One more Still into Folk show, Streamtour Live, we mentioned it last week already, we are planning a full online theater show for you, this live stream will feature our lovely dancers Rosalie & Madelief and will have all the wonderful ingredients of our Still into Folk shows.
So one last time Still into Folk, save the date! Sunday 29 november at 16:00. Will we see you there?
To watch our streams tickets are not needed, but we really appreciate your support, virtual tickets are available.
The lyrics to this song are written by our own William for the album Scotland’s Story, we performed it for the first time at our Celtic Folk Night in Wilhemshaven. At the end of all our theatre shows we play this song to get the polonaise going, David & Maceal march through the concert hall and all the audience follows.
Background Info – Flatlands
Scotland the Brave is the bagpipe tune David plays during Flatlands, it is a Scottish patriotic song, one of several often considered an unofficial Scottish national anthem. The tune was first played probably in the late 19th century. The lyrics commonly used now were written about 1950 by Scottish journalist Cliff Hanley for singer Robert Wilson as part of an arrangement by Marion McClurg. “Scotland the Brave” is also the authorised pipe band march of the British Columbia Dragoons of the Canadian Armed Forces
Lyrics “Flatlands”
Good evening lads and lassies, are you happy all the way
We’re coming from the Flatlands, so some people say
We try our very best to make you allright tonight
We’re playing lovely folk songs and some tunes half the night
I was born to be a singer, but I didn’t knew by then
I had my first guitar when I reached the age of ten
My fingers were not bleeding, but I really tried out hard
So come on move your dancing feet, when the music starts
So there’s no other place, where I would rather be
To sing about this fucking life in peace and harmony
So won’t you come along and drink a pint or two with me
To sing about this fucking life in peace and harmony
I was lots of times in trouble, in my days at school
Just learning ‘n turning by the way and living by the ruule
We were waiting ’till the bell would ring and we’d go home, on straight
And picking up our instruments, “it’s getting really late”
I like to dance with women and I sang it all before
I drink a lot of whiskey and I drop dead on the floor
And when the cab is driving home and I remember when
The places where I’m going and the places that I’ve been
The night is coming to an end, but there’ll be plenty more to come
The crowd is going wild and they’ve been asking for “encore”
We don’t know where we’re going and whenever we’re coming back
I’ll see you all the next time, on the latest track
Flatlands played at zomerfolk with lyrics and background info
Sadly we have had to cancel most of our shows for the rest of the year including the show in Roosendaal this friday but we do have some great streaming plans!
This weekend we will be doing our Songs at the Campfire stream, we have many song requests already, do you have another one?
And at the end of november we will be doing a special theatershow stream with our wonderfull dancers Rosalie & Madelief, more info on that stream coming next week.
So we hope to see you all soon! To watch our streams tickets are not needed, but we really appreciate your support, virtual tickets are available.
Did you enjoy our Halloween live stream? You can watch the complete stream below in case you missed it
During the stream we started a special new deal, our Scotland’s Story Record + CD + T-shirt normal price €50 now only €35 click the link below to go to the deal!
Rapalje invites you to a very special scary Halloween stream this saturday 31.10.2020 we will be streaming from 19:00 with lots of tricks or treats, will we see you there in the chat?
Do you have any song requests?
Tickets are not needed, but we really appreciate your support!
The torches come out and you know what time it is, we get to play Loch Lomond! Always a great sing-a-long and we love the reaction from the crowd everytime, this version shows Loch Lomond at our own Rapalje Zomerfolk Festival played on saturday after dark.
Background Info – Loch Lomond
Several stories surround this song, David Myles looked into the history and was able to find the facts to tell our story about the song. “The Bonnie Banks o ‘Loch Lomond”, or “Loch Lomond” for short, is a well-known traditional Scottish song first published in 1841 in Vocal Melodies of Scotland. The track prominently features Loch Lomond, Scotland’s largest lake, located between the counties of West Dunbartonshire, Stirling and Argyll and Bute. In Scottish, “bonnie” means “beautiful”, often in reference to a lady.
Loch Lomond is anything but a sweet Scottish song of love, written by a Jacobite highlander at the time of the Jacobite Rebellion.
The last serious battle of the war between Scotland and England took place on the field of Culloden. Now known as “the Battle of Culloden” The Jacobite Rebellion was an important time in Scotland; this ended at the battle of Culloden in 1746.
History
The Jacobites were created when the Roman Catholic King James II was dethroned from the English throne. By the Protestant Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange, who was married to a daughter of James II, Maria Stuart. The Jacobites were part of the political movement that aimed to restore the Roman Catholic Stuart King James II of England and his heirs to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland.
A superior English army defeated the weary and hungry Jacobite army on April 15, 1746, chasing and crushing the Jacobites without mercy. The Battle of Culloden was the last major battle on British soil.
The Privy Council in London had decided that prisoners of the uprising in Scotland should be tried in England. The Jacobite prisoners were transported to Tilbury Fort for trial. Many were found guilty and executed in the most vile ways possible, prisoners were sold, bartered, deported, died of disease and some were pardoned.
Once the execution was completed, to set an example to anyone who would walk out of line. The bodies and especially the heads on the tops of spikes were put on display in all the cities between London and Glasgow in a monstrous procession. The loved ones and families who watched the trial had to walk back to Scotland along the same route.
The low road and the high road
“The Low Road” is the normal road on Earth and “The High Road” is the road in the sky you take when you’re dead.
Farewell to the Creeks
It is an old pipe tune called “Farewell to the Creeks”.The tune was written by a Pipe Major J.B. Robinson from the Gordon’s who was captured at Le Cateau in August 1914 as the German Army swept into France. “Creeks” referred to in the tune are at Portknockie on the Mory Firth in Scotland. In 1943 a text was written on the melody by Hamish Henderson: Farewell Ye Banks O’Sicily
We play it with our torches and the bagpipes, after Loch Lomond we play “Farewell to the Creeks”. It’s in “The Scottish Guards.” It’s also a traditional Scottish tune.
Lyrics – Loch Lomond
By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond Where me and my true love were ever wont to gae On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond
Chorus: O ye’ll tak’ the high road and I’ll tak’ the low road And I’ll be in Scotland afore ye But me and my true love will never meet again On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond
‘t Was there that we parted in yon shady glen
On the steep, steep side o’ Ben Lomond Where in deep purple hue, the hieland hills we view And the moon comin’ out in the gloamin’
Chorus
The wee birdies sing and the wild flowers spring And in sunshine the waters are sleeping But the broken heart, it kens nae second spring again Tho’ the waefu’ may cease from their greeting
Rapalje plays You Couldn’t Have Come at a Better Time here between the Hunebedden in Drenthe, with RTV Drenthe we went out to Hunebed het Loon (D15) to record the song “You Couldn’t Have Come at a Better Time”. We love playing this tune, it gives everyone such a positive vibe, it is hard not to dance to this great song.
Background Info – You Couldn’t Have Come at a Better Time
Originally by Luka Bloom from the album Riverside after working on the songs in 1989 the album was released in 1990, “1989. What a big year this was. The Wall came down in Berlin, and the world felt like a flower in bloom. I was in Los Angeles in November 1989, completing the final mixes for my record ‘Riverside’. 3 months later, in February 1990, the record came out. I was getting calls in New York, telling me to come to the Lowlands quickly, because ‘Riverside’ was getting some serious attention in Belgium and in Holland. and so it began.
Lyrics – You Couldn’t Have Come at a Better Time
Where is this place we’ve come to
We don’t know what to say
We long to see each other
And are frightened of that day
You met me in a barren place
You walked me to the hill
We were so good for each other then
I know we could be still
You couldn’t have come at a better time
You couldn’t have come at a better time
You couldn’t have come at a better time
Not if you tried, oh no
Not if you tried, oh no
We have five hundred questions
Between you and me
But when you look into my eyes my love
Tell me what you see
Is it something you’re not sure of
Is it something true and fine
Or is it just another case
Of the right thing at the wrong time
You couldn’t have come at a better time
You couldn’t have come at a better time
You couldn’t have come at a better time
Since we were first together
By the lakeside sky so blue
We were so good for each other
Me and you and me and you and
Me and you and me and you
You couldn’t have come at a better time
You couldn’t have come at a better time
You couldn’t have come at a better time
Not if you tried, oh no …
In 2019 we had the great opportunity to play again at the Highland Games in Fehraltorf, and we did a crazy thing. Playing Long May You Run by Neil Young while flying over the Highland Games grounds, in the video you can see our adventure. This is one of the best memories we have of our time in Switzerland.
Did you know David Myles drove to the Highland Games with friends of the Black Bush Connexion, on his Harley Davidson! There were some technical issues of course with the Chopper but with some creative repairs everything turned out alright. Although a nice soft sheepskin on the bike would have been nice =) After a journey of 900 km David arrived in style at the Highland Games to the sounds of roaring Harleys.
Background Info “Long May You Run”
Originally written by Neil Young, our singer William thinks it’s a great song and wanted to play him with our band Rapalje. This gives the song its own sound and it is fantastic for us to play.
Neil’s beloved Buick hearse, “Mort,” was the inspiration for this song. Neil drove “Mort” from Toronto to Los Angeles, where he met Stephen Stills and founded Buffalo Springfield. Later Neil drove a Pontiac hearse “Mort 2”
Neil was on his way to Sudbury in Canada when ‘Mort’ broke down in Blind River, Ontario in June 1965. (the lyrics in the song are, “well, it was back in Blind River, 1962, when I last saw you alive”) the year is incorrect, but the song is about this story.
Neil Young is pictured here in the middle in front of his Mort.
Lyrics “Long May You Run”
We’ve been through some things together
With trunks of memories still to come
We found things to do in stormy weather
Long may you run.
Long may you run. Long may you run.
Although these changes have come
With your chrome heart shining in the sun
Long may you run.
Well, it was back in Blind River in 1962
When I last saw you alive
But we missed that shift on the long decline
Long may you run.
Long may you run. Long may you run.
Although these changes have come
With your chrome heart shining in the sun
Long may you run.
Maybe The Beach Boys have got you now
With those waves singing “Caroline No”
Rollin’ down that empty ocean road
Gettin’ to the surf on time.
Long may you run. Long may you run.
Although these changes have come
With your chrome heart shining in the sun
Long may you run.
