Uploaded August 2018 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
It is good to be back after some time, with this very magical, yet sad song that originates from The Orkney and Shetland Isles off Scotland...I fell in love with this song when i heard the folk group, The Unthanks version, but it has been covered by many folk artists including Joan Baez, and even John Denver..The language is a little hard to understand and follow , so I will write an explanation below..
The silkie is a mystical creature, like the mermaid.On land they are human, in the water they are seals..This sad story tells of how a young mother sits and sings about not knowing who her 'bairn's'(child's) father is, or where he is from..He comes on land to visit her, telling her he is a silkie, and not 'Comely'(Handsome or refined man, and when he is at sea as a silkie, he comes from a far away Island called Sule Skerry....He brings with him a purse of gold, in exchange for his son, who he wants to take with him, and teach him how to swim the foam(sea) and become a silkie...He predicts that the mother will then marry a 'Gunner' This was a harpooner on a whaling ship back in the day, and her husband's first shot would kill the silkie and his young son...
Thank you for listening, and hope everyone is happy and well:)
It is good to be back after some time, with this very magical, yet sad song that originates from The Orkney and Shetland Isles off Scotland...I fell in love with this song when i heard the folk group, The Unthanks version, but it has been covered by many folk artists including Joan Baez, and even John Denver..The language is a little hard to understand and follow , so I will write an explanation below..
The silkie is a mystical creature, like the mermaid.On land they are human, in the water they are seals..This sad story tells of how a young mother sits and sings about not knowing who her 'bairn's'(child's) father is, or where he is from..He comes on land to visit her, telling her he is a silkie, and not 'Comely'(Handsome or refined man, and when he is at sea as a silkie, he comes from a far away Island called Sule Skerry....He brings with him a purse of gold, in exchange for his son, who he wants to take with him, and teach him how to swim the foam(sea) and become a silkie...He predicts that the mother will then marry a 'Gunner' This was a harpooner on a whaling ship back in the day, and her husband's first shot would kill the silkie and his young son...
Thank you for listening, and hope everyone is happy and well:)
