Incoming Green
* What do you want to be?
And have you travelled very far?
Far as the eye can see....
I picked up Celtic Energy recently while watching Rick Steves' European travel program about Ireland. A red haired fair skinned lad spoke hurriedly about "The Mull O' Kintyre." only he said it as all one word, "Mulla-Kintyre," with accent on the first syllable. The young man in Northern Ireland pointed across a short stretch of sea miles 20km (12 miles) where, on clear days, the traveller can view the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland!
What is the Mull of Kintyre? It is the most southwesterly section of the long Kintyre peninsula. "Mull" means "bare" of trees, rounded hills. ** "The area's significance as a cultural nexus dates back to neolithic times." A historic lighthouse is from 1788. Before the lighthouse, bonfires were beacons to sailors. I felt I was right there and could even smell the sea air! I remembered my Irish, English, Welsh, and Scotch-Irish relatives from distant days. I thought of Collies herding sheep....
I must see the song again....
Having a quiet stretch of alone time one day, I clicked into viewing Mull of Kintyre video sung by Paul McCartney. As the video played, I saw scenes I had forgotten and scenes I clearly remembered from the 1977 video. In my imagination, the film tones were more muted like black, white, grey, and sepia? My memory missed altogether the full color scenes on the farm where Paul, Linda, and Denny Laine, part of Wings band, strolled together singing. I certainly got the pipe band and the bonfire into my memory bank. Interesting how the heart-mind works and reworks, editing scenes on its own.
I sang along as new images absorbed into my head. Music rolled on and on like waves in the ocean! The tune has a primal tribal beat, like a ceremonial march.
Next I played the song, Mull of Kintyre, repeating the track while writing....
I typed with wild abandon! Never mind spelling! Never mind chronological order of the lyrics! I wrote what I "heard" and I have always sung, but (guess again) some lyrics were quite different from the original intention:
Mull of Kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea I (sic) desire is always to be there....
Far have I traveled and much have I seen
dark distant mountains with valleys o' green
vast painted deserts the sun sets (sic) on fire....
Enter Bagpipe Band
Sweet grew the heather right here in the glen (sic)
Carry me back to the days I knew then....
Enter Families
Smiles in the sunshine and tears in the rain
Still take me back where my memories remain....
Enter Bonfire
Flickering embers grow higher and higher...(sic)
As they carry me back to the Mull of Kintyre
Nights when we sang like a heavenly choir (way out of order here!)
of the life and the times of the Mull of Kintyre.
Change of Key and repeat chorus
Chanting and hollering from the gathering around the bonfire!
Remembering a change of key in the Mull of Kintyre song, Beatle's Lyrics floated into my memory....
* Tuned to a natural E
Happy to be that way.
Now that you've found another key,
What are you going to play?
What are we going to play?
Ever evolving and changing keys in the circles of life, love, and friendship....
Related Posts:
Silver Stars and Moonbeams, Chessie the Cat with her shamrocks, (March 2011) Grow Green (April 2011), Out of Box Experience, journey with the Collie (Aug 2011), A Sitich in Time, Call to Colors and Find A Voice (March 2012)
Resources:
* The Beatles, song Baby You're A Rich Man from Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
** http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/297391
Wikipedia, Mull of Kintyre, for more details and photos of the land.
Paul McCartney, Mull of Kintyre from Wings Greatest, (1978). After the Beatles broke up (1970), Paul and Linda retreated to High Park Farm in the Mull of Kintyre. They had a recording studio there. The rough landscape and simple life was a haven for peace and recovery. Denny Laine co wrote Mull of Kintyre with Paul. Denny was a member of Paul's Wings Band and a former member of The Moody Blues. The local Cambeltown Pipe Band performs bagpipe music.
I watched the original Mull of Kintyre song, a family home movie, and then the Scottish Channel for lyrics of Mull of Kintyre Paul McCartney (read and sing along with Paul, no pictures).
http://www.youtube.com
When I first heard the song Mull of Kintyre, I pictured Ireland and my spelling was Mull O' Kyntire. The name is an Anglicization of the Gaelic, Maol Chinn Tire (mu: ly cin tji-ria).
Lyrics' chronological order may be changed in this post.
"I" desire should read "my" desire.
"Vast painted deserts" should be "past painted deserts,"
"the sun sets on fire" should read "the sunsets on fire."
"Sweet grew the heather right here in the glen" is "Sweep through the heather, like deer in the glen." Really missed that one! (giggle)
Flickering embers grow higher and higher" should be "embers grew higher and high."
http://www.ricksteves.com Rick Steves, travel programs on PBS. Rick Steves Europe series and more.
http://www.taichiforhealthinstitute.org Dr. Paul Lam develops Tai Chi for Health Exercises. Tai Chi helps your memory, well being, and encourages vibrant health, creativity, and enjoyment of life. Imagine!
http://dbasham.blogspot.com Cotton Candy Sunsets new post (Mar 14, 13) on Debra Basham's Blog, Yellow Brick Road, Your Path to Heart and Health
dahlis.roy@gmail.com
Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor
Images
Grow Green, clip art shamrocks
Incoming Green, years ago I had a yin-yang sticker. I stuck it onto a note card and keep in on my bulletin board, a reminder of harmony and balance, Tai Chi in rest and Action.
