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1950s skye boat song

(70 Posts)
Owdcodger52 Fri 08-Feb-19 20:45:31

I am trying to find out who sang the skye boat song on the school radio we used to listen to once a week.The singer was a female and had a beautiful voice so hope someone can help.

Urmstongran Fri 08-Feb-19 21:29:20

Does this help jog any memories?

Skye Boat Song

[Chorus:]
Speed, bonnie 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 howl, loud the waves roar,
Thunderclaps rend the air;
Baffled, our foes stand by the shore,
Follow they will not dare.

[Chorus]

Many’s the lad, fought in that day
Well the claymore did wield;
When the night came, silently lay
Dead on Cullodens field.

[Chorus]

Though the waves leap, soft shall ye sleep,
Ocean's a royal bed.
Rocked in the deep, Flora will keep
Watch by your weary head.

[Chorus]

Burned are their homes, exile and death
Scatter the loyal men;
Yet ere the sword cool in the sheath
Charlie will come again.

Urmstongran Fri 08-Feb-19 21:36:35

What year (s) were you thinking of owdcodger?

There’s a lot of archive stuff to go through you see!
For nearly 60 years the long-running BBC Schools radio programme Singing Together got generations of children singing in classrooms across the country. What made it so special and why does it still have a place in people's hearts, asks the BBC's Ruth Evans.
Every Monday morning at 11am pupils at schools across the country would turn on the radio. For the next hour they would belt out anything from Cockles and Mussels to a bit of Van Morrison.
For decades the BBC Schools Broadcasting series Singing Together was part of school life. From the earliest days of broadcasting, children had a central place in the BBC's own definition of its role - to educate, inform and entertain.
Singing Together began in September 1939 as a practical response to the difficulties of teaching during the war. Mass evacuation led to children being scattered around the country away from their homes and schools, but wherever they were they could switch on the radio and sing.
Find out more

Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Cocker presents Singing Together on Archive on 4 on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 29 November at 20:00 GMT
In an archive interview, the first presenter Herbert Wiseman recalled how the idea came about.
"What about broadcasting a few songs and encouraging all, no matter where they were, to take part. A title for such a series? Oh, easy - Singing Together."
On 25 September 1939, only a few days after the war had begun, the programme was first broadcast. Songs were chosen for their simplicity and each programme contained a song with a "rousing chorus, a song with a beautiful melody and a nonsense song", according to documents from the time.
It was intended to be a temporary programme. Concentrating on folk songs from around the British Isles led some in the BBC to feel it didn't do enough formal music teaching. For them it was tolerated more than loved, but in schools it was hugely popular. At one point an estimated eight out of 10 schools were tuning in - as well as others.

merlotgran Fri 08-Feb-19 21:36:38

I thought it might be Kathleen Ferrier but maybe she only did 'Blow the Wind Southerly.'

Gonegirl Fri 08-Feb-19 21:37:23

Was it Kathleen somebody? Can't remember the other name.

Gonegirl Fri 08-Feb-19 21:38:44

Crossed posts metlot! Your memory is better than mine. I may have been thinking of Blow the Wind Southerly.

KatyK Fri 08-Feb-19 21:40:44

There is a YouTube video of someone called Caroline Kaart singing it.

merlotgran Fri 08-Feb-19 21:46:50

Tom Jones has done it but I guess you don't mean him. grin

Lily65 Fri 08-Feb-19 22:02:23

Urmstongran, there is something so poignant about that.

I remember the radiogram being wheeled out and we all listened.

Later we all skipped around , dressed only in pants and vests.

A bygone age for sure.

Marydoll Fri 08-Feb-19 22:15:20

We had a big brown radio, which hooked on to the classroom wall.
I had forgotten all about SingingTogether until I read this thread.

MawBroon Fri 08-Feb-19 23:08:56

Kathleen Ferrier?

MawBroon Fri 08-Feb-19 23:10:57

www.youtube.com/watch?v=48faTHRODxA
Or Isobel Baillie?

Jalima1108 Fri 08-Feb-19 23:21:04

I remember the words but not who sang it. We all sang with great enthusiasm, Welsh, English, Scottish, Irish songs - and others.

Green Sleeves
The Ash Grove
The Welsh National Anthem (in English as we were in England!)
Londonderry Air
Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond
Over the Hills and Far Away
Early One Morning
Bobby Shafto
My love is like a Red Red Rose

Lots more that I can't remember

Ailsa43 Fri 08-Feb-19 23:40:00

kenneth Mckeller sang it in the 50's as did Michael Holiday!!

paddyann Fri 08-Feb-19 23:45:45

this is quite a nice version .

youtu.be/-zQoQ1ckFxI

Badenkate Sat 09-Feb-19 09:09:02

I loved Singing Together. I remember we voted for our favourite song every year, and one year Westering Home won it

Grannybags Sat 09-Feb-19 10:03:32

When I was a baby my Dad would sing me to sleep. Once he'd got me to sleep he would sing the Skye Boat Song to let my siblings know they had to run ahead opening doors so he could put me in my cot without waking me!

Can't hear it now without a lump in my throat

Anniebach Sat 09-Feb-19 10:08:31

I loved ‘The Ash Grove’

Gonegirl Sat 09-Feb-19 10:11:05

I think it must have been Kathleen Ferrier singing it. It was one of the records played in assembly at our girls' school. Strange it doesn't seem to be on the internet but I guess not everything is.

Gonegirl Sat 09-Feb-19 10:11:39

Loved Westering Home!

merlotgran Sat 09-Feb-19 10:16:00

Maybe the OP means Blow the Wind Southerly and not the Skye Boat Song.

Where is the OP?

trisher Sat 09-Feb-19 10:25:45

I had another verse to this (and I think we missed out the claymore verse)
Mull was astern
Rhum on the port
Eigg on the starboard bow
Glory of hope rang in the soul
where is that glory now?
I remember being totally confused by the rum and port which were what my uncles and aunties drank. No one told me they were islands!- not sure about the Glory line.

Anniebach Sat 09-Feb-19 10:28:56

The Skye Boat Song is usually sung by a soprano, Kathleen Ferrier was a contralto

Gonegirl Sat 09-Feb-19 10:29:18

Think the OP is long gone. Leaving me, for one, searching every corner of the internet! I give up! grin

Gonegirl Sat 09-Feb-19 10:29:45

Ah yes! There's that AB.