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(Paul Brady) In the early 2000s I went to Cuba a couple of times. It was in a hotel room in York, UK after a rained out gig that the first trip was planned. The town was flooded, with boats in the streets. I was feeling sorry for myself and called my friend Bonnie Raitt in LA for a chat. She mentioned she was going to Cuba on a special trip and would I be up for joining her? Would I what? I jumped at it. Hanging out with iconic Havana singer-songwriter Carlos Varela, lute player Barbarito Torres from the Buena Vista Social Club and seeing Chu Chu Valdes perform live were highlights in a trip of many highlights. The song came to me while I was there. Why ‘Hawana’ and not Havana? I just thought it sounded better... and I recalled a hit song from my youth called ‘Wimoweh’ which I thought was a cool title...’Hey, Hey, Hawanway’!

(Paul Brady) From the lesser known ‘True For You’ album, this is one of my first ever compositions and one I often sang touring solo in the late 70s as I tried to find a new artistic shape. JJ Cale, Ry Cooder and Little Feat were on everybody’s turntable at the time. Some of that rubbed off I guess. The lyrics were kinda prophetic in a way. I was heading into rough seas and had no clear sense of direction... and there was indeed trouble up ahead! Betsy Cook’s organ and Phil Palmer’s slide guitar add a suitable sense of menace.

(Hank Williams) I always loved Hank Williams but the first version of his classic song that I fell in love with was by Jerry Lee Lewis in the early 60s. Stuck in Rhode Island in 1972 and struggling to put together my own gig after the break up of the Johnstons, I put together a guitar based version. This recording was done later in the decade in Dublin at the same Keystone studio session that produced Crazy Dreams. What you’re hearing is a rough mix from the night before the final mix which has disappeared. Sometimes the rough mix feels better. You’re not trying so hard! Paul McAteer on drums, Garvan Gallagher on bass and myself on guitars and vocals.

(Paul Brady) Another of my very early songs, this started out as a demo... a 6/8 shuffle, almost a blues waltz... and by the time of the ‘Hard Station’ album sessions it had morphed into this mid tempo Caribbean groove. I love playing with the architecture of a piece of music. Lyrically it’s the positive side of the coin that had ‘Trouble Round The Bend’ on the flip side. ‘When we rise up in the morning, Oh, the beauty we’ll find’. Arty McGlynn on rhythm electric guitar, Fran Breen on drums and Tommy Moore on bass. Betsy Cook and myself on keyboards and vocals.

(Paul Brady) On summer holidays my mother and father used go out at night to places where they could dance. Their party piece was the Tango. In north west Ireland in the early 1960s where the two step, the old time waltz, and for the younger ones, the Jive or the Twist were the standard fare, the Tango was indeed an exotic sight. Musicians in the various establishments came to recognise them and would announce the next dance is a Tango... which would of course clear the dance floor except for my parents. They never failed to rise to the occasion. Big tunes like La Paloma and La Golondrina are embedded in me ever since and several of my melodies like ‘Love Goes On’ and ‘Love Hurts’ are like slowed down tangos. This one too. Geoffrey Richardson’s viola and ukelele perfectly underscore Mark Knopfler’s guitar. Máire Ní Bhraonáin’s voice dropped in from Heaven. As long as I play the tin whistle, however, it’ll never stray too far from Ireland.

(Paul Brady / Sharon Vaughn) Another version of ‘Paradise Is Here’ perhaps? ‘We’ll be a long time gone’ is an Irish phrase used as an exhortation to enjoy life right now. I’m constantly aware of how short a time we have...in our present shape, at least... and how little the daily struggle we engage in actually affects the outcome of our lives in the long run. Things happen or not... when they’re supposed to so... sail, sail on. Written in Dublin with Sharon Vaughn, this is from the ‘Say What You Feel’ album sessions in Nashville. Kenny Malone on drums, Viktor Krauss bass, Reese Wynans on Hammond organ, Tom Britt electric guitar, John R Burr on Wurlitzer, Scat Springs and Andrea Zonn on background vocals.

(Paul Brady) This is the song that made me feel I was beginning to get the hang of songwriting. Written on a solo tour of Holland and Belgium in 1978, it started out as a folky acoustic guitar based piece. I was then and still am a huge fan of Steely Dan. Although it sounds nothing like them, Fagen and Becker were in my head when I began to adapt the song to the piano, especially the instrumental section. I first performed it live on an upright with my back to the audience at The Ballisodare Folk festival in 79. Recently I started to play it again at gigs. This mix is from the original vinyl pressing of ‘Hard Station’ in 1981 which has an intimacy not quite there in the CD remix. Betsy Cook plays piano... I was too nervous back then to play it in the studio... and the late great Jimmy Faulkner on electric guitar.

(Paul Brady / Ronan Keating) A major change for me stylistically, I’d always loved good mainstream pop but thought it was not for me. The demo I made of this in 98 was hanging around for a couple of years as we tried to find some pop artist to record it. Anytime anyone heard it they said I should put it out myself but I kept feeling it wasn’t me. Eventually I got over my hang up about it, expanded on the demo and put it out on my album ‘Oh What A World’. Ironically this was one of my most successful records, especially in UK. The song also reached No 1 in USA for Brookes & Dunn and was a hit all over Europe for co-writer Ronan Keating. This new 2012 remix shows off Fiachra Trench’s gorgeous string arrangement.

(Paul Brady) Originally from the ‘True For You’ album, this song, about the underbelly of Dublin in the early 80s, became one of my most successful songs via the 1984 Tina Turner version on ‘Private Dancer’. My voice and spirit were really tired by the end of these album sessions and I never liked the final result. This re-mix features a new vocal recorded in 1999. Phil Palmer’s guitar solo still excites after all these years. Jamie Lane on drums, Dave Quinn on bass. This reminds me of ‘The Meeting Place’, the pub on Dublin’s Dorset St where me and a lot of my contemporaries earned our performance stripes.

(Paul Brady) The old Irish traditional melody ‘The Verdant Braes Of Screen’ was a favourite of mine in my folk days. It later formed the backdrop to the chorus of this initially tender pop groove with a contemporary romantic complaint. The epic end piece was very 80s and saw the beast coming out. No more Mr Nice Guy... Initially on the album ‘Primitive Dance’, this re-mix comes from the discontinued ‘Songs And Crazy Dreams’ CD.

(Paul Brady) I was in Norway in the early 90s guesting on a TV series hosted by singer Lynni Treekrem when this tune came to me. A kind of slow hip-hop Samba which takes a left turn into a dark underworld. It took a few more years for the lyrics to come. From ‘Oh What A World’, I’ve always loved this recording, especially Fiachra Trench’s string arrangement and the few times I’ve sung it live always seemed to work.

(Paul Brady) This song really should have been called ‘Get Back To The Centre’ as that’s the main hook that audiences used to chant when I sang it live. I had a dream that I was hurtling along this narrow mountain road with sheer drops on either side and the only way to get through was to walk the white line in the middle... but it kept disappearing. No prizes for interpreting that one... Still, I got this song out of it. It brings me back to The Mean Fiddler in London’s Harlesden in the mid 80s. For a couple of years leading up to Christmas I did a week of gigs there and this song used to get the joint jumpin’.

(Paul Brady) In 1983/84 I spent months touring solo in Europe and UK as opening act firstly for Eric Clapton and then Dire Straits. It was at once both a scary and hugely empowering time. Gradually learning how to win over crowds of up to 25,000 each night, just me and my guitar and my own songs, I never since have felt intimidated by any live experience. By the end of 84 I was ready to record the album ‘Back To The Centre’. Eric came to the Townhouse studio in Shepherd’s Bush one afternoon to add the perfect final touch to ‘Deep In Your Heart’. This is a remix from the early 90s from the compilation ‘Songs And Crazy Dreams’.

(Paul Brady / Dillon O’Brian) Written in LA in the early noughties with my singer-songwriter friend Dillon O’Brian in the garden of Bonnie Raitt’s Hollywood hideaway, this song has always been a favourite of mine. Echoes of the 1940s, Brazil, even The Carpenters combine in an acceptance that the world was entering a scary period..and that the best thing to do was smile through it. Recorded In Nashville for the ‘Say What You Feel’ album, John R. Burr’s languid piano and Danny Thompson’s lyrical bass create the perfect mood.