Sometimes a song is so beautiful and so touching that it’s impossible not to become totally captivated by it from the very first listen. Something that feels like it has come from such a real place that it is hard not to find yourself feeling every word that is being sung as though you yourself wrote it. Many songs have had this effect on me down through the years, but very few to the same extent as the 2017 release from Dublin singer/songwriter, Brian McGovern, Wife.

For a long time now, McGovern has been regarded as one of the most accomplished and esteemed names on the Irish music scene. His ability for thoughtful and emotional songwriting has gained him many plaudits, and he is a charismatic and charming performer in live settings. In recent years, he has teamed up with fellow Dublin musicians, Craig Gallagher and Andy Kavanagh, to form the group SAARLOOS.

But it was before this, back in 2017, that we were treated to one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful songs ever to come out of Irish music.

Wife documents one of the most wonderful things that can happen in this life, that moment when you meet someone that seems like that can complete you, even when you’re at your lowest. The lyrics on this song are so raw that it feels as though the listener is being shown an intimate look into a private relationship. We are taken through the journey that these two people in the song went through to and how our protagonist knew that he would have to work harder for the woman he has just met. It’s a sentiment that resonated with me in a big way, that feeling that you are willing to try to become a better person just to be with the person you think is worth being with.

Simply beautiful.

MK