Skye Boat Song in the Old West

[Riverkilt]

Watching the second episode of Commanche Moon on tv last night the Val Kilmer character was singing the Skye Boat Song after being released from days of captivity...seemed an unusual choice by the screenwriter...

Ron

[Bugbear]

............

[TheKiltedWonder]

It's a great song, though I've heard that it's not so old. I don't care, I love it!

Do any resident musicologists know how old the melody is? The google-happy will find that Wikipedia dates it to the 1870s with its first publishing in 1884, but I was hoping for a more reliable source.

When is Comanche Moon set? Late enough for this song to have been a wee bit popular?

[Mael Coluim]

Ron,
Maybe not a stretch as long as you think. Check out this CD with Vince Gill doing the song Streets of Laredo and the Bard of Armagh at Amazon. Although thie music on this CD show the Irish American link, I think it would be the same with Scotland.

Maybe he learned it on his Nana's lap. I heard a many old traditional melody there, myself.

[Coemgen]

Cool! One of my favourite songs. I might be using it in an upcoming recital.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Towards the end of Comanche Moon the townsfolk are celebrating the end of the War of Northern Aggression (I am writing this Virginia, not New York), which pre-dates the Skye Boat Song by about 10-20 years.