me homesick. I didn't want to leave, 40 years ago. I have lovely children though, so it's OK.

[@patrickcorri5931]

Astonishing, just brilliant 👏👏👏😮

[@oldrikky]

love you tube . Was watching Lankum, and this lovely talented lady was recomended (never could spell that word). Thanks for that. Beautiful voice. Must delve deeper .

[@banjodeano2202]

that was bloody great

[@strumbadstroller7350]

If you are lucky enough to catch one of Lisa's gigs, you won't be leaving disappointed. I was fortunate to see her at End of the road fest last w/kend. She was wonderful.

[@bellcullen6335]

Saw her in Melbourne last night. Absolutely agree with you. Transcendent xx

[@strumbadstroller7350]

I like your use of language there, special & unusual sums Lisa up very well. We had some great news about Lisa only yesterday in that she's playing our fave festival, End of the Road, later in the year & we already have tickets booked! X

[@kieronconcannon]

This is really good....I mean "really good".

[@cdfanto6094]

Spectacular !!

[@derrickmurphy7729]

Hairs are standing on the back on me neck.powerful stuff.i think luke kelly would have loved lisa!!

[@dofami2912]

thanks for that face expression. it REALLY makes sense for me. And the song is lovely, of course!

[@todbentonjones]

This is glorious!

[@peterrandall9523]

Really lovely

[@55dennie]

I love Lisa's music!! One of my very favorites! Thank you for another wonderful video!!!

[@stevelunt8420]

Simply beautiful, great pathos and a very special voice. Thankyou.

[@SAMPLEJUNNKIE]

Amazing

[@TheDeFaoite]

Just beautiful

[@rrhodes16]

Lisa, making that old guy's (and this old guy's) day.

[@JohnBreenFolk]

What a great capture on film. Can’t believe that I’ve only stumbled upon Lisa’s music now 🤙

[@tatu_lady]

What amazing singers 🎶😊😊🎶🎶

[@abdullahsaadalzahrani3138]

WONDERFUL. BEAUTIFUL ❤️💐

[@letmegoletmego]

I can't wait to see Lisa O'Neill live (long I) again. She's magnificent.

[@richieb9598]

A love lisa's voice me a listen every morning without fail!

[@kevinmcfarlane6224]

Favourite tune at the minute just class

[@patrickcorri5931]

Great song, perfect location.

[@David_medium22]

Wow never heard of these before and I have no idea how , that song an those singers an musicians where amazing ! Truly amazing !

[@albertphelps5898]

Really enjoy tunes like this I have been sharing this with some of my friends here in Arizona. Would love to see her play one day.

[@cherylwells4105]

From Waukesha Wisconsin USA Thanks Lisa

[@X976V3T]

she's great - thank you Ms Lisa O'Neill

[@MrRoastedSnow]

Haunting

[@robertclark2522]

Just discovered Lisa, wow! Beautiful.

[@blc6464]

Beautiful voice .Beautiful person

[@RobertGrayMusic]

I love the honesty and the sense of community in these films. Makes you want to be in that world too.

[@ciqala.records]

Beautiful Lisa

[@conorhyland9867]

Powerful

[@seanomaoilriain6705]

Great Stuff!

[@ciaranosullivan7791]

I felt that all over my body, fantastic and a really beautiful video, my heart goes out to Frankie. It only takes a moment to give someone a moment. Fair play to you Lisa...

[@Currabell]

Just discovered this remarkable artist. Love this song.

[@Lordbaccus]

I like every song you sing :)

[@jamessiagian8124]

Lovely voice

[@treasam5737]

Powerful song and Lisa has the most beautiful voice.

[@alanknight3778]

Unbelievably good. She's a unique talent.

[@gustafeson]

Hermoso

[@snijlea1604]

All we need is a bit of time. Good that you gave some to that bloke... Thanks for posting this is stunning x

[@katoness]

Heart-breaking song but so powerful.

[@patrickkelly8717]

Why am I only discovering this singer.😊

[@splurtrecords6318]

So damn relaxing... tear jerking.. If the world ever gets over covid i need to see these people live

[@stevencarraretto6414]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@fetermcblues]

Wow .. you guys having a great scene down there .. this is deep and fabulous

[@myles.o.reilly]

Thank you! Check out the full episode on my website! arbutusyarns.net/2017/08/05/this-aint-no-disco-episode-iii/

[@dogwood043]

She said it all,

[@noddyguevara]

great stuff. like a contemporary, irish version of someone like Hedy West. love it.

[@J-W_]

I want to be friends with Lisa and Frankie. thank you from Oregon USA

[@paulmcmullan8955]

Good God!! 😳Where did this come from? Hits you full wallop in the gut, but In a really good way ! The Purest, rawest, most heart wrenching and authentic soul music. So grateful to have found this. ❣️What a unique gift! Such a rare , beautiful and powerful voice, right in the midst of such a sea of shite.✊❤️Thank You so much!🙏

[@frankfinnsweenryan]

Just discovered this. Please keep making music. Just Patreon'd.