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3 unusual facts about The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry


The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry

The Breton singer Cécile Corbel recorded it in her album Songbook Vol.2 (2008).

Although Jean Redpath disparaged Water's tune as "phony", preferring a longer version of Child 113 to another tune, by 1965, Jim Butler had heard Waters' tune sung by a Scottish student at the University of British Columbia, unaccompanied in the traditional style, and under the impression that he had learned it from his grandfather.

Roger McGuinn of the Byrds later recorded the song with its original lyrics as part of his Folk Den project.


Bairn

Examples of the term's use include the phrase "Jock Tamson's Bairns" as an idiomatic expression of egalitarian sentiment and the title of the 19th century Geordie folk song "Come Geordie ha'd the bairn." "Baloo Baleerie", a traditional Scottish lullaby, incorporates the term repeatedly, as does "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry", a traditional folk song from Orkney.


see also