My Outlander theme lyrics to Skye Boat Song:
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Called through the stones and carried ‘cross time
Voyaging far from home
All she has known is gone and she roams
Lost beneath Scotland’s pines.
Centuries part
Where is her heart?
Two hundred years away
Two men to love
Prayers to above
Whose love will she betray?
Carried through time, she’s called through the stones
Where will she make her home?
Highland wars loom
they’re leading to doom
Destiny knows its own
Centuries part
Where is her heart?
Two hundred years away
Two men to love
Prayers to above
Whose love will she betray?
Third verse, harp only
Repeat chorus with harp to end.
(c) Shawn L. Bird
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Starz has released the first episode of Outlander, and with it, Bear McCreary’s theme song based on The Skye Boat Song.
I might be going against the current here, but I really don’t like those lyrics Horrendous. Grammatically cringeworthy. I mean seriously, “Say could that lass, be I” ARGGGGGGGGG!!! It hurts me. It really does. Not to mention they’ve stuck “Skye” in there, and Claire never goes to Skye in the books. He has feminized Robert Louis Stevenson’s lyrics to the tune, I understand, but there was no need to do that.
I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is when I complain about something, so here is a poem that fits with the tune of the Skye Boat Song and also reflects the story of Outlander. What’s more, I think it is a better fit for the romantic tone and the essential conflict of the story. Nothing about Skye, and the grammar is correct.
If Starz wishes to replace their lyrics for the next season, I am delighted to offer these. Feel free to send them a link and encourage the idea! 😉 If you’re from Starz, you can find my agent is listed on my About page. Drop her a line, she’ll be delighted to negotiate something.
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Blooper lines:
Centuries part
Where is her heart?
Will she get back to Frank?
Though she is torn
Jamie she’ll mourn
but he is known to spank
PS. I made a video of myself singing and playing the harp (I’ve never been coordinated enough to do that before! How exciting!) The dogs got up and left the room, their ears twitching on the high notes. I listened to the video and apologized to them. Plainly, G is not my key. Yikes! So, while I assure you that this works beautifully, I may have to learn it in another key before I try to demonstrate . 😉 In the meantime, click to play on the video, then scroll up to sing along yourself. Hopefully G is YOUR key. 😉
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Shawn L. Bird 
I saw a trailer for the show yesterday, looks good, shame I dint gave Starz 😦
I love the skye boat song (the original), I remember singing it at school. To this day I put on a Scottish accent to sing it 😉
I’ve been following this adventure since Ron Moore bought the rights and they started casting last August. It’s been quite a ride! I had author Diana in my car for a couple of hours last May, and my favourite part of the journey was when we stopped for a paving crew, and I was able to watch her face while she told me about being on set for her cameo. The whole process sounded so fascinating! 🙂 Clearly she was having fun with it.
“Outlander” is the BEST book I have EVER read. Can you tell I feel strongly about this? Like your poem better!
Thanks.
I have become extremely Outlander obsessive. I couldn’t help it. At least hubby also loves the books, and is just as delighted to tell everyone he knows they need to read them 🙂
I just saw the movie on cable a few months ago. It was very intriguing – it was called The Outlander – not certain if it is the same thing, but I did like it.
Nope. Not the same thing. This is a good over-view of the project and how they’re bringing the books to life. Starz just released the premiere within the last 2 weeks (prior to August 6, 2014) Officially the series starts up Aug 9 in the US, Aug 24 in Canada, and a few other assorted cable networks, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Netherlands, so far are the ones I know.
Thanks for the info. I will certainly check this out. It looks really interesting. 🙂
Such beautiful lyrics and I like your playing. Very talented!!
Thanks, Stevey.
I’m glad to be back. I hadn’t played in a decade when I started up again this summer!
Awesome! I love love love your harp playing. Thank you for putting yourself out there for us to enjoy! And your lyrics are really great too. Let’s petition to get your arrangement on as the intro to the show.
Ha ha. Funny girl. I would like to see harp (someone better than me) playing throughout the soundtrack, but I’d LOVE them to ditch their lyrics in favour of mine. Feel free to start a petition. 😉
[…] lyrics-Skye Boat Song | Shawn L. Bird Says: August 5, 2014 at 12:16 pm […]
FYI the “cringeworthy” lyrics were written by Robert Louis Stevenson. Bear just changed the gender.
That is no excuse. He couldn’t hire a poet or lyricist? Heck, Diana knows me well enough. She could have put in a recommendation! lol
(Here I include the mandatory link to my Diana poem….)
more thoughts on grammar here: http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2015/03/24/me-and-i-sailing-to-skye/
The line, “Say could that lass be I” is quite correct. After the verb “to be”, you need a predicate nominative. So, “I” is correct.
The egregious error that is like fingernails on a blackboard is “Sing me a song of a lass that is gone.” For people and animals, it should be “WHO is gone.”
I do like your lyrics, though.