Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)

Subject: Origins: 'Follow the Herring Home'
From:
Date: 04 Sep 03 - 04:50 PM

Follow The Herrin' Home

The back of the winter is broken
And light fingers loom by the door
And the seeds of the summer have spoken
And gowans that bloom on the shore

I came across this song which I think may be a Davy Steele one, but I'm having difficulty with some of the words



    By night and day we'll sport and we'll play
    And delight as the dawn dances over the bay
    S    And we'll follow the herrin' home

In darkness we cradled our sorrow
And stoked all our fires with fear
Now these bones that lie empty and hollow
Are ready for gladness to cheer

Long may you sing of the salmon
And the snow scented……. Of your home
When the north wind delivers it's sermon
Of ice and salt water and stone

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Follow the Herring Home'
From:
Date: 04 Sep 03 - 05:07 PM

Oops that one got away on me. Sorry.

First verse, fourth line:
And gowans that bloom on the shore...?sense, not the gowans

Chorus, third line:
Sleep blows the breath of the morning away...? sense

Third verse, second line:
And the snow scented sound of your home...?sound?

Third verse fourth line:
Of ice and salt water and stone...?stone?

Thanks, Jack

Subject: Lyr Add: FOLLOW THE HERON (Karine Polwart)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 04 Sep 03 - 10:17 PM

Found this one HERE.

FOLLOW THE HERON
(Karine Polwart)

The back of the winter is broken
And light lingers long by the door
And the seeds of the summer have spoken
In gowans that bloom on the shore

CHORUS:
By night and day we'll sport and we'll play
And delight as the dawn dances over the bay
Sleep blows the breath of the morning away
And we follow the heron home

In darkness we cradled our sorrow
And stoked all our fires with fear
Now these bones that lie empty and hollow
Are ready for gladness to cheer

(Chorus)

Long may you sing of the salmon
And the snow-scented sounds of your home
While the north wind delivers its sermon
Of ice and salt water and stone

(Chorus twice)

And we follow the heron home

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Follow the Herring Home'
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 05 Sep 03 - 12:23 AM

Written by Karine Polwart of Malinky. who has posted here once in a while, and mostly not about fish.

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Follow the Herring Home'
From:
Date: 05 Sep 03 - 12:42 AM

Sounds great. She's coming to Celtic Colours this year. I'll have to ask her for the song.

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Follow the Herring Home'
From: mg
Date: 05 Sep 03 - 12:55 AM

is it herring or heron?

mg

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Follow the Herring Home'
From:
Date: 05 Sep 03 - 01:19 AM

It's a heron, Mary.

Thank you folks, tho' I'm still wondering a bit about the sense of some of it. Nevertheless, it's a fine sounding song.

Thanks for Karine's name Malcolm, I have a contact to her so I may just find out a bit more

Being waders, I guess the poor old herons don't even get to eat herring :-))

Jack

Subject: Lyr Add: FOLLOW THE HERON (Karine Polwart)
From: MartinRyan
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 09:03 AM

Found this version online. Some dodgy looking bits. I have the recording somewhere and will check if poss.:


The back of the winter is broken
And light lingers long by the door
And the seeds of the summer have spoken
In gowans (????) that bloom on the shore

CHORUS
By night and day we'll sport and we'll play
And delight as the dawn dances over the bay
Sleep blows the breath of the morning away
And we follow the heron home

In darkness we cradled our sorrow
And stoked all our fires with fear
Now these bones that lie empty and hollow
Are ready for gladness to cheer

CHORUS

So long may you sing of the salmon
And the snow scented sounds of your home
While the north wind delivers its sermon
Of ice and salt water and stone

CHORUS X 2

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Follow the Herring home
From: Scabby Douglas
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 09:50 AM

Gowans - which were queried in the lyric above - is the Scots name for the daisy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Follow the Herring home
From: Willa
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 10:45 AM

Did this with Karine at a Folkworks school last year and have the words in front of me. Martin's version is correct, the only slight variation being
In darkness we CRADLE our sorrow
And STOKE all our fires with fear
Now these bones that lie empty and hollow
Are ready for gladness AND cheer

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Follow the Herring home
From: MartinRyan
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 11:08 AM

That's great! I heard Karine live in Galway a year or two ago and enjoyed her gig very much.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Follow the Herring/ Heron home
From: michaelr
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 03:24 PM

Isn't it "snow-scented sands"?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Follow the Herring/ Heron home
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 29 Jul 08 - 08:11 PM

Written at the 2002 Shetland Folk Festival when Karine was with Malinky, and featured on their second CD, 3 Ravens. Original recording had only button box chord accompaniment, from Leo McCann who was then with the band. Karine has since re-recorded it herself, as have many others, with instruments varying from guitar,to piano, to clarsach, and just about every community choir in Scotland sings it.
Martin Ryan's posting of the words are EXACTLY what is printed in the CD sleeve, with the exception of there being no "So" at the start of the third verse.
Karine therefore has maybe changed the words since, as in the version she gave you, Willa.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Follow the Herring/ Heron home
From: Tootler
Date: 30 Jul 08 - 06:26 PM

Willa,

If it was the Autumn workout at the Sage last year you were at, it was Carolyn Robson who led the workshop, not Karine.

The words Carolyn gave us are as Willa said and Carolyn had a book with them in so, presumably the song is already being "folk processed".

It's a very good song. Paints a picture rather than tells a story IMHO.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Follow the Herring/ Heron home
From: GUEST,wlisk
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 12:59 PM

You can hear this lovely tune on Shauna Mullin's myspace page. www.myspace.com/shaunamullin.    Shauna sings with the David Munnelly band and she sang that song at the house concert they did here a few weeks ago. She has a terrific voice.

Bill

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: bradfordian
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 07:29 PM

Karine Polwart singing at Shrewsbury FF 2009

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: Tootler
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 07:46 PM

The story I heard was that she was on her way home in the early hours of the morning when a heron flew out from some water by the side of the road and in front of the car for a while.

It's an excellent song. It's sense, for me, is in the first verse. It's about the end of winter and the coming of spring and looking forward to the better weather.

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 07:47 PM

Must be one of the most popular contemporary songs in Scotland now: just about every community singing group in the land sings it, as well s many solo singers! The story goes that it was written on the ferry back from Shetland to Aberdeen by members of Malinky, including Karine, on their way back from Shetland Folk Festival. Maybe there was a heron following the boat (usually seagulls that do this!) Gowans are daisies by the way. Not sure myself of the meaning of all of it but I think the middle verse has to do with the ancient civilisations and remains found on Shetland.

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: Cuilionn
Date: 12 Feb 11 - 08:03 PM

I want to be Karine Polwart when I grow up. I also love singing this song.

That said, to me it has the sound of something written in the sleep-deprived (and perhaps alcohol-influenced) haze following an epic session: the words are very poetic, but they don't all really make sense upon reflection, i.e. "snow-scented sounds..."?!?

In the liner notes of Malinky's "3 Ravens" (on which the song appears as the final track), this is what they say:

"The tune surfaced backstage after a gig at the 2002 Shetland Folk Festival, where we had the mightiest craic ever. Steve was playing away a few chords on the guitar and Karine sang the melody over the top whereupon we insisted that our splendidly musically-literate fiddler Jon write it down before the Balvenie made us forget it..."

[My note: if you're not familiar with the term, "craic," it's a Gaelic word that implies great conversation, understanding, rapport, or--in the context of a session--the sort of intensely satisfying musical connection experienced when all the players "click" and the harmonies and rhythms spring forth without apparent effort.]

--Cuilionn

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 13 Feb 11 - 08:58 PM

But don't forget that in the first version (On 3 Ravens) the main backing was a few chords from Leo McCann on button accordion! I owe it to leo to say that as he taught me to play button accordion!

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 02:42 AM

Beautiful song, which I sing with my trio. We contacted Karine a few years ago to ask if she minded us singing it and she replied that it was great to hear of her songs taking on a life of their own. Then one trio member went to talk to her at Shrewsbury FF in 2009. She remembered the email and had even been to our myspace page and liked what she heard (eeek!). Then said "I suppose you want to record it now" - "Yes please!" We only have a live one so far, but one day .... Lovely lady, and so talented! Also sings with the Burns Unit who are very interesting, and excellent live.

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: bubblyrat
Date: 14 Feb 11 - 05:24 PM

Lovely song ! Karen & I have been doing it for about 3 years now,and we love it ,although Karen used to get cross when I sang "By night and day, we'll have it away " (understandably ) . Karine was in "The Battlefield Band" , of course ; "Happy Daze" is one of my favourite BB CDs ever !!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: GUEST,the quietman
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 09:18 AM

can anybody take a stab at the chords? i've looked all over and cant find them. thanks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: maeve
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 10:03 AM

Karin has made the guitar tab available for .99p download fee:
Follow the Heron guitar tab
Does that help?

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Jan 23 - 06:25 PM

Here's Karine's recording and lyrics on Bandcamp. Seems like these lyrics should be definitive.
https://karinepolwart.bandcamp.com/track/follow-the-heron

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jan 23 - 07:45 PM

I thought I heard Karine say it was the Orkney Folk Festival she were returning from when the song idea came to her? I may wrong though. It doesn’t really matter as it’s a great song, no matter where or when it was written.

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Jan 23 - 08:01 PM

Now I have to think where I have seen herons in Scotland, and what kind of herons. I'm sure I have, but I'm not sure where. But I can tell you for sure that I saw puffins in Orkney.

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: leeneia
Date: 16 Jan 23 - 12:31 PM

Thanks for posting this fine song. The DH and I like to row a boat on local rivers, and sometimes great blue herons are startled and fly ahead of us. After a while they turn and go upriver, perhaps to return to their territory, perhaps because they figured out that if they keep going downriver, they'll never be rid of us.

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 16 Jan 23 - 01:16 PM

Methinks they've successfully led you away from their nest, leeneia, and are going back to check it (cf Robert Graves's observation about lapwings in The White Goddess).

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: Jack Campin
Date: 16 Jan 23 - 01:30 PM

There are herons that hang out on the rivers in southern Scotland. They don't seem to travel far - there's one I often see under a bridge in Hawick and another one on the Water of Leith near Dean Village in the middle of Edinburgh. If you were hoping to have one guide you home, you'd better be nearly there already.

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: leeneia
Date: 17 Jan 23 - 10:33 PM

Thanks for the idea, MaJoC. I'll see if that happens in nesting season or all the time.

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 19 Jan 23 - 11:51 AM

> I'll see if that happens in nesting season or all the time.

That's where the second layer of indirection comes in: if they do it all the time, that's one less indicator to a predator of when nesting season is. Mother Nature knows how to look after her charges :-) .

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: GUEST,Steve Byrne
Date: 12 Feb 23 - 05:07 AM

Stumbled across this thread and happy to offer some more info, as the aforementioned guitarist in Malinky backstage in what I think was a sports centre changing room! The song definitely came together at Shetland Folk Festival in what was a pretty industrious, creative phase prior to recording our 3 Ravens album in 2002. It was the album for which we were possibly the most well rehearsed ever, in my mind!

Karine had the bulk of the lyrics worked up from the trip but as I recall there were a few wee gaps and elements of it were finalised in the studio in Pencaitland so the odd word and phrase came from discussions and ideas then. I think gowans for example was plumped for at that time. Snow scented sounds is the phrase that sometimes foxes people, as I recall we tried various things but couldn't quite shake it off, so it stuck. We decided we liked the sound and alliteration and indeed some have picked up on the idea of it hinting at forthcoming weather, which I suppose it what the song encapsulates, hope and the renewal of new seasons, both literal and metaphorical.

The trip to Shetland wasn't an altogether happy one for us performance wise as a band, we didn't feel we went down all that well, so we made the most of the nights by staying up that wee bit too late, so that was why the memory was very much of sleep blowing the breath of the morning away. While we were up there though, in one of the outlying church halls, we worked on the arrangement for Karine's song Thaney which ended up on the same album and from that point of view, it was a memorable time and it's a real delight to see how people have picked up the songs since then.

Subject: RE: Origins: Follow the Heron (Karine Polwart)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 18 Feb 23 - 01:19 PM

Excellent mondegreen, tho.