Released 8/23/2022
About
Silkie 3: “Fate of the Great Silkie” depicts the Silkie’s final moments. After a brief introduction, the music suggests rough seas and the Silkie riding the waves. Then shots are fired. The Silkie is hit, dies, and sinks into the sea.
Francis J. Child collected only the texts/lyrics of traditional Scottish and English ballads and published them in 1860. “The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry” is Child Ballad #113. “Child” refers to his name, not to children. The tune commonly associated with “The Great Silkie” was written by James Waters in the 1950s. As the text explains, a silkie is a seal-like creature, able to take the form of a man when on land. He fathers a child with a human woman (“an earthly nurse”), then returns to take his son back to the sea. He foretells that the son’s mother will eventually marry a “gunner good,” who will shoot and kill both the Silkie and his son. Lyrics can be found here: https://www.8notes.com/scores/6316.asp.