THE CLANCYS: HELLO AGAIN AND GOODBY

The word goodby has never meant the same in show business as it does in the everyday world. All too often a star who has given a “farewell concert” will suddenly make a “dramatic return” to the stage.

For the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, the appearances tonight at El Camino College and Saturday and Sunday at Ambassador Auditorium mark a return-- and a farewell.

“This is it,” Liam Clancy said flatly. “No more touring. No more records.” Of course, that’s what the celebrated Irish folk quartet told us after their “final” concert in Sacramento in 1969. True enough, the 50-year-old singer admitted during a recent conversation from San Francisco in the midst of the group’s “Reunion” tour.

The Clancys thought they had hung up their trademark white wool sweaters for good after that tour: “We were beginning to bog down back then,” Liam said. “We needed to do other things.”

Those “other things” included acting (Tom Clancy), farming (Pat Clancy) and the forming of the successful team of Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem.

But it was not to last. For one thing, Liam said, “There was a lot of pressure from our fans. Whenever Tommy and I toured, it was always, ‘What about a reunion?’ The same with the others whenever they performed.” That was a resistible lure, mainly because all the members of the group were so happy with their new lives, he said.

But then came their savvy manager, Maurice Cassidy, with an offer they couldn’t resist: a documentary film culminating in a reunion concert at Lincoln Center. A recording of the May 20, 1984, event was released. Liam and the others saw the handwriting on the wall: “There was no point in a film and an album without a tour,” Liam said.

So, this weekend finds the group--once again in white wool sweaters, accompanying themselves on penny whistle, guitar and banjo--playing the last dates of a monthlong, 28-city tour. “Our style is still the same,” Liam said. “Simple and straight and boisterous.”

Any second thoughts about reuniting? “We all had our doubts about it,” he said. “It’s very difficult for Tommy (Makem) and me to abandon the more recent songs we were known for together. And that’s why this can’t go on.” Though Liam claims he will perform “till I drop,” age becomes a factor now: Pat Clancy, for instance, is 62.

“But even for Paddy the farmer,” Liam said, “touring is a great excuse to get away from home. Paddy and Tom have gone out on occasion with some of our old songs.” A hint that the Clancy tradition may continue? Yes, Liam said, “No doubt about it--there’s a high to performing.”

Is that high still there after all these years? “The strange thing is, it doesn’t feel strange at all,” Liam said. “We spent so much time together in the ‘50s and ‘60s.”

Recalling those early days--the members were all acting professionally and singing for fun when they got serious and made their debut in 1956--Liam pointed to luck as the key to the Clancys’ success. “We were in the right place at the right time: in Greenwich Village when the folk-boom hit. And our theatrical training helped. From our acting, we learned how to build a show.

“When we brought that (theatrical) marriage back to Ireland, it was like Beatlemania,” Liam said with a chuckle. Fame was quick--sales of Irish wool sweaters in the United States jumped 700% after their first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” he claimed. Success seemed unbounded by geography or language.

“A sea captain friend told us how he was walking down a street in Japan when he heard a song of ours coming from a bar,” Liam said. “There, inside, were four Japanese guys with white sweaters and penny whistle. They had it down pat. He even made a tape for us. We couldn’t believe it.

“The singing was all in Japanese, of course.”