Photo slide show of early 1990s Drogheda heavy rock band Concrete Junkie
playing original song "Blind Eye" composed by the band. It features John (Jock) Mc Hale (R.i.P) on lead vocals. The song was demoed at the Lodge Studio with Tmmy Mc Quillen at the controls. The song is something of a 6 minute epic starting soft and mellow and building to a classic rock creschendo. The sound and style of "Blind Eye" is different from the heavier bluesy punky sound of Concrete Junkie. The demo was being used to enter a nationwide competition in 1993. We felt that Jock would've made a great frontman and singer and persusded him to give it a go. He decided it wasn't for him and opted out, it's a pity as he would've been great when he got comfortable. This is the only known recording of Jock's sessions with the band. I added some extra backing vocals to fill out the sound and to help mask some of the dodgey backing vocals. The first few guitar notes are missing from the original cassette mix so they had to remain missing. For it's historical value alone it's well worth a listen. Enjoy. I have also included the lyrics below.

Concrete Junkie
“Blind Eye"

I’m livin day to day and things they are ok
I have my friends around for when I’m down
Don’t take life too seriously, have a drink take it easy
Some days it can rough, sometimes it can be tough
But that’s ok coz that’s the way
I watch the world go by, see people laugh and cry, live ‘n’ die
And I wonder whyyyyyyyyy
We turn a blind eye to hungry mouths that cry

Guitar break

And I wonder whyyyyyyy
We turn a blind eye to hungry mouths that cry
Out to us, we ignore their cries, out to us we ignore their cries
Out to us, we ignore their cries, out to us

Seems strange being all god’s children
We should put up with all this begging and killing
Broken promise, leaders misleading
And TV sells us something new to believe in
Broken souls, hearts that need mending
There’s no one else but ourselves we’re offending
Broken mother carries her children
How can I show them that their life is worth livin

Still livin day to day but things are not ok
I have my friends around for when I’m down
Don’t take life too seriously have a drink take it easy
That’s fine
And I wonder whyyyyy
We turn a blind eye to hungry mouths that cry
Out to us, we ignore their cries, out to us we ignore their cries
Out to us, we ignore their cries, out to us

Guitar solo

Yeah, I’m still hanging round in this eternal pantomime
I can’t really relate to it
I can’t really identify with it, you know what I mean
Bring on the dancing clowns.