Plain and Simple is an album by The Dubliners

The Dubliners

The Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...

, the last to be produced by Phil Coulter

Phil Coulter

Phil Coulter is an artist with an international reputation as a successful songwriter, pianist, music producer, arranger and director. His success has spanned four decades and he is one of the biggest record sellers in Ireland...

. Released on the Polydor label in 1973, it featured a number of tracks penned by Coulter himself, including "The Town I Loved So Well", written about The Troubles

The Troubles

The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...

 in his hometown of Derry

Derry

Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...

, and "The Ballad of Ronnie's Mare", a satirical song inspired by Ronnie Drew

Ronnie Drew

Joseph Ronald "Ronnie" Drew was an Irish singer and folk musician who achieved international fame during a fifty-year career recording with The Dubliners. He was born in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin...

's equestrian interests.It was the last studio album to feature all five original members of the group.

Side One

1. "Donegal Danny"
2. "Queen of the Fair/The Tongs by the Fire"
3. "Fiddler's Green
   Fiddler's Green
   Fiddler's Green is a legendary imagined afterlife, where there is perpetual mirth, a fiddle that never stops playing, and dancers who never tire...
   
   "
4. "Johnston's Motorcar"
5. "The Wonder Hornpipe"
6. "The Jail of Cluian Meala"

Side Two

1. "The Town I Loved So Well
   The Town I Loved So Well
   "The Town I Loved So Well" is a song written by Phil Coulter about his childhood in Derry, Northern Ireland. The first three verses are about the simple lifestyle he grew up with in Derry, while the final two deal with the Troubles, and lament how his placid hometown had become a major military...
   
   "
2. "The Ballad of Ronnie's Mare"
3. "The Three Sea Captains"
4. "Skibbereen
   Skibbereen (song)
   Skibbereen, also known as Dear Old Skibbereen, is an Irish folk song, in the form of a dialogue wherein a father tells his son about the Irish famine, being evicted from their home, and the need to flee as a result of the Young Ireland rebellion of 1848.-History:The first known publication of the...
   
   "
5. "Rebellion - Wrap the Green Flag 'Round Me Boys/The West's Awake/A Nation Once Again"

Personnel

• Ronnie Drew
  Ronnie Drew
  Joseph Ronald "Ronnie" Drew was an Irish singer and folk musician who achieved international fame during a fifty-year career recording with The Dubliners. He was born in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin...
  
  
• Luke Kelly
  Luke Kelly
  Luke Kelly was an Irish singer and folk musician from Dublin, Ireland, notable as a founding member of the band The Dubliners.-Early life:...
  
  
• Barney McKenna
  Barney McKenna
  Bernard Noël "Barney" McKenna or Banjo Barney as he is known amongst his fellow musicians, is an Irish musician who plays the tenor banjo, mandolin, and melodeon. He is most renowned as a banjo player...
  
  
• Ciarán Bourke
  Ciaran Bourke
  Ciarán Bourke was an Irish musician and one of the original founding members of the Irish folk band The Dubliners.-Early life:...
  
  
• John Sheahan
  John Sheahan
  John Sheahan is a notable Irish violinist, folk musician, composer and member of the folk band The Dubliners. Sheahan was born in Dublin and lives in Mulhuddart, County Dublin, though his family are natives of Glin, County Limerick...