Danny Kirwan's early childhood?

[alexsdad]

I always loved the song "Child Of Mine" from Bare Trees, and have only recently gotton to hear a live version of it from the Seattle 1972 show.
What has always struck me was the line "....I won't leave you no not like my Father did."
We all know about Danny's rough adult life and his demons...but does anybody know anything about his childhood and/or his father that could be the "inspiration" for this song??? Or is this about his own child?
Alex's dad

[SteveMacD]

Yes. Danny was a young dad when he wrote the song, AND that line is about his father. From what I understand, his father, who I believe was Swedish, was out of the picture VERY early in Danny's life. I'm not even sure Danny ever knew his father.

[bretonbanquet]

I can add a little bit to this in that I read somewhere - I think it was from Peter - that Danny used to go off for hours/days while they were in London, trying to look for his father. He was certainly deeply affected by it all, but as Steve says, I'm not sure if Danny ever really knew his father.

Danny's mother died fairly recently so that must have been particularly difficult for him as well. As for Danny's son - as far as I know, no-one has ever heard anything publicly from or about him.