THE funeral of blues musician Rab McCullough has taken place at St Agnes’ Church.
Rab passed away at hospital on Saturday surrounded by his family following a cardiac arrest earlier in the week.
Following the service, Rab was laid to rest in Milltown Cemetery.
Paying tribute to Rab’s creativity as an artist, Parish Priest Father Thomas McGlynn described him as a renaissance man.
“Even though they didn’t use the term themselves the great creative mind of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries have been described to us by historians as renaissance men,” he said.
“Multi-gifted all-rounders who with raw natural talent that needed little guidance used their own abilities, their instincts combined with their own natural curiosity and their own sense of perseverance and determination that meant these individuals were largely self-taught.
“A similar term I suppose could also be applied to Rab today. A renaissance man. But I suspect his own modesty would probably leave him feeling too embarrassed to be granted such a designation.”
LAMENT: Musician Rev Doc plays a final tribute as Rab McCullough's remains are taken to St Agnes' Church
Detailing how he first came to know Rab, Fr McGlynn told the congregation: “Over the years since I’ve come to St Agnes’ I have met Rab briefly at different times and variably it was in the kind act of visiting the wake houses of neighbours in Owenvarragh. There I met him, spoke to him briefly and he simply just told me that he was a musician.
“I had simply no idea until the past few days of the calibre of his talent and also the extent of the international reputation that he enjoyed.
“There have been and still are many such gifted individuals who have also lived equally quietly and unpretentiously in this local community. Collectively as a parish and as a community we can, should be and indeed are, very proud of all that they have done and achieved."
Rab’s love of music and his 50 year career in the music industry, which included sharing the stage with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and the Rolling Stones, was very much at the heart of the Requiem Mass.
Discussing Rab’s faithful guitar, Fr McGlynn said: “The signs of wear and tear and the sounds that he produced over the years were very much evident in the condition of the guitar.
“This was no museum piece. You could see that it was a well-loved and well used instrument. Used to practice sometimes when he was alone and used to practice with friends and fellow musicians, to use it in the recording studio and also the guitar with which he would have composed.”
Speaking directly to Rab’s wife Marian, Fr McGlynn said: “Most importantly of course, in terms of composition for you Marian is the song ‘Can’t get you out of my Mind’.
“That is perhaps for you the most important track he wrote ‘can’t get you out of my mind’ written in your honour, I think the very name itself says all that needs to be said.
“Every Dante needs his Beatrice. You were his both inspiring and supporting Rab in all he did in life. Particularly in his musical interests but in everything else that he did in life, encouraging him at each and every stage in that musical career but also to avail of every opportunity that his talent presented him with.
“There were especially the trips to America, in Memphis, Tennessee. If there is a Vatican for musicians it is probably Memphis in Tennessee. It was there that he was exposed to and others were exposed to him in this international audience through the Beale Street Music Festival where he received the admiration and the acclaim of one of his great heroes, Chuck Berry” he added.
Rab McCullough is survived by his wife Marian, children James, Louise and Robert, grandchildren Evie and Jamie, brother Jimmy and wider family circle.
