Christmas Is Here Again Roger Whittaker
"The Skye Boat Vocal" is a late 19th-century Scottish song recalling the journey of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) from Benbecula to the Isle of Skye as he evaded capture by government troops after his defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
Sir Harold Boulton, second Baronet composed the lyrics to an air nerveless by Anne Campbelle MacLeod in the 1870s, and the line "Over the Body of water to Skye" is now a cornerstone of the tourism industry on the Isle of Skye.
Alternative lyrics to the tune were written by Robert Louis Stevenson, probably in 1885. After hearing the Jacobite arrogance sung by a visitor, he judged the words of this song to be "unworthy", and so made a new set of verses "more than in harmony with the plaintive melody".[1]
Information technology is ofttimes played as a slow lullaby or flit, and entered into the modern folk canon in the twentieth century with versions by Paul Robeson, Tom Jones, Rod Stewart, Roger Whittaker, Tori Amos, and many others.
Content [edit]
The text of the song gives an business relationship of how Bonnie Prince Charlie, disguised equally a serving maid, escaped in a small boat later on the defeat of his Jacobite rising of 1745, with the aid of Flora MacDonald. The song draws on the motifs of Jacobitism although it was composed nearly a century and a one-half after the episode it describes. Specially Stevenson's version, which gives the gunkhole'due south form (Mull was astern, Rum on the port, Eigg on the starboard bow) seems to describe Charles's flight from the mainland, but that is unhistorical. The only time Charles was in Skye was when he left Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides to avert the increasingly thorough regime searches. It is unlikely that a boat from Benbecula would sail south of Rum to travel to Skye.
Origin [edit]
The lyrics were written past Sir Harold Boulton, 2nd Baronet, to an air collected in the 1870s by Anne Campbelle MacLeod (1855–1921), who became Lady Wilson by matrimony to Sir James Wilson, KSCI (1853–1926), in 1888. The vocal was first published in Songs of the Northward by Boulton and MacLeod, London, 1884, a book that went into at least twenty editions. In afterwards editions MacLeod'due south proper name was dropped and the ascription "Old Highland rowing measure arranged past Malcolm Lawson" was substituted. It was quickly taken up by other compilers, such every bit Laura Alexandrine Smith's Music of the Waters (published 1888). Lawson was the elder brother of creative person Cecil Gordon Lawson.
According to Andrew Kuntz, a collector of folk music lore, MacLeod was on a trip to the isle of Skye and was being rowed over Loch Coruisk ( Coire Uisg , the "Cauldron of Waters") when the rowers broke into a Gaelic rowing song " Cuachag nan Craobh " ("The Cuckoo in the Grove"). MacLeod set down what she remembered of the air, with the intention of using information technology later in a volume she was to co-author with Boulton, who later added the department with the Jacobite associations. "Every bit a piece of mod romantic literature with traditional links it succeeded perhaps too well, for presently people began 'remembering' they had learned the vocal in their childhood, and that the words were 'old Gaelic lines'," Andrew Kuntz has observed.[3]
The song was not in whatsoever older books of Scottish songs, though it is in most collections like The Fireside Book of Folk Songs. It is often sung equally a lullaby, in a slow rocking 6/8 time.
Recording history and covers [edit]
It was extremely popular in its twenty-four hours, and from its beginning recording by Tom Bryce on April 29, 1899,[4] became a standard among Scottish folk and dance musicians. Information technology was even more widely known from the 1960s onwards and has remained popular in mainstream music genres.
It was also used in the Earth State of war Two British pic Above United states of america The Waves (1955) with John Mills, James Robertson Justice and John Gregson. The film was based on the attack by British midget submarines (human torpedoes) on the German battleship Tirpitz in a Norwegian fjord during World War Two.
Michael Tippett originally included the song, titled as "Over the Sea to Skye", in his arrangements of Four Songs from the British Isles for unaccompanied four-office chorus in 1957, deputed by North West German Radio, Bremen,[ clarification needed ] for a festival of European folk vocal. The amateur choir for which they were intended found the songs besides difficult, and the first operation took place in July 1958, given by the London Bach Grouping, conducted by John Minchinton, at Royaumont in France. Tippett's Selected Letters states that he proposed to replace "Over the Sea to Skye" because it was "likewise strictly held past a publisher here". [ citation needed ]
Alfred Deller recorded a version for his album Western Air current in 1958, together with Desmond Dupré on guitar and John Sothcott on recorder. Information technology was performed to peachy acclaim and recorded by artist and social activist Paul Robeson in 1959 and 1960.[5]
Welshman Tom Jones recorded a version, which was arranged by Lee Lawson and Harold Boulton, on his debut album Along Came Jones in 1965. The same album, released in the U.S. equally It'due south Not Unusual (and conveying just 12 of the original 16 tracks), did non give attribution for the arrangement but did characterise the song as "Trad.—two:57."[6] Esther & Abi Ofarim recorded the song under the title "Bonnie Gunkhole" for their anthology Das Neue Esther & Abi Ofarim Anthology (1966).[7] [ better source needed ]
Rangers FC and Doc Who [edit]
Fans of Rangers FC in Glasgow used to sing a version of the vocal in praise of Danish player Kai Johansen (played 1965–70). Patrick Troughton, equally the second Dr. on the British science-fiction television receiver series Dr. Who, played the song repeatedly on his recorder in episode 6, scene 10 of "The Spider web of Fearfulness" (broadcast 9 March 1968).[eight] [9]
Hits Down Under [edit]
Amongst later renditions which became well known were Peter Nelson and The Castaways from New Zealand, who released a version in 1966, as did Western Australian creative person Glen Ingram. Both versions were in the Australian hit parade in 1966. [ citation needed ] A tough garage stone version of the vocal by a New Guinean ring The Stalemates was included on the Viking Records compilation The New Republic of guinea Scene in 1969.[ten]
1970s [edit]
Calum Kennedy included a version on Songs of Scotland and Ireland (Beltona 1971), and Rod Stewart recorded two versions of the song with The Atlantic Crossing Drum & Pipe Band during the sessions for Atlantic Crossing betwixt 1974 and 1975. They were given an official release on the deluxe re-release of the album in 2009.
After 1980 [edit]
"The Skye Boat Song" can exist heard at the commencement of "Who Stole the Bagpipes", the second episode in season 1 of the early 1980s British cartoon Dangermouse. Roger Whittaker's duet version with Des O'Connor, released in 1986, made the Britain pinnacle ten; it combined O'Connor's vocals with Whittaker's whistling version, a role of his repertoire since at least the mid-1970s. The rails was recorded at London's Holland Park Lansdowne Studios (now a high-end residential underground belongings) with session drummer Peter Boita along with all the high-profile studio session players of the day. The cellist Julian Lloyd Webber recorded an instrumental version of the vocal in 1986 on the album Encore!.
In the 1987 horror movie, It's Alive Three: Island of the Alive, the master character played by Michael Moriarty sings the song onboard a boat with crew members at 46 mins 17 secs.
The Shadows played an instrumental version of the song on their 1987 album Merely Shadows. Singer Tori Amos covered the vocal as function of a song trilogy entitled "Etienne Trilogy" on her debut album Y Kant Tori Read (1988). James Galway and The Chieftains recorded an instrumental version (which was used equally background music for a Johnnie Walker commercial) in Feb 1990 at Studios 301, Sydney, Commonwealth of australia, released on the album Over the Sea to Skye - The Celtic Connection. There is also a version on The Corries In Concert / Scottish Love Songs album (rails 19). Galway plays the instrumental version on episode 1957 of Sesame Street, originally aired in 1984.
Stellan Skarsgård'due south character plays this song on the cello in the 1992 film Current of air. Canadian Punk band The Real McKenzies covered this song on their 1995 debut album The Real McKenzies.
21st century [edit]
The music can be heard in Season three, episode 12 of Sexual activity and the City entitled "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" earlier the get-go wedding of Charlotte York to Trey McDougal.
Scottish vocaliser Barbara Dickson recorded the vocal in 2006, and Marc Gunn included it on his 2013 album Scottish Songs of Drinking & Rebellion. [ citation needed ]
Behave McCreary adapted the song as the opening titles of the 2014 TV series Outlander, sung by Raya Yarbrough, changing the text of Robert Louis Stevenson's poem "Sing Me a Vocal of a Lad That Is Gone" (1892) to "Lass" to fit the story.[11]
Information technology tin can besides exist heard as background instrumental music in several episodes of the American serial killer television serial Dexter.[ citation needed ] Peter Hollens recorded an a capella cover of the song for the 2018 album Legendary Folk songs.[12]
It's sung by the character Claire Louise McLeod (played by Lisa Chappell) on season one, episode v, "Taking the Reins" of the Australian TV series McLeod'due south Daughters.[ citation needed ]
George Donaldson of Celtic Thunder sang information technology in the 2015 bear witness "Heritage" (arr. Phil Coulter) and on the CD and DVD of the aforementioned proper noun. Celtic Thunder Limited. Usa Sony Music Entertainment.
The Choral Scholars of University Higher Dublin recorded an arrangement past their artistic director Desmond Earley for their 2015 anthology Invisible Stars: Choral Works of Ireland and Scotland [13]
Lyrics and melody [edit]
Original lyrics [edit]
[Chorus:]
Speed, bonnie gunkhole, similar a bird on the wing,
Onward! the sailors cry;
Behave the lad that'southward born to exist rex
Over the sea to Skye.
1. Loud the winds howl, loud the waves roar,
Thunderclaps rend the air;
Baffled, our foes stand past the shore,
Follow they will not dare.
[Chorus]
two. Many's the lad, fought on that day
Well the claymore did wield;
When the night came, silently lay
Dead on Culloden's field.
[Chorus]
three. Though the waves leap, soft shall ye sleep,
Ocean's a royal bed.
Rocked in the deep, Flora will keep
Sentinel by your weary caput.
[Chorus]
four. Burned are their homes, exile and death
Besprinkle the loyal men;
Yet ere the sword cool in the sheath
Charlie will come up again.
Stevenson'southward poem [edit]
Robert Louis Stevenson's 1892 poem, which has been sung to the tune, has the following text:[fourteen]
[Chorus:] Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a solar day
Over the sea to Skye.
1. Mull was astern, Rum on the port,
Eigg on the starboard bow;
Glory of youth glowed in his soul;
Where is that glory at present?
[Chorus]
ii. Requite me over again all that was there,
Give me the lord's day that shone!
Give me the eyes, requite me the soul,
Give me the lad that'south gone!
[Chorus]
3. Breaker and cakewalk, islands and seas,
Mountains of pelting and sun,
All that was good, all that was off-white,
All that was me is gone.
Other versions [edit]
There has also been a hymn adaptation of the tune, known as "Spirit of God Unseen every bit the Wind"; some of the lyrics vary.[fifteen] [16]
"The Skye Boat Song" has been parodied in vocal by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders on their comedy series French and Saunders.[ citation needed ]
References [edit]
- ^ Mrs R. L. Stevenson. "Prefatory Note". In Robert Louis Stevenson. Poems. Book I. p. 58. London: Heinemann, 1924. The visitor was Elizabeth Anne Ferrier who stayed with Stevenson in June 1885 (Robert Louis Stevenson. Messages, Volume 5. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995).
- ^ Kuntz, Andrew. The Fiddler's Companion: A Descriptive Alphabetize of North American and British Isles Music for the Folk Violin and Other Instruments.
- ^ "The Skye Boat Song by Paul Robeson". 2nd Mitt songs. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
- ^ McColl, Norton. "Discography". Paul Robeson Centennial Celebration. University of Chicago. Retrieved 12 Oct 2021.
- ^ Tom Jones – It's Not Unusual at Discogs
- ^ "Esther Ofarim - Esther and Abi Ofarim - Esther & Abi Ofarim - Ofraim אסתר עופרים". esther-ofarim.de. [ failed verification ]
- ^ Haisman, Mervyn. "The Web of Fear". Doctor Who . Retrieved 12 October 2021.
- ^ Second Doctor plays recorder (Skye Boat Song) on YouTube
- ^ Various Artists - The New Guinea Scene at Discogs
- ^ Conrad, Erin (July 27, 2014). "Outlander: Opening Championship Sequence – Wait, Is That It?". ThreeIfBySpace.net . Retrieved 12 Oct 2021.
- ^ Legendary Folk Songs - Peter Hollens at AllMusic
- ^ "Music - The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin". ucdchoralscholars.ie . Retrieved 12 October 2021.
- ^ "Sing me a Vocal of a Lad that is Gone by Robert Louis Stevenson". Verse Foundation. 24 May 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
- ^ "Spirit of God". hymnswithoutwords.com . Retrieved 12 Oct 2021.
- ^ "Spirit of God". billysloan.co.great britain . Retrieved 12 October 2021.
External links [edit]
- Covers of "The Skye Boat Song", poparchives.com.au
- "The Skye Boat Vocal", by Robert Louis Stevenson, published in the collection Songs of Travel and Other Verses, Projection Gutenberg
- Sir Michael Tippett – Over the Sea to Skye
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Skye_Boat_Song
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