spooky celtic songs
Stephen Foster
subject matter (about ghosts, fairies, etc.). I've found "The Wee Wee Man",
"Tam Lin", "Thomas the Rhymer", "Jack Rowland". Anybody have any
recommendations for other songs or collections? Thanks for your help.
Fred Bulger
: I'm a celtic singer who likes "spooky" songs, or ones with "otherworldly"
: subject matter (about ghosts, fairies, etc.). I've found "The Wee Wee Man",
: "Tam Lin", "Thomas the Rhymer", "Jack Rowland". Anybody have any
: recommendations for other songs or collections? Thanks for your help.
Try the "Bows of London" which is recorded on Carthy and Swarbrick's
"Life and Limb". It deals with a young maiden who is drowned by her
sister, and then floats down the river only to be made into a fiddle
which will only play one song. It's a great song, and in my opinion, is
rather eerie! It is based upon an older song of the same theme.
Later...
-Fred.
Laurianna Smith
I'm not sure if you want only true traditional, but here are some of my
favorite spookies.
By Loreena McKennitt:
The lady of Shallot (from The Visit)
All souls Night (The Visit)
Cymbaline (The visit)
The Stolen child (Not sure which album. Should be easy to find out.)
Prospero's Speach (Also not sure which album.)
on cymboline and prospero's speach, the words are hard to make out,
so you might want to get the origional shakespear to go with the songs
By the way, if you like spooky celtic feel stuff, L.M. is the
way to go. Half her stuff is REALLY spooky.
Also:
Ship of fools(John Renborn Group, Ship of fools)
Borderlands (Caswell Carnahan, Borderlands)
I am stretched on your grave. (A Sinead O'conner song from her second
album, but with a very traditional feel.
I have more, but I have to dig them up. I'll email them to you.
-Laurianna Smith
Sue Richards
writes:
>I'm a celtic singer who likes "spooky" songs, or ones with
"otherworldly"
>subject matter (about ghosts, fairies, etc.). I've found "The Wee Wee
Man",
>"Tam Lin", "Thomas the Rhymer", "Jack Rowland". Anybody have any
>recommendations for other songs or collections? Thanks for your help.
Look for "The Grey Cock" on Ceoltoiri's Silver Apples of the Moon.
About a woman who goes looking for her dead lover on Samhain eve.
Karin Lee Kross
> The Stolen child (Not sure which album. Should be easy to find out.)
"The Stolen Child" is on _Parallel Dreams_ (the only one I don't have
yet), and "Prospero's Speech" is on the latest one, _The Mask and the
Mirror_. I really must get _Dreams_; "The Stolen Child" is one of my
favorite Yeats poems and I'd love to hear what Loreena does with it.
-karin
--
Karin L. Kross | "`You love him pretty much, don't you.'
kari...@owlnet.rice.edu | `Quite a bit,' she assented, `but I love
english major/bifeminist | art more.' She tried to look natural."
writer/theatre slave | - Djuna Barnes, "The Jest of Jests"
Karin Lee Kross
[begin quote]
Try the "Bows of London" which is recorded on Carthy and Swarbrick's
"Life and Limb". It deals with a young maiden who is drowned by her
sister, and then floats down the river only to be made into a fiddle
which will only play one song. It's a great song, and in my opinion, is
rather eerie! It is based upon an older song of the same theme.
[end quote]
I wonder if that's the song Loreena McKennitt has recorded on "The Mask
and the Mirror." It's called "The Bonny Swans". Same story, more or
less: girl is drowned by her sister, her body is found by a harper who
makes her into a harp, and when the harp is taken to her father, it plays
a song that tells what's happened. Also a very beautiful, very eerie song.
M. Jonas
Stephen Foster <sfo...@fox.nstn.ca> wrote:
>I'm a celtic singer who likes "spooky" songs, or ones with "otherworldly"
>subject matter (about ghosts, fairies, etc.). I've found "The Wee Wee Man",
>"Tam Lin", "Thomas the Rhymer", "Jack Rowland". Anybody have any
>recommendations for other songs or collections? Thanks for your help.
Have a look in the Child collection - loads of stuff in there. A few that
you would probably like (off the top of my head) are:
The Demon Lover (aka The House Carpenter)
The Elfin Knight (Outlandish Knight)
The Three Ravens (Twa Corbies)
The Lyke Wake Dirge
The False Knight On The Road
Two Magicians
The Lover's Ghost
All these and a lot more are in the Digital Tradition - do a keyword search
for @ghost
Martin
(forcing himself not to make a comment about the role of Stephen's namesake
in folk music)
Fred Bulger
: I'm a celtic singer who likes "spooky" songs, or ones with "otherworldly"
: subject matter (about ghosts, fairies, etc.). I've found "The Wee Wee Man",
: "Tam Lin", "Thomas the Rhymer", "Jack Rowland". Anybody have any
: recommendations for other songs or collections? Thanks for your help.
A couple more:
"The Giant" by Stan Rogers
"Witch of the Westmorland" by Archie Fisher
Later...
-Fred.
Catherine Mac donald
>> : I'm a celtic singer who likes "spooky" songs, or ones with "otherworldly"
>> : subject matter (about ghosts, fairies, etc.).
>
local legends/ghost stories. I believe the album is called "Forerunner" --
she has another called "Stowaway" that I also like and I listened to both of
them almost interchangeably, so I'm not uqite sure which songs were on which
album. I quite recommend her.
Catherine Mac donald
macd...@nbnet.nb.ca
>
Joe Shelby
>
> Stephen Foster (sfo...@fox.nstn.ca) wrote:
> : I'm a celtic singer who likes "spooky" songs, or ones with "otherworldly"
> : subject matter (about ghosts, fairies, etc.).
well, this one's an instrumental, but i find it haunting everytime
i hear it...
"The Strayaway Child" from The Cheiftains (A Cheiftains Celebration).
Their version of "Foggy Dew" with Sinead O'Conner on _Long Black
Veil_ is pretty weird as well...i'd like it more if i liked her
but oh well...
Miko Michael Biffle
>Stephen Foster (sfo...@fox.nstn.ca) wrote:
>: I'm a celtic singer who likes "spooky" songs, or ones with "otherworldly"
> Try the "Bows of London" which is recorded on Carthy and Swarbrick's
>"Life and Limb". It deals with a young maiden who is drowned by her
>sister, and then floats down the river only to be made into a fiddle
>which will only play one song. It's a great song, and in my opinion, is
>rather eerie! It is based upon an older song of the same theme.
There's the song Cruel Sister which Pentangle covered which deals with
almost exactly the same subject matter... I play both as alternate
versions of the same song. I can't quite decide which I like better,
so play them both quite often.
Regards you Celtic folk... Miko
--
--
Miko Biffle Running scared from all
mi...@well.sf.ca.us the usual distractions...
Owatonna Public Library #1
> "otherworldly"
> Man",
> >"Tam Lin", "Thomas the Rhymer", "Jack Rowland". Anybody have any
> >recommendations for other songs or collections? Thanks for your help.
>
> About a woman who goes looking for her dead lover on Samhain eve.
ingly by Eliza Carthy. It's wonderful--raised the hair on my neck on
first and each subsequent hearing. Arlene Magid the Celtophile
Owatonna Public Library #1
> subject matter (about ghosts, fairies, etc.). I've found "The Wee Wee Man",
> "Tam Lin", "Thomas the Rhymer", "Jack Rowland". Anybody have any
> recommendations for other songs or collections? Thanks for your help.
Roberts and Tony Barrand's "Dark Ships in the Forest." This is avail-
able on cassette only on the Folk Legacy label--you should be able to
get a copy from Andy's Front Hall in NY. I have a copy of the booklet
if you need all the lyrics, too. Please e-mail or snail-mail me to
request the booklet: Arlene Magid 204 N. Oak Ave. #175 Owatonna MN
55060. I strongly recommend this album from two transplanted British
singers--it's been a big favourite at my house for many years(was
first released in the late 1970s. Arlene the Celtophile.
Owatonna Public Library #1
Linda Slater
: "The Stolen Child" is on _Parallel Dreams_ (the only one I don't have
: Mirror_. I really must get _Dreams_; "The Stolen Child" is one of my
: favorite Yeats poems and I'd love to hear what Loreena does with it.
Actually... "The Stolen Child" is on Loreena's first album "Elemental",
so Karin, I think there's two albums you don't have, both of which are
worth getting.
Patrick Cahn
album, and Cordelia's Dad sing Little Margaret on their second album,
How Can I Sleep. Tim Eriksen from Cordelia's Dad claims that kissing a
dead person is generally a bad thing, and that if your name is Sweet
William, you *will* die by the end of of the song.
--Patrick
PETER POOLE
-> > writes:
-> > >
-> > >I'm a celtic singer who likes "spooky" songs, or ones with
-> > "otherworldly"
-> > >subject matter (about ghosts, fairies, etc.). I've found "The Wee Wee
-> > Man",
-> > >"Tam Lin", "Thomas the Rhymer", "Jack Rowland". Anybody have any
-> > >recommendations for other songs or collections? Thanks for your help.
I know of a lovely other-worldly one called The Sylkie which is on an
old Alistair MacDonald album, Music Of The Highlands. Don't know if his
recordings are available in the States (or if anyone even knows of
him!) but someone may know another artist's version of it.
The words are as follows: (apologies for the spelling; I speak Scots,
but never learned to write it!)
An earthly woman sits and sings,
and ae she sings by lily weight (?)
Little ken I my bairn's faither
Far less the land that he dwells in.
Then cam he tae her to her bed fit
An' a grumly girst I'm share was he
Sayin' here am I, thy bairn's faither
Although I be not comely.
I am a man upon the land,
I am a sylkie in the sea
And when I'm far frae inner strand
My hame it is in the Sool (?) Skerrie.
It wasna weel, oh maiden fair.
It wasna weel indeed, quo she
That the great syklie o' Sool Skerrie
Shoulda come and brought a bairn tae me.
An' he has tae'n the purse o' gowd (gold)
He has laid it on her knee
Saying gae tae me my bonny wee son
An take there-of thy nursies fee.
For it shall come to pass on a summer's day
When the sun shines hot on every stane
That I will take my bonny wee son
and teach him for to swim the bay.
And thou shalt have married a proud seal gunner
And a right proud gunner I'm share he'll be
But the very first shot that ere he shoots
Will kill both my young bairn and me.
I am a man upon the land.
I am a sylkie in the sea.
And when I'm far frae inner strand
My home it is in the Sool Skerrie.
Lorraine
Peter | Lorraine,30:Cheers, Peter | Lorraine
* 1st 2.00e #339 * I'm not a programmer but I play one on TV...
Karin Lee Kross
>Actually... "The Stolen Child" is on Loreena's first album "Elemental",
>so Karin, I think there's two albums you don't have, both of which are
>worth getting.
Oops. My brain must have been off-line. I do have "Parallel Dreams",
but not "Elemental", and somehow got the two confused.
Speaking of Loreena, is there any word on what she's doing at the
moment? Any chance of her touring in Texas?
Tom Brown
>
>I'm a celtic singer who likes "spooky" songs, or ones with "otherworldly"
>subject matter (about ghosts......]
In light of this, I would be remiss in not reminding everyone about the Steeleye Span classic,
"King Henry," found on the great album, "Below the Salt." The song is a monster of an
arrangement--very dramatic (a musical equivalent of the way some of us might tell a ghost
story with spooky embellishments)! The story is a grabber: King Henry spends the night in a
haunted house....
Eerily yours,
Tom Brown
MacCamII
Silkies. Seal Woman's Croon/Silkie Waltz/ Ballad of the Silkie. This is
on Cassette tape, no CD is available by this band.
Sean p.
wrote:
>
> In article <3oge2t$o...@Owl.nstn.ca>, sfo...@fox.nstn.ca (Stephen Foster) says:
> >
> >I'm a celtic singer who likes "spooky" songs, or ones with "otherworldly"
> >subject matter (about ghosts......]
>
Sorry if this has been said earlier, didn't notice. My favorite "haunting"
tune is "the lonesome boatman" or something like that. I know it's been
done by several artists but my favorite recording was by the Fury brothers.
Maybe it was because the first time I heard it we were on Tra li bay and
it was overcast and gloomy and the fishermen had all gathered there for a
ceremony to remember a young fisherman who had been lost the year before at
that spot. Memorable
sean p.
Kevin Daly
>In article <3oge2t$o...@Owl.nstn.ca>, sfo...@fox.nstn.ca (Stephen Foster)
says:
>>
>>I'm a celtic singer who likes "spooky" songs, or ones with "otherworldly"
>>subject matter (about ghosts......]
>
Steeleye Span classic,
>"King Henry," found on the great album, "Below the Salt." The song is a
monster of an
>arrangement--very dramatic (a musical equivalent of the way some of us might
tell a ghost
>story with spooky embellishments)! The story is a grabber: King Henry spends
the night in a
>haunted house....
>
man stolen by the Fairies and rescued by true love...)
There's a really atmospheric electric version of that (with spooky fiddle as I
recall) on the Fairport Convention album "Liege and Lief". It's very dramatic
and poetic, and has a very real sense of menace (although what the Fairy Queen
says she would have done is less grisly than in the original).
Usenet news
PETER POOLE <peter...@almac.co.uk> wrote:
>-> > In <3oge2t$ofu#Owl.nstn.ca> sfo...@fox.nstn.ca (Stephen Foster)
>-> > writes:
>-> > >
>-> > >I'm a celtic singer who likes "spooky" songs, or ones with
>-> > "otherworldly"
>-> > >subject matter (about ghosts, fairies, etc.). I've found "The Wee Wee
>-> > Man",
>-> > >"Tam Lin", "Thomas the Rhymer", "Jack Rowland". Anybody have any
>-> > >recommendations for other songs or collections? Thanks for your help.
>
>I know of a lovely other-worldly one called The Sylkie which is on an
>old Alistair MacDonald album, Music Of The Highlands. Don't know if his
>recordings are available in the States (or if anyone even knows of
>him!) but someone may know another artist's version of it.
>
>The words are as follows: (apologies for the spelling; I speak Scots,
> but never learned to write it!)
>
>An earthly woman sits and sings,
>and ae she sings by lily weight (?)
>Little ken I my bairn's faither
>Far less the land that he dwells in.
>
.... REST OF LYRICS OMITTED ....
What a fantastic subject this thread is!
1) I noticed something called "The Silkie Song" in the credits of
the film "The Secret of Roan Inish" - I assumed it was one of the
gaelic vocals in the movie (I regret that I don't understand gaelic).
Anybody know if this is the same song?
If you haven't seen the movie I recommend it just for the soundtrack
alone for Celtic music fans. its a really great movie.
2) One of my favorite spooky tunes is Maddie Pryor(sp?)/Steeleye
Span's "Drink Down the Moon".
Craig Cockburn
ne...@bnlux1.bnl.gov "Usenet news" writes:
> 1) I noticed something called "The Silkie Song" in the credits of
> the film "The Secret of Roan Inish" - I assumed it was one of the
> gaelic vocals in the movie (I regret that I don't understand gaelic).
> Anybody know if this is the same song?
> If you haven't seen the movie I recommend it just for the soundtrack
> alone for Celtic music fans. its a really great movie.
>
Does it go something like: "Hyoon da hyoon do, hyoon da ro da da" ?
Craig
--
Craig Cockburn (pronounced "coburn"), Edinburgh, Scotland
Sgri\obh thugam 'sa Gha\idhlig ma 'se do thoil e.
Oomgowa
>subject matter (about ghosts......]
Here are some very "grim" and "spooky" songs for you:
The Ballad of Sawney Bean
(Black Eyed Biddy: High Spirits, Dunkeld Records, 1990)
This is a new composition by a member of the band. VERY moody and grim,
tells the story of one of Scotland's most infamous gourmands...
Twa Corbies
(Too many people to count, a very good recent version by"
Old Blind Dogs: Close to the Bone, Club Records, Ltd., 1993)
An old ballad printed in Robert Chamber's Scottish Ballads ( William Tait,
publisher, Edinburgh, 1829), OBD version is a tricky little arrangement...
Bedlam Boys (AKA Mad Tom of Bedlam)
(OBD again: New Tricks, Club Records, Ltd., 1992)
The original lyrics are supposed to run on for at least 100 stanzas -
We've never been able to track them down...
The Great Silkie
(The Corries, Live at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Fiesta, 1980)
Gotta miss Roy Williamson...
The Grisly Bride
(Jean Redpath - can't locate the album...)
Very bizarre story about an emigre to Oz whose new bride has a very
"hair-raising" secret....
Hope this helps!
----------------
Bob & Priscilla
New Jersey
GreeneKing
Ushers Well? Also there's an album by John Roberts and Tony Barrand which
is all "ballads of the supernatural"..can't recall the title right now but
email me if you need it.