River Liffey - Popular Culture References

Popular Culture References

From Joyce to Radiohead, the Liffey is often referenced in literature and song:

"riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs."

James Joyce, Finnegans Wake (first sentence of novel).

A skiff, a crumpled throwaway, Elijah is coming, rode lightly down the Liffey, under Loopline Bridge, shooting the rapids where water chafed around the bridgepiers, sailing eastward past hulls and anchorchains, between the Custom House old dock and George’s quay.

James Joyce, Ulysses (novel)

She asked that it be named for her. - The river took its name from the land. - the land took its name from the woman.

Eavan Boland, Anna Liffey

That there, that's not me - I go where I please - I walk through walls, I float down the Liffey - I'm not here, this isn't happening

Radiohead, "How to Disappear Completely" from album Kid A

"Somebody once said that 'Joyce has made of this river the Ganges of the literary world,' but sometimes the smell of the Ganges of the literary world is not all that literary."

Brendan Behan, Confessions of an Irish Rebel.

"No man who has faced the Liffey can be appalled by the dirt of another river."

Iris Murdoch, Under the Net.

"But the Angelus Bell o'er the Liffey's swell rang out through the foggy dew."

Canon Charles O'Neill, The Foggy Dew.

"You can keep your Michael Flatley with his tattoos on his chest
Fare thee well, Sweet Anna Liffey, it’s the Ganges I love best
I found a place in India so far across the foam
You can call me Punjab Paddy, boys, I’m never comin’ home!"

Gaelic Storm, "Punjab Paddy from album How Are We Getting Home? (album)" .

Fare thee well sweet Anna Liffey, I can no longer stay I watch the new glass cages, that spring up along the quay My mind's too full of memories, too old to hear new chimes I'm part of what was Dublin in the rare ould times

Pete St. John, Rare Ould Times