Rory Gallagher amp raises funds for lifeboat

The lifeboat in an east Cork fishing village where Rory Gallagher found inspiration for one of his best-loved songs will benefit from the sale of an amplifier that travelled the globe with the blues guitar legend.

A far cry from some of the heavier rock numbers that normally come to mind when his name is mentioned, A Million Miles Away is also one of the lyrically strongest. And his brother Dónal, who is putting the 1970s Oberheimer warm-up amp up for auction, has revealed how and where the words most likely came from.

They include a chorus in which he sang: “I’m a million miles away, sailing like a driftwood, on a windy bay”, and a bridge where he describes how he can be found “looking out on the deep blue sea”.