Lisa’s track closes epic TV drama Peaky Blinders

A commissioned cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘All The Tired Horses’ by Cavan’s Lisa O’Neill exquisitely closed the epic TV drama Peaky Blinders at the weekend.

The final season of the hit drama reached a crecendo on April 3, with the Ballyhaise singer-songwriter commenting on social media: “It is not an overstatement to say that it was beyond my wildest dreams to be ‘Ordered by the Peaky F*cking Blinders’ to cover this beautiful song from Bob Dylan.”

She continued: “Go raibh míle maith agat Peaky Blinders. Go raibh míle maith agat Cormac Begley, Colm Mac Con Iomaire agus Ruth O’Mahony Brady for whom without, this track would not exist.”

Dear friend

Lisa explained that she recorded her rendition of ‘All the tired horses’, the first track from Dylan’s 1970 double album ‘Self Portrait’ in an old horse stables in Cabinteely, South Dublin over the space of two days.

“We recorded by constant candlelight as a dear friend was dying at the time. This all contributed to the energy and the charge of the final track. That friend has since passed. I wish to dedicate this song to Mick O’Grady - The Long Distance Kid - 1943–2022,” she said.

A native of Ballinaglera on the Cavan-Leitrim border, Mick O’Grady died on March 22. The talented musician spent time living in London and across America, before settling in Dublin – becoming a regular fixture in Smithfield’s The Cobblestone.

Great effect

‘All the tired horses’ is Lisa on vocals, baritone guitar and bass drum, joined by musicians Cormac Begley (bass concertina and piccolo concertina), Colm Mac Con Iomaire of The Frames fame (violin), and Ruth O’Mahony Brady (piano).

It was produced and engineered by Ruth O’Mahony Brady in Dublin’s Studio Symphorien. It was mixed by David Odlum (Josh Ritter, Mundy, The Frames, Ham Sandwich, Róisín O).

It is not the first time Lisa’s musical talents have been used to great effect by the producers of Peaky Blinders. Her song ‘Blackbird’, from her multi-award winning album ‘Heard a Long Gone Song’, appears in episode four of season six.