Research and writing go hand in hand. You read something that sparks an idea, and a story is born. Or, you begin to write something and find you need to go in search of some details. In the process, you can get lost for hours on interesting tangents, or you can stumble across exactly what you need in a relatively short amount of time. Below is a song I stumbled across when I found I needed some details for my story on Friday evening.
Barramacneils. “My Heart’s in the Highlands.” YouTube. YouTube, 15 Mar. 2007. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.
I was working on With the Colonel’s Help. In it, Darcy has loaned Elizabeth a book of poems written by William Wordsworth. As my characters were settling in to ride to London, I decided it might be nice to have Darcy read to Elizabeth. But what was he going to read?
Thankfully, there are search engines to help with such issues. I typed in my search phrase, pressed enter and ta-da! lots and lots of poems by Wordsworth. So, I picked “The Solitary Reaper”, read it, and liked it well enough to allow it to be what Darcy would read to Elizabeth.
But then Darcy had to ask what song the young lady in the poem might have been singing.
Oy! These characters! 🙂
So, it was off to do another search.
A random click of a mouse on a song title, “My Heart’s in the Highlands”, in a list of traditional Scottish songs brought me this bit of information:
Written by Burns in 1789 to a traditional Gaelic tune. Burns was a Lowland Scot from Ayrshire, but he toured in the Highlands for a month in 1787.
Ah, Robert Burns! Perfect.
Colonel Fitzwilliam, however, wished to sing the song. Which brought me to another question: what does the song sound like when sung?
That required a trip to YouTube.
In the list of results, I noticed this one by The Barra McNeils. I knew that name and was familiar with their Celtic style of music. (They’re from Cape Breton.) So, I clicked play.
As you will see in the excerpt I have included below, the song goes well with the Wordsworth poem, and I have Colonel Fitzwilliam beginning to sing before asking Elizabeth to continue — so while you listen to the recording above, imagine the colonel starting the song with the chorus, and then Elizabeth picking it up on the verse and being joined by the others on the choruses.
I am including the words to the Robert Burns poem below so you can see the words that are being sung, and below that you will find the excerpt from this week’s writing session.
My Heart’s In The Highlands
Chorus:
My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart’s in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe –
My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go!
Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birth-place of Valour, the country of worth!
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.
Chorus
Farewell to the mountains, high-cover’d with snow,
Farewell to the straths and green vallies below.
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods!
Chorus
EXCERPT FROM With The Colonel’s Help: Continue reading Music Monday: My Heart’s in the Highlands, The Barra McNeils