File: oconnorattwood-oh-violence_M.mp3
Speakers:
AO – Attwood O'Connor
SB – Stanley Bruce
KP – Ken Perlman
KP: I've heard of lots of fighting at some of these parties. Noone ever says what anyone was fighting about.
AO: Actually, I don't think that a lot of them knew themselves what was fought about. Somebody'd say something to somebody in fun, and he'd get cross and hit him or something and that started the whole thing. Terrible some of them. St. Mary's Road was the worst I ever got into. They were terrible ones there, but as long as you had the fiddle you were alright.
KP: You mean that everyone stayed clear of you?
AO: Yup. They made sure that nobody got hurt around the fiddler. If they got the fiddle broke or the fiddler left, that was it. (laughter) Yeah, they've come up and warned me not to go outside the door, they were going to go out and fight. Now what they were goin' to fight about I don't know! They didn't know themselves. I asked them why. I think who it was, Phonsey McCarran. Phonsey said, "Somebody would hit you by mistake, we can't get along without the fiddler!"
SB: Cause as soon as the fight was over, they'd come back in and dance.
AO: Come back in and the whole bunch of them on the floor dancing.