SOMETIMES, it’s best not to revisit things from your childhood.

As a three-year-old, I was told that Christy Moore was a giant in Ireland.

So when I went to interview him after a gig in a tiny hall in rural Tipperary, I was a little apprehensive about meeting a real-life giant.

But I needn’t have worried a bit. Christy has enough warmth, joy and humour for three men, with some left over.

He is indeed a giant, but not in height. Standing not much taller than me, he’s still a mighty presence.

With a successful recording career spanning over 35 years, his stature and influence in music is unparalleled.

He’s been named as Ireland’s greatest living musician in the People of the Year Awards, and last month, the lyrics to his song Lisdoonvarna were included in the new Penguin Collection of Irish Verse.

“That was a real honour for me,” says Moore. “My words were there next to Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde and Seamus Heaney. And it got me started thinking about my own body of songs, written over the years.

“A lot of the songs I tend to sing are ones I’ve found along the way. I’ve always been a collector of songs, and that was what I took the most pleasure from. But along the way I’ve also written quite a few of my own, and since the book came out I’ve been enjoying cataloguing that body of work.”