I might as well add a bit to this page, though you can follow through to another page and see further details about the lyrical side of this song.

As everybody will know this is a purely Scottish tune now gone worldwide.

In the 1960's there was a rumour that the tune now known as 'Dark Island' was a pipe air from South Uist, dating back to the 19th century. Ian Maclachlan was said to have heard it being played on the chanter by an old man in the Glendale area.

Nobody has ever produced any proof whatsoever to support that rumour. People can easily think a tune is far older than it really is, and will swear blindly they knew it long ago.

Confusion seems to have lain with the tune being around the Scottish music scene for at least a few years before being copyrighted in 1963 with Ian Maclachlan's name and the then publishers Essex Music. The original names I know of and have in 1960's documents, are 'Dr. Mackay's Farewell to Creagorry' and 'Dr. McInnes's Farewell to South Uist', and there may be more transient titles that Maclachlan gave to it.

It was re-titled for the 1963 TV series 'Dark Island' and used as a theme tune. The original way it was played on the first recordings was as a simple accordion slow air, padded out with two contrasting up-tempo trad tunes - forming a set.

It quickly took off, both as a Scottish accordion melody and a pipe tune. The grace-note fingering style meant that it crossed over into being ideal for many different instruments.

The vocal versions followed on in 1963. Stewart Ross of Inverness wrote the first set of simple lyrics to a much-altered version of the tune believing it to be traditional - a misquoted version which doesn't scan has been included on the DigiTrad database.

One month later in response to the Ross lyric having come out on sheet music, David Silver wrote what were supposed to be the only legally available words to the tune. David Silver had prior consent to join the tune to the words. (Gaelic lyrics are usually translations of Silver's.) A dispute therefore followed the Ross lyrics' appearance, and an agreement was reached that the Ross lyrics would be withdrawn, providing the publishers would not exploit the lyrics. This agreement was broken in the publishers' favour.

After decades of wrangling during which time the publishers and David Silver financially exploited both versions, and will always be paid for both versions. The matter was supposed to have been resolved and a contract was signed which would at least give a moral credit for the words. This should have formally allowed the Ross words to be joined to the music, but there is still an ongoing dispute over the whole issue of registering the change - and the publishers will not fill in the necessary forms.

The Ross lyrics are still PRS registered and were copyrighted separately to the music - and there is a moral right to be named as author.

Other parties had also written lyrics to the tune in the early 60s believing it traditional. One set of words recorded by some folk groups was written by W. Gordon Smith (who wrote words for 'Come by the Hills'). These too are subject to dispute - and anybody else who sets words to the tune expecting copyright societies to collect on it will find the same.

Beware the snowball effect! Often, one person may stick down 'trad' on a record label, and then a dozen other people follow suit. Instead of checking as much as possible with copyright societies, people don't try and consult as many sources as they can for accurate details of a work. So whilst a good proportion of recordings attribute the work to Maclachlan, a number may not.

In one way the Dark Island has been a victim of its own success, sounding old yet apparently not having been around for longer than a Chuck Berry song. The melody has become a true folk tune - but is legally in world copyright until c2065, unless Westminster Music give up their claims in foreign territories.