Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

lyrics-Skye Boat Song August 5, 2014

Filed under: OUTLANDERishness,Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:15 pm
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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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harp tune- Skye Boat Song June 17, 2014

Filed under: Harp,OUTLANDERishness — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:09 pm
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New and improved version of my arrangement of The Skye Boat Song for the double strung Brittany harp.  That’s a Scottish clarsach style small harp you see behind me in the thumb nail.  I even speak and show you the harp! 😉

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and here are my lyrics referencing Outlander.  At some point I’ll record myself singing this, but G isn’t my singing key, so it’s a bit of a stretch!

 

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music-Skye Boat Song on harp May 29, 2014

Here’s a little break from ranting poems or pugilistic poetry!  In honour of the upcoming Outlander TV show, here’s an ‘arrangement in progress’ I’ve made of The Skye Boat Song, which I’m betting is incorporated into the TV show theme.

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For the technically curious:

I am playing a double strung harp.  (This was definitely easier before I had bifocals, though it was challenging enough then).  There are three octaves on each side of the harp, tuned to the same notes.  44 strings in all.  This is a low-head Celtic harp, in the style of the famous Irish Brian Boru harp or the Scottish  Queen Mary harp.  It is also known as a Scottish clarsach.  Specifically, mine is a Brittany harp, built for me by Stoney End 15 years ago or so. (When I bought it the Canadian dollar was around 70c US, so it was pricey!)  It still has its original strings!  This says it’s a tough little harp, and that I’m a lazy harpist (some people change strings a couple of times a year, to keep the sound bright).  It is made from a lovely, shimmery grained cherry and has a Baltic birch soundboard with a pretty inlay strip at the base of the strings.  It keeps its tuning brilliantly- rarely needing more than a titch of adjustment here and there.  This is a rare blessing in a harp!

Here are The Skye Boat Song lyrics as I say them to myself while I’m playing (which does not in any way imply they are the correct lyrics!)

Speed bonny boat like a bird on the wing

Onward the sailors cry

Carry the lad that’s born to be king

Over the sea to Skye!

Loud the winds blow

Loud the waves crash

Ocean’s a weary bed

La la la la

la la la la                           (< < < < pretty sure those aren’t the right lyrics)

Watch o’er your weary head

oh                                        (That’s the soft D sounded to start back into the chorus)

Speed bonny boat… (etc)

I always thought somehow Flora McDonald was on this boat with him, but I think that’s just me.

 

I promise OJ the standard poodle is only sleeping, though he certainly does look dead.  He is snoring now, in the exact same position.

 

 

 
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