Outlander: Skye boat song, Over the Sea to Skye

Bonny Prince Charlie’s escape from the Outer Hebrides is recorded in the song “Skye boat song” written by Sir Harold Boulton in 1884.
In 1896 the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, evidently not satisfied with the text of the English baronet, wrote a variant of the song with new words and entitled it Over the sea to Skye.
More recently the song “Over the Sea to Skye” was revived in the series “The Outlander” from the Diana Gabaldon saga and it immediately became skyemania..

Leggi in italiano.

THE CROSSING AT SEA: THE ESCAPE OF CHARLES STUART

Flora MacDonald’s Farewell to Bonniee Prince Charles, painting by George William Joy.
The painting immortalizes the meeting between Charles Stuart (in Highlander attire with the tartan of the House of Stuart) and the beautiful Flora MacDonald dressed in green

After the ruinous battle of Culloden (1746) Charles Stuart, then twenty-six, escaped and remained hidden for several months, protected by his faithful.
Flora MacDonald (1722 – 1790), was 24 when he met the Bonnie Prince and helped him to leave the Hebrides; we see them depicted into a boat at the mercy of the waves, she wraps in her shawl and looks at the horizon as the sun sets, he rows with enthusiasm.
(here’s how it actually went: Il Principe e la Ballerina)

Skye boat song

The “romantic” escape is remembered in “Skye boat song” written by Sir Harold Boulton in 1884 on a scottish traditional melody which is said to have been arranged by Anne Campbell MacLeod.

“Skye boat song” was printed in “Songs of the North” published by Sir Harold Boulton and Anne Campbell MacLeod in London in 1884. In subsequent reprints and editions the commentary refers to the melody as an “iorram” or a song to the oars. Not really a sea shanty: his function is giving rhythm to the rowers but at the same time it was also a funeral lament. The time is 3/4 or 6/8: the first beat is very accentuated and corresponds to the phase in which the oar is lifted and brought forward, 2 and 3 are the backward stroke. Some of these tunes are still played in the Hebrides as a waltz.
A decade ago Anne Campbell MacLeod was on a trip to the Isle of Skye and heard some sailors singing “Cuchag nan Craobh” (in English “The Cuckoo in the Grove”). “The Cuckoo in the Grove” was printed in 1907 in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Highlands, by Alfred Moffat, with a text attributed to William Ross (1762 – 1790). The melody adapted to Sir Boulton’s poem therefore at least dates back to the time of the story.

The song was a success: from the very beginning rumors circulated that they passed the text as a translation of an ancient Gaelic song and soon became a classic piece of Celtic music and in particular of traditional Scottish music (revisited from beat to smooth, jazz, pop, country, rock, dance), countless instrumental versions (from one instrument – harp, bagpipe, guitar, flute – or two up to the orchestra) with classical arrangements, traditional, new age, also for military and choral bands.

CHORUS
Speed bonnie boat,
like a bird on the wing,
Onward, the sailors cry
Carry the lad that’s born to be king(1)
Over the sea to Skye (2)

I
Loud the winds howl,
loud the waves roar,
Thunder clouds rend the air;
Baffled our foe’s stand on the shore
Follow they will not dare
II
Though the waves leap,
soft shall ye sleep
Ocean’s a royal bed
Rocked (3) in the deep,
Flora will keep
Watch by your weary head
III
Many’s the lad fought on that day
Well the claymore could wield
When the night came silently, lay
Dead on Culloden’s field(4)
IV
Burned are our homes, exile and death
Scatter the loyal men
Yet, e’er the sword cool in the sheath,
Charlie will come again (5).

Carlyle Fraser

FOOTNOTES
(1) Who was the “Young Pretender”? Probably just a dandy with the Italian accent and the passion of the brandy, but how much was the charm that exercised on the Scottish Highlands! (Carlo Edoardo Stuart “the young Chevalier”v)
(2) Skye isle in theInner Hebrides, but it sounds like “sky” and therefore a metaphor, Charlie is a hero in the firmament
(3)  “rocked” as in many sea songs and sea shanties it stand for “cradled by the sea”
(4) Voi giacobiti!
(5) in 1884 Charles Stuart was dust, but romantic literature maintained live the Jacobite spirit and songs still burned in hearts

CHARLES STUART “ULTIMO ATTO”: Over the sea to Skye

In 1896 Robert Louis Stevenson wrote “Over the sea to Skye” (aka Sing Me a Song of a Lad That Is Gone) a new version of Sir Harold Boulton’s Skye Boat song, because he wasn’t satisfied with what it was written by an English baronet.

Stevenson puts the song into the mouth of Charles himself, old and worn out in his “golden” exile between Rome and Florence. Vittorio Alfieri describes him as tyrannic and always drunk husband (but he was in love with Louise of Stolberg-Gedern -Charles Edward’s fair-haired wife). The Prince, embittered and addicted to alcohol, died in Rome on 31 January 1788 (also abandoned by his wife four years ago).

OVER THE SEA TO SKYE
( Robert Louis Stevenson 1896)
I
Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul, he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye
II
Mull was astern, Rum was on port,
Eigg on the starboard bow.
Glory of youth glowed in his soul,
Where is that glory now?
III
Give me again all that was there,
Give me the sun that shone.
Give me the eyes, give me the soul,
Give me the lad that’s gone.
IV
Billow and breeze, islands and seas,
Mountains of rain and sun;
All that was good, all that was fair,
All that was me is gone.

James Galway & The Chieftains

OUTLANDER VERSIONS

Skye Boat song’s tune is a principal theme in Outlander tv series sung by Raya Yarbrough and arranged by Bear McCreary, from Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem,  referencing how Claire Randall travels 200 years back in time.

Short Version
I
Sing me a song of a lass that is gone…
Say, “would that lass be I?”
Merry of soul, she sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye. 
II
Billow and breeze, islands and seas,
Mountains of rain and sun…
All that was good, all that was fair,
All that was me is gone.

Extended version
I
Sing me a song of a lass that is gone
Say, could that lass be I?
Merry of soul she sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye
II
Mull was astern, Rùm on the port
Eigg on the starboard bow
Glory of youth glowed in her soul
Where is that glory now?
III
Give me again all that was there
Give me the sun that shone
Give me the eyes, give me the soul
Give me the lass that’s gone
IV
Billow and breeze, islands and seas
Mountains of rain and sun
All that was good, all that was fair
All that was me is gone

French Version
I
Sing me a song of a lass that is gone,
Say, could that lass be I?
Merry of soul she sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye.
II
Billow and breeze, islands and seas,
Mountains of rain and sun,
All that was good, all that was fair,
All that was me is gone.
III
Chante-moi l’histoire d’une fille d’autrefois,
S’agirait-il de moi?
L’ame légère elle prit un jour la mer
Over the sea to Skye.

Gaelic Version
Lyrics by Griogair Labhruidh[1]
Seinnibh leam dàn
Gu nìghneag mo chrìdh
Nìghneag mo rùn ‘s mo ghràidh
Faicibh am bàt
‘S e togail bho thìr
Giùlain mo rìgh bho thràigh
Gailleann is fuachd
Bàirlinn is stuadh
‘G èirigh gu cruaidh bhon fhairge
Crònan nan tonn
Òran nan sonn
Bualadh le fonn gu garg oirr’
Prionnsa nam buadh
Frasaibh mu ghruaidh
Ainnir mo luaidh a’ falbh leis
Rìgh nam fear còir
Dh’fhàg sinn gun treòir
Lèir-chreach is glòir na h-Albann
Na fiùran bha treun
Bu chliùiteach am beus
Siol nam muc bhreun a mharbh iad
Ach chì sinn an là
Gun cluinn sinn mar bhà
Geumnaich an àil gu caithreamach
[1] https://www.griogairmusic.com/new-page-2

FONTI
http://terreceltiche.altervista.org/charlie-hes-my-darling/
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/women/wih9.htm
http://www.windsorscottish.com/pl-others-fmacdonald.php
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=31609
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=94755

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Pubblicato da Cattia Salto

Amministratore e folklorista di Terre Celtiche Blog. Ha iniziato a divulgare i suoi studi e ricerche sulla musica, le danze e le tradizioni d'Europa nel web, dapprima in maniera sporadica e poi sempre più sistematicamente sul finire del anni 90

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