Music rec

[regshoe]

I've been listening to a lot of Jacobite music lately, for some reason, and I've now found this one twice as the only anti-Jacobite song in an otherwise pro-Jacobite collection. Perhaps this happens because it (at least in the well-known Robert Burns version—the traditional one is a bit more explicit) isn't so much politically anti-Jacobite as anti-war in a 'stop fighting for a lost cause, it isn't worth it' sort of way, or perhaps it's just because it's such a bop. Anyway:

Watch on YouTube

(My favourite pro-Jacobite song is of course 'Cam Ye O'er Frae France', and when I find a version I like better than Steeleye Span's I'll recommend it :D)

Comments

[theseatheseatheopensea]

I didn't know this version, it's a great one! I only knew Ewan MacColl's which is indeed a bop, and Eddi Reader's, which is slower, but I think lets you appreciate the lyrics a bit more.

Also: I love your icon! :D

[regshoe]

I've just gone and listened to Eddi Reader's version, and wow, that is a very different mood, much more melancholy. It sounds like a sort of wistful resignation to the futility of the cause, rather than the sort of aggressive frustration you get from more upbeat versions like Ian Bruce's. I like it a lot (and this sort of thing is why folk music is so great—I love hearing different interpretations of the same song), thank you for the recommendation!

I thought I could do with a new icon for the new fandom obsession, hehe :D

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Yes, that's such a good point, folk songs can have a million versions and interpretations, and that's one of the nicest thing about them, they truly belong to everyone! <3 I'm glad you liked her version, she has a whole album of Robert Burns songs! I really like her voice!

Oh, and I didn't realise it was a fandom icon. Unless the fandom is birds? (Which is a whole proper fandom in itself, I think, heh!)

[regshoe]

Huh, I might see if I can find some more of her Burns songs (it would be seasonal, after all!)

Of course birds are a fandom in themselves, but this one was inspired by The Flight of the Heron, a very good historical novel and the reason why I've been so into Jacobite stuff recently :D

[theseatheseatheopensea]

All of the songs are up on youtube as far as I know! :D

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8a8cutYP7fqTxYs7LsM6HMJq5b0cTdo6

I think that's all of them?

And ohhhh, I need to add that book to my reading list, it sounds great! <3

[regshoe]

Thanks for the link :D

And yes, you should definitely read it! Highly, highly recommended.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Interesting! Thanks for sharing!

[regshoe]

Glad you liked it :D

[luzula]

Ooh, you changed your icon! Lovely.

And thank you, that is indeed catchy. I have not looked into the music of the era at all; will check out the other song you mention.

Gah, I just need to whine about fic research--I am having difficulty finding the procedures for court-martials. *sigh* I've ordered one book on ILL which seems promising, but it's about the reasons officers were being court-martialed in the 18th century and what that says about the role of officer and in a wider sense about masculinity in society. Which sounds interesting, but it might not have the details of the actual court-martials that I need. We will see. Meanwhile because I couldn't stop writing, I went ahead and just wrote the scene with the information I had. Which is not ideal, but I can go back and rewrite if needed--I just hope I don't discover anything later that would break the plot. : / If so I might just go "la la la, if I didn't discover this with weeks of research, maybe it won't bother the reader".

On a positive note, I am just getting them into bed now, 10 000 words into the sequel! : D

[regshoe]

The best thing about Dreamwidth icons is you can have one for every significant bird in your fandoms. :D

Jacobite music is great, and there's a lot of it! I've been vaguely aware of a few of the better-known songs for a while, and I'm now quite pleased that after reading a bit about the Jacobites I can understand the lyrics much better ('Cam Ye' is very heavy on the specific historical references). Quite a few of the songs are poetry written some years later when the whole thing was being rather romanticised, rather than contemporary folk songs as such (my favourite of those is 'Prince Charlie Stuart', the narrator of which feels the need to remind everyone that Prince Charles was six foot two, without stocking or shoe), but they're all good fun.

Ooh, this fic sounds very good (as does the research for it)! And I understand wanting to get things right historically, but I think it is sometimes better to just write it with what you've got while the inspiration is there—and I for one probably won't notice if all the detail isn't perfect. :P Meanwhile, I have been sketching out what will hopefully become the first scene of a much longer and more ambitious AU, but have realised that I'll probably need to read Gleam in the North to get all the information I need, which I don't want to do... however, I also have a couple of more straightforward ideas which I hope to start working properly on after re-reading the book next week!

[luzula]

I did discover one thing I got wrong that I have to go back and change, but I can make it work. But yes, you're right that the research hole really has no bottom, so at some point one has to just go on and write.

Yay, you're having fic ideas! Now I'm curious--do you want to talk about your long AU idea, or not? Either way is fine, of course. : )

I haven't read it yet, but I do know that Gleam in the North doesn't pick up immediately after FotH. It skips a number of years, about six or seven. If you don't already know, basically what happens to Ewen after FotH is that he returns to Ardroy after the 1747 Act of Indemnity. Although it does seem to have Keith's family in it, which is why I will also need to read it (among other reasons). *waits impatiently for it to arrive in the mail*

[regshoe]

I'm not even targeting my research at fic writing, to be honest—it's just, ooh, all this history is so interesting, tell me more about Rob Roy MacGregor *looks up another tangentially related book at the library*...

This AU, however.... so, basically, I was thinking about how to fix the ending while also engaging with the book's theme of fate, and then I thought of that scene at the end of Terry Pratchett's Mort where Death, holding the hourglass of destiny in his hand as the sand runs down, turns it over, saving Mort from his fated death and giving him his previously-destined lifespan over again. And I thought, what if that happens at Morar: the 'hourglass of fate' turns over, Keith survives and they get five more meetings afterwards—a second chance, as it were?

So I need to figure out how to get their paths to cross by 'chance' a short time later, either while Ewen is on the continent or as he's on his way back to Scotland, and I thought that stuff in GitN about what he does next would probably be relevant there (not to mention how he manages to avoid having his lands forfeited, which my research so far suggests happened to basically all the important Jacobites after the '45). And yeah, the stuff about Keith's family will also be useful, since they and their house/estate will probably also end up appearing!

[luzula]

Ooh, that sounds intriguing! Would love to read that. *encourages*

not to mention how he manages to avoid having his lands forfeited, which my research so far suggests happened to basically all the important Jacobites after the '45

Hmm, I just noticed while checking the parts near the end that at Fort Augustus he was reported as dead after his escape at High Bridge (it's in his conversation with Archibald Cameron at Ardroy before he leaves for Morar). Maybe that's why? I don't know if they actually thought he was dead, or if it was just a face-saving story. Either way, it doesn't sound compatible with taking his land.

[regshoe]

Thank you for the encouragement :D

Huh, that would be one way of getting out of it, I suppose! I'll have to pay attention to that bit on my re-read...

[luzula]

I just got my copy of the whole trilogy in the mail today and was so annoyed at the fact that Ewen has a beard on the front cover that I had to turn the dust jacket inside out. Augh. Although Keith was a lot better than on the cover of the FotH book that I had before. My favorite illustration of Ewen is actually the drawing of him and Alison that's on the inside of my FotH book. It is really good.

Anyway. I just opened the first page of GitN and was all: aaaaahh, his son is called Keithie! He named his son after Keith, oh my heart!!

[regshoe]

Oh dear. Of course he did! (...;___;)

...wasn't Keith named after his father's BFF who died young and tragically? is this a book about time loops or something?

*nods* I agree about the importance of cover illustrations not getting the characters wrong! My omnibus edition of the trilogy has a group of random redcoats and Highlanders on the cover who aren't obviously supposed to be anyone in particular, although there is one guy who I think could be Keith. (or perhaps they're characters from the second or third books and I'll find out later on?)

[luzula]

Yes about the source of Keith's name.

So I wonder are our covers different, or did we just interpret them differently? I interpreted mine to have Alison on the right, then Keith, then Ewen, then a random Highlander and random redcoat in the background. The reason I thought it was Ewen is that he's red-haired, and, well, he is the main character in the series as a whole.

I have not even dared to look at the two TV series, though hyarrowen did send me a couple of screencaps of the 1960's one. I did not like their Keith at all, although at least Ewen had no beard, and it did look very slashy. I mean, it had a half-naked Ewen with Keith's hand on his chest. ETA: I can send the screencaps on if you're interested.

[regshoe]

Yeah, that might be the same picture—mine is this one, and the image continues on the back with a battle scene. The figure I think is Keith is the same one you mention! But if that's supposed to be Ewen I didn't recognise him—the way the picture goes across my copy means he's sort of hidden between the front cover and the spine and not especially prominent, so he didn't look like he was supposed to be a main character (Is your picture shifted to the right a bit, since you don't mention the right-most redcoat here?—that must put him on the front). And besides beards, that's definitely not the Cameron tartan he's wearing, and I don't remember any scene from the book with him, Keith and Alison together near a battle. Artistic license, I suppose :P

I can send the screencaps on if you're interested. Ooh, yes please! Keith with his hand on a half-naked Ewen sounds like something I need to see.

[luzula]

Yes, that is the same picture, but mine is shifted to the right!

Will send screencaps. : )