The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry

from No True Body by Moongazing Hare

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Immediate download of The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry in your choice of format.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €1 EUR  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

This is an abbreviated version of an old Orcadian traditional with parallel stories found all across the North Atlantic. I found the chords in a Joan Baez songbook and did my best to make the song my own. This is the first song of mine to rather prominently feature a keyboard. It was also one of my more structured recordings. Lesson learned: The more things you CAN change in a track, the more time you are likely to waste on it. I tried to cut back into it and redid the vocals as single takes.

lyrics

An earthly nurse sits and sings
And aye she sings by lily ween
Saying, "Little ken I my bairn's father
Far less the land that he dwells in."

But he came one night to her bedside
And an Angry guest I am sure was he
Saying, "Give to me my little young son
And you will take your nurse's fee."

"I am a man upon the land
I am a silkie in the sea
And when I am far away from land
My home it is in Sule Skerry."

"And it will be on a summer's day
When the sun shines bright on every stane
I'll come and I'll fetch my little young son
And I'll teach him how to swim the main."

"And you will marry a gunner good
And a right fine gunner I am sure he'll be
And the very first shot that ever he shoots
Will kill both my young son and me."

credits

from No True Body, released December 12, 2009
David Folkmann Drost - guitar, vocals, other sounds
Hiroko Folkmann Drost - vocals and kisses

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Moongazing Hare image

Moongazing Hare Copenhagen, Denmark

I try to keep myself warm, calm, loved and out of harm's way. The music is desperately home made and mostly well-intentioned.

contact / help

Contact Moongazing Hare

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

Moongazing Hare recommends:

If you like Moongazing Hare, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Serena Cherry debuts her black metal project, plus a Pick from the Crypt block from Svalbard

 listen now