The Stardust Nightclub Fire
Added 2023-07-25 10:15:00 +0000 UTCThe Stardust Fire is one of many disasters that has had a song written about it… but in this case the song is actually a story in and of itself. Christy Moore’s song “They Never Came Home” contains the following lines:
“In a matter of seconds confusion did reign.
The room was in darkness, fire exits were chained.”
…
“Hundreds of children are injured and maimed,
and all just because the fire exits were chained.”
The song was initially banned, as it was released at a time when many cases relating to the fire were still working their way through the courts. The Butterly family claimed that the lyrics quoted above might prejudice the process.
Even many years later the song is rarely broadcast, due to worries that it may be libellous. It was, however, played at protests that were staged in 2006, when the Butterly family proposed re-opening the Silver Swan pub that had once shared a building with the Stardust. On that occasion protestors played the song so continuously that it wore out two tape players and one CD player over the course of several nights.
While the protest didn’t stop the re-opening of the pub, it was sufficient to persuade the Butterlys to change the name from “The Silver Swan” to “Artane House”, and erect a small memorial on site.
Anyhow, here’s a copy of the song if you’d like to give it a listen. Libellous… or just an apt description of what happened that night? What do you think?
Comments
That's an interesting one - have added it to the list. The livestream is quite disturbing, indeed. I'd never really thought about the possibility of someone livestreaming a crash like this...
Fascinating Horror
2023-07-31 14:50:55 +0000 UTCHad a quick look into the details of that song - another very interesting one with a lot of history behind it. And you're right; quite a similar ballad-like format
Fascinating Horror
2023-07-31 14:47:48 +0000 UTCHow about a video on Yeti Airlines Flight 691? It was a plane that crashed in Nepal back in January. While it's still under investigation, it is at the very least known that the plane stalled during landing. There's also a couple of videos recorded of the event. Here's a video taken by someone on the ground right before the crash, where you can see the plane bank sharply to its left: https://twitter.com/KazmiWajahat/status/1614514162880897026 The other video is from a Facebook livestream that a passenger was doing during landing that captured the crash as it happened from inside the aircraft. Though be warned that this clip is much more disturbing (though there's isn't any gore or anything): https://twitter.com/upwardnewshq/status/1614665833283715076
Michael Rutherford
2023-07-25 15:04:52 +0000 UTCWhile I'm not familiar with the song, I have heard of Christy Moore before. I'm specifically familiar with his song called "Back Home in Derry," which uses a very similar tune to the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald song. Here's "Back Home in Derry" if you want to listen to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMu6CNyn24o
Michael Rutherford
2023-07-25 14:55:00 +0000 UTC
