Watch Clannad discuss their new recording of In A Lifetime
Folk proggers Clannad duet with rising Irish singer Denise Chaila on new version of 1985 hit In A Lifetime
Select the newsletters you’d like to receive. Then, add your email to sign up.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Every Friday
Louder
Louder’s weekly newsletter is jam-packed with the team’s personal highlights from the last seven days, including features, breaking news, reviews and tons of juicy exclusives from the world of alternative music.
Every Friday
Classic Rock
The Classic Rock newsletter is an essential read for the discerning rock fan. Every week we bring you the news, reviews and the very best features and interviews from our extensive archive. Written by rock fans for rock fans.
Every Friday
Metal Hammer
For the last four decades Metal Hammer has been the world’s greatest metal magazine. Created by metalheads for metalheads, ‘Hammer takes you behind the scenes, closer to the action, and nearer to the bands that you love the most.
Every Friday
Prog
The Prog newsletter brings you the very best of Prog Magazine and our website, every Friday. We'll deliver you the very latest news from the Prog universe, informative features and archive material from Prog’s impressive vault.
You can watch Irish folk proggers Clannad discuss their new recording of In A Lifetime in a new video below.
The band released a new version of the song yesterday recorded with rising Irish singer Denise Chaila in Donegal, while the new video was shot from a derelict church overlooking the Poison Glen. In A Lifetime, a duet with U2 singer Bono, originally featured on Clannad's 1985 album Macalla, and reached No. 17 in the UK singles chart.
"We shared music, food, stories and more music well into the night and if I needed any confirmation that she'd be great for the song that was it," says guitarist Pol Brennan. "It was very appropriate that we went back to Donegal, back to the original location to shoot the video last October and we had some magic making it. It was great to share it all with her, the music, our home and family I've recently been back in studio with her working on tracks for her new album. What a talent!”
“There’s a quiet element of destiny to how this all came together for me," adds Chaila. "I’ve been joking that Clannad are my long-lost aunties and uncles since we started to speak about this song because my affection for them was almost immediate. Finding that I was being adopted in return was an incredible joy. I’m so proud to be able to contribute my voice to the legacy of their work. Not least because there’s certainly some gravity involved in being asked to sing a part that Bono first imprinted his voice on."
Clannad released the career encompassing box set In A Lifetime last year, and will undertake their own farewell tour, now rescheduled to 2022.
Sign up below to get the latest from Prog, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!
Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.

