CHECK IT OUT! "Over The Sea To Skye": On All Streaming Platforms. Here's a landing page: https://linktr.ee/michaelfirthsellers

The song, "Over the Sea to Skye", is dedicated to the memory of Margaret Jenny Sellers née Peterkin (1923 - 2018). The photo shows her as a teenager in the 1930s. "Over the Sea to Skye" is also streaming on YouTube, Spotify, and many other streaming sites.

At the funeral of my mother Margaret Sellers, John Alderman (her grandson) and I sang "Over the Sea to Skye", a famous Scottish folksong made even more famous by being the Outlander series theme song set to the lyrics of Robert Louis Stevenson. As she was Scottish, this seemed a very suitable choice.

The positive reaction to our rendition encouraged us to record our version of the song under the name of "The Leatherheads". Unfortunately, distance and a pandemic delayed this until March of 2022 when we eventually recorded it under the experienced eye of the amazing Sergio Aguilar, who also arranged the music and played most of the instruments.

I should at this point acknowledge the influence Bear McCreary (who recorded the Outlander theme) had on our rendition. Thanks to him I realized that the Robert Louis Stevenson poem was infinitely more suitable for a farewell to a loved one than the original Bonnie Prince Charlie lyric. Following his lead, I changed the personal pronouns to reflect we were talking about a woman. I also went further and slightly modified the lyrics to fit the occasion (a funeral),and gave it a different arrangement to suit the fact that it was being sung by two people and accompanied only by a guitar, an arrangement largely followed in this recording, apart from the introduction of a counterpoint where I'm singing the chorus of "Will Ye Go Lassie Go" (also known as "Wild Mountain Thyme"), another old Celtic folk song, and the use of more instrumentation and the use of lead guitars rather than bagpipes (the excellent Sergio Aguilar, ladies and gentlemen!).

So, please enjoy what for us was a heartfelt adios to a wonderful daughter, wife, mother, and grandmother! 

lyrics
Chorus:
Sing me a song of a lass that is gone
Sing as we say goodbye
Merry of soul, she sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye
Over the sea … to Skye

Verse 1:
Mull was astern, Rum on the port
Eigg on the starboard bow
Glory of youth glowed in her soul
Where is that glory now?

Chorus:
Sing me a song of a lass that is gone
Sing as we say goodbye
Merry of soul, she sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye

Verse 2:
Give me again all that was there
Give me the sun that shone
Give me the eyes, give me the soul
Give me the lass that's gone

Chorus: Sing me a song of a lass that is gone
(And we'll all go together)
Onward the sailors cry
(To pluck wild mountain thyme)
Merry of soul, she sailed on a day
(All around the blooming heather)
Over the sea to Skye
(Will ye go lassie go?)

Verse 3:
Billow and breeze, islands and seas
Mountains of rain and sun
All that was good, all that was fair
All that was she is gone … gone

Chorus: Instrumental

Chorus:
Sing me a song of a lass that is gone
Over the sea to Skye
Over the sea … to Skye

credits
from Sing me a Song of a Lass that is Gone, released April 2, 2022
Music: Traditional Scottish air collected in the 1870s by Anne Campbelle MacLeod
Lyrics: Robert Louis Stevenson (with changes by Bear McCreary & Michael Sellers)
Vocals: Michael Sellers; John Alderman
Guitars, keyboard, musical arrangement, & production: Sergio Aguilar
Song Cover photo: Family photograph
Cover design: Loretta Sellers Fortuny

Sing me a Song of a Lass that is Gone

Over the Sea to Skye

Buy at Bandcamp

Over The Sea To Skye - The Leatherheads UK Songwriting Contest: Five Stars: Commended Entry

Xixistix's contribution to @muterial 's "Off the Rails" open collaboration, which has spawned a "Bound for Destinations Unknown" EP. More to come...

Written, Arranged, Produced & Engineered by Rollo Carpenter & Mike Luv

RC- Field Recording, Filtering, Processing
ML- Sequencing, Edits, Mix

Original track: https://soundcloud.com/muterial/off-the-rails
A playlist of varied & wonderfully inventive renditions: https://soundcloud.com/muterial/sets/off-the-rails-collaborations

muterial & Xixistix: Avulsion (Off the Rails Rework)

La Reine Mer

A smooth laid back marimba groove with a lot of other subtle surprises.

Watching the Water

Too Late

Benjy's Theme

From the EP "Smilers" June 2023
Lyrics:
I was a fool when I lost you
Spent too many hours on the barstool
Cupid, what did I do?
I'm going to walk down to the Louvre
See all the small paintings
Hung in the big rooms

(Chorus)The most memorable thing about Paris (2X)
Was leaving
To come home to you

I can get my snacks and souvenir t-shirts
At the Catacombs
They have a way of making me feel at home
I'm sorry, that's a heavy metaphor
I walk through the city lights
The city of love (and pain)
I'm drinking expensive bottled French rain
(chorus)
They say:
You must absolutely go down to the night club
It's the place to be
fete toute la nuit
The most memorable thing about Paris
Was leaving to come home to you

The Most Memorable Thing About Paris

The Earth Love

Wild Wood

Old SC friend https://soundcloud.com/jowwwafi sent me this moving disco pop track with a cool Spanish flavored guitar solo.

Firstly I took out one of my old poems to sing on it, then started to progress his part with a choir and two guitars towards a new 'Ruizzoid' section in the middle. We did transitions with stereo panning, letting both sections sound at the time from each channel, as a tribute to 'The Yes Album'.

Pic: The Young Ladies of Avignon, by Picasso

Letra  /  Translated Lyrics

Quiero que me des un beso  /  I want you to kiss me
con tu besar estridente  /  with your strident kissing
y me incidas, tú, caliente,  /  and you to stick into me, you, hot,
y me quemes, y con eso,  /  and you to burn me, and even that,
quiero que me des un beso  /  I want you to give me a kiss
de esos tuyos de metal  /  of those yours made of metal
que me funda con fatal  /  which melt me with fateful
tacto frío y que me corte,  /  cold tact and cut me,
que me hiera y me transporte  /  hurt and transport me
a tus labios de cristal.  /  to your crystal lips.

Beso seco, beso rudo  /  Dry kiss, rough kiss
sin adornos ni comienzo;  /  without adornments or beginning;
sólo beso, sentimiento,  /  only kiss, feeling,
beso blanco, beso crudo.  /  white kiss, raw kiss.

Cógeme y dame un beso  /  Take me and give me a kiss
que me rasgue y me derrita,  /  which tear me up and melt me,
antes besa y luego grita,  /  kiss before and then shout,
quiero que me des un beso.  /  I want you to kiss me.

Senhorita (with Jowwwafi)

This could be you, this could be me
This just could be you and me sitting here
Nothing was wrong
It's just a little song about me and you
We braced against the wind
We brace against the Storm.....

Always lean into the Storm..

Music by @abloamberelli
Vocal sketch for demo by conover
Guitar solo by https://soundcloud.com/juswel
Outro by Brass Madness by Phil McWalter/Conover

Brace Against The Storm Conover/Camberelli/Welin

Music by Val Akey and Daniel Gómez.
All guitars (leads, rhythms, bass) played by Daniel Gómez. https://soundcloud.com/danielgoram
Drums and keyboards programming - mixing and mastering by Val Akey. https://soundcloud.com/valakey
Release date: 14 December 2020

Away From The Oasis

Michael Sellers is a guitar playing singer-songwriter from England, now living and recording songs in Merida, Mexico. 

Landing page: https://linktr.ee/michaelfirthsellers

Over The Sea To Skye - The Leatherheads UK Songwriting Contest: Five Stars: Commended Entry

Michael Sellers

Related tracks