Bluegrass Messengers

Recordings & Info 113. The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry

CONTENTS:

 1) Alternative Titles 
 2) Traditional Ballad Index 
 3) Child Ballad Collection
 4) Wiki
 5) Mainly Norfolk
 6) Folk Index

ATTACHED PAGE: (see left hand column)
  1) Roud No. 197:  (30 Listings)  

Alternative Titles

The Grey Selkie of Suleskerry
Great Selkie o' Suleskerry 

Traditional Ballad Index: Great Silkie of Sule Skerry, The [Child 113]

DESCRIPTION: A lady mourns that she knows not her son's father. He appears at her bedside, revealing that he is a silkie. He prophesies that she shall marry a "gunner," who will shoot both him and her son.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1852
KEYWORDS: selkie seduction
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Hebr))
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Child 113, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" (1 text)
Bronson 113, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" (1 version, though only the fifth stanza is proper to the tune)
Leach, pp. 321-323, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" (2 texts)
OBB 31, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 27, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's (#1)}
PBB 74, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry"; 75, "Sealchie Song" (1 text)
Hodgart, p. 69, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 219, "The Great Silkie" (1 text)
DT 113, SILKIE1* SILKIE2*
Roud #197
RECORDINGS:
Art Thieme, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" (on Thieme06)
NOTES: The tune to which this ballad is most often sung nowadays was composed by James Waters in the late 1950s. It was also used by Pete Seeger as the melody for his setting of Nazim Hikmet's poem about Hiroshima, "I Come and Stand at Every Door." -PJS
The fullest collection of texts and tunes for this piece is probably that of Alan Bruford, who in "The Grey Silkie" (originally published in _Scottish Studies_ 18, 1974; also available in E. B. Lyle, ed., _Ballad Studies_) prints, in tolerably incomprehensible form, eight texts or fragments and two tunes.
Bruford also discusses the relationship of the song to "The Play o de Lathie Odivere" (best known now perhaps in Gordon Bok's adaption "The Play of the Lady Odivere"), having much to say, and little of it good, about this piece first published by Walter Traill Dennison in _The Scottish Antiquary_ in 1894. Bruford doesn't quite say so, but it appears that he believes Dennison's piece to be a forgery built upon a small core of traditional material. - RBW

Child Ballad Collection: Child Ballad 113: The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry

Child #-- Artist--  Title-- Album-- Year-- Length-- Have Rec--
113 Áine Furey Silky Sweetest Summer Rain 2001 4:44 Yes
113 Áine Minogue The Selkie The Twilight Realm 2004 5:06 Yes
113 Alasdair Roberts The Grey Silkie of Sule Skerry You Need Not Braid Your Hair for Me, I Have Not Come A-Wooing 2005 5:19 Yes
113 Alastair McDonald Silkie of Suleskerry Old Scotia's Shores 2003  No
113 Alastair McDonald The Great Silkie Heroes and Legends of Scotland 1996 4:21 Yes
113 Alastair McDonald Great Silkie of Suleskerry Tam Lin & Other Celtic Legends 2008  No
113 Alison McMorland The Grey Silkie Belt Wi' Colours Three - Scots Songs and Ballads 1977  No
113 Alison McMorland, Geordie McIntyre & Kirsty Potts The Silkie of Skule Skerry Rowan in the Rock - Songs of Love, Land and Nature 2002 6:41 Yes
113 Aly Bain & Ale Möller The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry Fully Rigged 2002 2:34 Yes
113 Alyth McCormack The Selkie An Iomall - The Edge 2001 3:03 Yes
113 Anne Lister Silkie Waiting for the Hero 2005 6:09 Yes
113 Anne Wylie The Grey Silkie Deep Waters 2008 6:17 Yes
113 Annwn The Great Selchie of Sule Skerry A Barroom Bransle 1994 7:01 Yes
113 Archie Fisher The Norway Maid Orfeo 1970 4:34 Yes
113 Ardyth & Jennifer The Great Selkie Awakening 2005  No
113 Art Thieme The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry The Older I Get, the Better I Was 1998 3:36 Yes
113 Aryeh Frankfurter The Selchie Harp Chronicles Volume 1 - The Secret Bride - Lest the Harp Strings Unravel 2004 4:05 Yes
113 Avalon Rising The Great Selkie Avalon Rising 1995 5:16 Yes
113 Barbara Dickson Sule Skerry Parcel of Rogues 1994 5:03 Yes
113 Barbara Dickson Sule Skerry For the Record 2001  No
113 Barbara Dickson Sule Skerry January February - The Best of Barbara Dickson 2006  No
113 Barbara Dickson The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry In Concert [Barbara Dickson] 2009  No
113 Barbary Grant Silkie Bonny at Morn 2002  No
113 Bill Laswell The Gray Selchie Emerald Aether: Shape Shifting 2000 2:12 Yes
113 Bob Blair The Great Silkie Voices - The Second Book/Record Two 1968  No
113 Bob Blair The Grey Silkie of Sule Skerry Reaching for the High, High Lands - Scots Songs & Ballads 2000 3:44 Yes
113 Bobbie McMahon The Great Silkie Lay of the Silkie Wife 2002 2:29 Yes
113 Bonnie Dobson The Silkie of Sule Skerry She's Like a Swallow and Other Folk Songs 1960 5:35 Yes
113 Broadside Electric Silkie More Bad News.. 1997 5:14 Yes
113 Caera The Great Selchie Suantraighe - A Collection of Celtic Lullabies 2006 3:57 Yes
113 Calliope House The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry Splendid Isolation 2003 4:24 Yes
113 Cammi Vaughan The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry Lass of Roch Royal 2005  No
113 Carl Peterson The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry Drifting with Michener 2006  No
113 Carl Peterson The Great Silkie Pirate Songs, Sea Songs & Shanties 2006  No
113 Cece Borjeson & Ruth George The Silkie Perennials 2006 5:07 Yes
113 Cecile Corbel The Great Selkie Songbook Vol. 2 2008 3:55 Yes
113 Celtic Breeze The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry Live at Calico Rock Music Hall 2010  No
113 Ceol Céilí The Grey Selchie The Pig Faire Collection 2004 4:50 Yes
113 Christina Connell The Selkie Thistle Dew - A Symphonic Journey to Scotland 2004  No
113 Claire Hamilton The Great Silkie The Celtic Harp Collection 1998 2:12 Yes
113 Claire Hamilton The Great Silkie Wild Irish Rose 2007  No
113 Clutha The Silkie O Sule Skerry On the Braes 2001 2:33 Yes
113 Conjure Wife The Silkie <website> 2006 5:55 Yes
113 Connemara The Selchie & the Fisherman Siren Song 1993 4:00 Yes
113 Cynthia Gooding Great Selchie of Shule Skerry Faithful Lovers and Other Phenomena 1957 5:36 Yes
113 Damh the Bard Selkie of Sules Skerry Tales from the Crow Man 2009 5:49 Yes
113 Dan Dutton The Selkie Pull, Pick, Pluck 2004 4:47 Yes
113 Dan Keding The Great Silkie Stories from the Other Side 1990 2:28 Yes
113 Dave Burland The Great Silkie Songs & Buttered Haycocks 1975 4:38 Yes
113 Dave Burland The Great Silkie Willin' 1989 3:32 Yes
113 David Arkenstone Song of the Silkie Spirit of Ireland - A Musical Odyssey 2003 5:22 Yes
113 David Arkenstone Song of the Silkie Celtic Journeys - a David Arkenstone Celtic Collection 2011 5:23 Yes
113 Delta Burnett Reed The Selkie Children of the Mist 2010  No
113 Doris Rougvie The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry My Joy of You 2008  No
113 Elspeth Cowie The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry Naked Voice 2000 2:16 Yes
113 Fine Friday Selkie Gone Dancing 2002 4:58 Yes
113 Fine Friday Selkie Bar Edinburgh - Classic & New Scottish Flavours 2008  No
113 Fiona J Mackenzie The Great Selkie of Sule Skerrie Archipelago 2012  No
113 Folk Salad Silkie Chance for Us 1997 3:31 Yes
113 Full Frontal Folk The Great Silkie + My Love She's but a Lassie Yet Sweet Mystery of Life 2004  No
113 Giordano Dall'Armellina The Grey Silkie Ballate Europee Del Tempo Che Fu - Old Time Ballads from Europe 2001 6:04 Yes
113 Gram Parsons The Great Silkie The Early Years Box Set 2011  No
113 Gregg Schneeman & Glenno Falkenberg The Great Silkie Bowed Psaltery Pastimes - Favorite Sentimental Melodies 2001
 No
113 Guidewires The Selkie II 2011 5:11 Yes
113 Heather Innes & Jacynth Hamill The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry Caim Ceilidh 2005  No
113 Hector Gilchrist & Liz Thomson The Selkie Selkie - Songs with a Celtic Flavour 1993 3:01 Yes
113 Hector Gilchrist & Liz Thomson The Selkie Songs of Witchcraft & Magic - Songs & Ballads Compiled By the Museum of Witchcraft 2007  No
113 Henri's Notions The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry John O' Dreams 2004 4:28 Yes
113 Ian Giles The Great Silkie The Amber Triangle 1997 5:10 Yes
113 Inge Frimout-Hei The Silkie Kyra & Max 2002  No
113 Iona Leigh The Selkie Beside the Waves of Time 2009  No
113 Jane Belfrage & Simon Kravis Silkie The Glittering Star 1994 5:16 Yes
113 Jean Redpath The Grey Silkie Jean Redpath 1989 8:13 Yes
113 Jennifer Clarke Skromeda The Great Silkie The Great Silkie - Tales of the Celts 2001 3:49 Yes
113 Jenny & Carolyn The Selkie of Suleskerry Farewell Orkney 1996  No
113 Jessica Haines & Mark Kaiser The Grey Selchie So Here's to You 2006 5:38 Yes
113 Jessie Modic & Friends Selkie Song Saltarello - Songs & Stories 2004 2:55 Yes
113 Joan Baez Silkie Joan Baez, Vol. 2 2001 4:00 Yes
113 Joan Baez Silkie The Joan Baez Ballad Book 1972 3:50 Yes
113 Joan Baez Silkie (The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry) The English and Scottish Popular Ballads - Digital Child Companion CD 2003 4:25 Yes
113 John Denver The Great Silkie Something to Sing About 1969 3:31 Yes
113 John G. Halcro The Grey Selkie Scottish Tradition 21: Orkney - Land, Sea & Community 2004 :36 Yes
113 John Sinclair The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry The Baffled Knight - The Classic Ballads 2 1976  No
113 John Sinclair The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry The Great Silkie - Songs from the Orkneys 1980  No
113 John Sinclair The Grey Silkie The Folk Songs of Britain, Vol 6: Sailormen and Servingmaids 1961 3:03 Yes
113 Judy Collins Great Selchie of Shule Skerry Maids & Golden Apples [A Maid of Constant Sorrow + Golden Apples of the Sun] 2001 5:06 Yes
113 Judy Collins The Great Silkie Live at Newport 1994 5:33 Yes
113 Judy Collins & Tommy Makem The Great Silkie <website> 198? 5:48 Yes
113 June Tabor The Great Selkie of Sule Skerry Ashore 2011 7:15 Yes
113 Justin Eiler The Great Selkie <website> 2005 4:28 Yes
113 Karan Casey & Friends The Silkie Song Seal Maiden: A Celtic Musical 2000 2:12 Yes
113 Kate Northrop The Silkie Roots and Wings - Original and Traditional Music on the Celtic Harp 1992 5:25 Yes
113 Kathy Larisch & Carol McComb Great Silkie of Sole Skerry The Lou Curtiss Sound Library - 7:48 Yes
113 Katrine Anderson Silkie of Sules Skerry Songs of Celtic Myths 2007  No
113 Kerry Cantly The Silkie (take 1) Meander 2003 2:48 Yes
113 Kerry Cantly The Silkie (take 2) Meander 2003 2:54 Yes
113 Kerstin Blodig The Seal Man Valivann - Rhythmic Ballads from Both Sides of the North Sea 2002 4:48 Yes
113 Kevin Roth Silkie Wabby Wabbit's Lullabies and Snuggle Songs 2007 2:45 Yes
113 Kim Robertson The Selkie Highland Heart 2006 3:31 Yes
113 Knowe O' Deil Selkie O' Suleskerry The Viking's Bride 1987 4:04 Yes
113 Laurie Lester The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry The Dulcimermaid 2010  No
113 Lisa Lynne & Aryeh Frankfurter The Selkie Two Worlds One 2008 4:14 Yes
113 Lori Pappajohn, Jill Whitman & Ensemble The Silkie Harp Dance 2002 6:18 Yes
113 Lorna MacDonald Czarnota The Selkie Dancing in Dark Waters 2003  No
113 Lui Collins The Silkie Made in New England 1978 3:43 Yes
113 Lynn & Martin Craig The Silkie Greenwood Side - Traditional Songs from the British Isles 2007 3:15 Yes
113 Lynn Noel Great Silkie of Sule Skerry A Woman's Way - The First Millennium of Adventurous Women 1999 5:42 Yes
113 MacUmba The Selkie Don't Hold Your Breath 1996 4:49 Yes
113 Maddy Prior Great Silkie Women in Folk 2005  No
113 Maddy Prior Great Silkie of Sules Skerry Ravenchild 1999 6:57 Yes
113 Maddy Prior Great Silkie of Sules Skerry Collections - a Very Best of 1995 to 2005 2005 6:57 Yes
113 Mairéid Sullivan The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry For Love's Caress - A Celtic Journey 1998 3:47 Yes
113 Mairéid Sullivan & Ben Kettlewell The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry Time After Time 2008  No
113 Marcoacca Silkie <website> 2008- 4:42 Yes
113 Margaret Nelson Great Silkie Shine Where You Stand 1993  No
113 Megan McInnis & Chris Chapman The Selchie The Demon Lover 1997  No
113 Mickie & Elizabeth The Selkie + Lark in the Morning + The Rookery Fiona's Folly - Celtic Music 1992 4:31 Yes
113 Moira Cannon The Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie The Singing Silkie 2011  No
113 Moira Craig The Silkie On Ae Bonny Day 2001 2:27 Yes
113 Moody, Penner & Swain The Silkie South Bound 2003 2:32 Yes
113 Morgan Silky Born of the Sea - Celtic Ballads 1999  No
113 Orchis The Silkie John Barleycorn Reborn - Dark Britannica 2007 3:46 Yes
113 Oscar Brand Great Selchie of Shule Skerry Newport Folk Festival 1960 1960 3:40 Yes
113 Paddy Graber The Silkie of Sule Skerrie The Craic Was Great - Irish Songs & Stories from My Home 2004  No
113 Paul Clayton Silkie of Sule Skerry Folk Ballads of the English-Speaking World 1956 5:02 Yes
113 Peter & Gavin Livingstone The Silkie of Sule Skerry <broadcast> - 7:50 Yes
113 Phil Cooper & Susan Urban [February Sky] The Great Silkie Time-Honored Pathways 2011  No
113 Phil Holland The Selkie Faeries 2008  No
113 Pressgang The Sylkie Mappa Mundi 1997 5:11 Yes
113 Ralph Lee Smith & Pat Kuchwara Grey Silkie Dulcimer - More Old Time and Traditional Music 1975  No
113 Ray Fisher The Silkie of Sul Skerry The Bonny Birdy 1972 3:52 Yes
113 Raymond Crooke The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry <website> 2007 2:56 Yes
113 Rebecca Fox The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry The Signs and the Tokens 2007 4:30 Yes
113 Rebecca Fox The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry Birmingham Traditional Music Club - Live at the Wagon & Horses 2006 3:44 Yes
113 Roger Helfrick The Great Silkie The Call 1994  No
113 Roger McGuinn The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry Folk Den Podcast 1995- 3:12 Yes
113 Sally Doherty & The Sumacs The Selkie of Sule Skerry Black Is the Colour 2002 3:28 Yes
113 Sandra & Nancy Kerr The Great Silkie Neat and Complete 1996 3:19 Yes
113 Sarah McFadyen & Kris Drever The Selkie Sarah McFadyen & Kris Drever 2008  No
113 Sarah Underhill & Ian Worpole Silkie of Sule Skerry Chimaera 2004  No
113 Saratoga Faire Silkie Saratoga Romance 2009  No
113 Sasha MacKenzie The Selchie Songs for Celtic Harp 1993 7:58 Yes
113 Seriouskitchen The Silkie of Sulle Skerrie Tig 2002 7:13 Yes
113 Sharon Isbin Silkie Journey to the New World 2009 1:46 Yes
113 Sheena Wellington The Great Silkie O' Sule Skerrie Strong Women 1995 6:36 Yes
113 Smithfield Fair The Silkie + The Song of the Mermaid Jacobites By Name 2002  No
113 Solas The Grey Selchie The Words That Remain 1999 6:10 Yes
113 Steeleye Span The Great Silkie of Sules Skerrie Cogs, Wheels and Lovers 2009 5:45 Yes
113 Susie Fox The Selkie Afterwards 2003  No
113 Talisman Sylkie (The Selkie) Sylkie 1980  No
113 The Big 3 Silkie The Big 3 Featuring Mama Cass Elliot 1963 3:28 Yes
113 The Boys of the Isle The Silkie Traditional Airs for the Celtic Harp & Fiddle 1999 1:11 Yes
113 The Boys of the Isle The Silkie Traditional Airs for the Celtic Harp and Fiddle - the Gold Collection 2004 1:11 Yes
113 The Children of Adam Silkie The Children of Adam  5:18 Yes
113 The Corries The Great Silkie Strings and Things + Live at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh 1999 9:51 Yes
113 The Gaugers The Grey Selchie of Sule Skerry Awa' Wi' the Rovin Sailor 1994 4:25 Yes
113 The Halifax Three The Great Silky The Complete Halifax Three: The Halifax Three + San Francisco Bay Blues 2002 3:40 Yes
113 The Harvesters Silkie Twelve Years on .. 1978 3:48 Yes
113 The Highwaymen The Great Silkie The Highwaymen + Standing Room Only 2000 4:15 Yes
113 The Homesteaders The Silkie Railroad Bill .. and More Folk Singing 1962 3:16 Yes
113 The Irish Crystal Band The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry New and Original Sound of Irish Grass 1982  No
113 The McCalmans The Silkie of Sule Skerry The Best of Scottish Folk 2002  No
113 The McCalmans The Silkie of Sule Skerry Smuggler + Burn the Witch 1997 3:52 Yes
113 The Rite of Spring The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry Seaward Robin & Crystal Creek 1978-1982 2000  No
113 The Singing Milkmaids Silkie Watersing 2003 3:20 Yes
113 The Trail Band The Silkie Immigrant Dreams 1997 4:23 Yes
113 Trees The Great Silkie On the BBC 1970 6:46 Yes
113 Trees The Great Silkie The Garden of Jane Delawney 1970 5:15 Yes
113 Troy Donockley & Dave Bainbridge The Great Silkie of Sules Skerry When Worlds Collide 2005 6:56 >Yes
113 Two Roads Home The Selkie of Sule Skerrie Dovetailing 2002 7:14 Yes
113 Washington Area Folk Harp Society The Great Silkie The Song of the Selkie 2000  No
113 Wendy Arrowsmith The Great Silkie Now Then? 2007  No
113 Wendy Weatherby The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry A Breath on the Cold Glass 2002 3:51 Yes
113 West O'Clare The Silkie Once Upon a Pub 2003  No
113 William Jackson The Silkie Celtic Experience, Vol. 1: Haunting Themes from Scotland and Ireland 2000 3:40 Yes 
 

The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry or The Grey Selkie of Suleskerry is a traditional folk song from Orkney. The song was collected by the American scholar, Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century and is listed as Child ballad number 113. There are many different versions of the song, one of which is a part of the epic ballad, The Lady Odivere.[1]

Synopsis
A woman laments that she does not know her son's father. A man rises up to tell her that he is the father, and that he is a silkie: a man only on the land, a seal in the water. He takes his son, gives her a purse of gold, and predicts that she will marry a gunner, who will shoot both him and their son.

Lyrics
An earthly nourris sits and sings,
And aye she sings, "Ba lilly wean,
Little ken I my bairns father,
Far less the land that he staps in."

Then ane arose at her bed fit,
And a grumly guest I'm sure was he,
Saying "Here am I, thy bairns father,
Although I am not comely."

I am a man upon the land,
I am a silkie in the sea,
And when I'm far frae every strand,
My home it is in Sule Skerry."

“It was na weel”, the maiden cried,
“It was na weel, indeed” quo she,
“For the Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie,
To hae come and aught a bairn to me!”

Then he has taken a purse of gold,
And he has laid it on her knee,
Saying, "give to me, my little young son,
And take thee up thy nouriss fee.

It shall come to pass on a summer's day,
When the sun shines hot on every stone,
That I shall take my little young son,
And teach him for to swim the foam.

And thou shalt marry a proud gunner,
And a very proud gunner I'm sure he'll be,
And the very first shot that e're he shoots,
he'll kill both my young son and me."

An interpolated 5th stanza has also been heard:

'Twas weel eno' the night we met,
When I'd be oot and on my way,
Ye held me close, ye held me tight,
 "Just ane mair time ere the break o' day!"

nourris = nurse
ken = know
staps = stops
bed fit = foot of the bed
grumly = strange

Adaptations
The best known tune today is non-traditional, having been written by Jim Waters in 1954. Child was interested only in the texts of the ballads he collected, and Jim explains that the tune was "just the best I could do as a way to get a fine ballad sung".[citation needed] Over the next 2 years, he introduced the ballad to the Boston area at a time when "hootnannies" filled the Great Court of MIT on a weekly basis (before recorded folk songs were widely available). Jim Butler added the song to his repertoire, according to his notes, in October 1954, on a page labelled "MITOC Supp.", being the MIT Outing Club addition to his typewritten Child Ballads. Butler taught the song to several people, including Bonnie Dobson. This is the tune that Joan Baez popularized as "Silkie" in the early 1960s.

Although Jean Redpath disparaged Water's tune as "phony", preferring a longer version of Child 113 to another tune, by 1965, Jim Butler had heard Water's tune sung by a Scottish student at the University of British Columbia, unaccompanied in the traditional style, and under the impression that he had learned it from his grandfather. "This has to be one of the most flattering things that has ever happened to me",[citation needed] added Waters, who eventually copyrighted his version and assigned it to Folk Legacy Records.

The original tune was preserved by Dr. Otto Andersson who heard it sung by John Sinclair on the island of Flotta, Orkney. Dr Andersson said, “I had no idea at the time that I was the first person to write down the tune. The pure pentatonic form of it and the beautiful melodic line showed me that it was a very ancient melody that I had set on paper.”[2]

American folksinger Pete Seeger set the poem "I Come and Stand at Every Door" by Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet to the tune of "The Great Silkie". The American rock band The Byrds sang it on their third album, Fifth dimension (1966). The song was later covered by This Mortal Coil. Roger McGuinn of the Byrds later recorded the song with its original lyrics as part of his Folk Den project.

The English folk rock band Trees included one variant, as "The Great Silkie", in The Garden of Jane Delawney, their debut album. James Michener refers to the ballad in his 1971 novel The Drifters (novel). In Chapter I, the character Gretchen Cole, a student at Radcliffe and an anti-war activist, sings the song to a group of Harvard and MIT students at a corner bar in Boston. Michener seems to imply that the song had some special meaning at the time with regard to the anti-Vietnam War movement. "Above them she announced the title of her song, 'Child 113,' and the students, knowing what this signified, applauded." When Gretchen finished the song, Michener writes, "The students did not applaud, for the ballad struck much too closely to their own experiences [. . .]" Later, in Chapter VI, Gretchen again sings the song, after which, the narrator notes, "It was as if this very old ballad had foreseen the sense of tragedy that was to overtake the young people of this generation in the United States."
The Breton folk band Tri Yann also penned an adaptation in French called "Le Dauphin" (the dolphin) on their 1972 album Tri Yann an Naoned.

In 1981 Angelo Branduardi recorded this tune in his album Branduardi '81, with a lyrics by Esenin. The song is titled "La cagna".
The Philadelphia folk band Broadside Electric included a version of the ballad on their 1996 album More Bad News ...
The Irish band Solas included one variant, titled "Grey Selchie", in their 1998 album The Words That Remain.
A version appears on Maddy Prior's 1999 album, Ravenchild.

Alasdair Roberts included his version of "The Grey Silkie of Sule Skerry" on his limited-edition CD, You Need Not Braid Your Hair For Me: I Have Not Come A-Wooing, released in 2005.
The Breton singer Cécile Corbel recorded it in her album Songbook Vol.2 (2008).
Steeleye Span recorded it as a hidden track on their 2009 album, Cogs, Wheels and Lovers.
In 2011 June Tabor recorded it in her album Ashore.

References
1.^ Selfe, J.S.. "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry". The Bard of Avalon. http://www.pilgrimsall.org/bardofavalon/Singer/greatsilkie.html. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
2.^ Thomson, David. The People of the Sea

 External links: History, and two variants Child version

Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music Great Silkie of Sules Skerry

[Roud 197; Child 113; Ballad Index C113; trad.]

Ray Fisher's sang The Silkie of Sul Skerry in 1972 on her album The Bonny Birdy.

Maddy Prior sang Great Silkie of Sules Skerry in 1999 on her album Ravenchild; this track was later included on the Park Records anthology Women in Folk and on the Maddy Prior anthology Collections: A Very Best of 1995 to 2005. Maddy Prior commented in the original album's notes:

This eerie ballad from the Shetland isles harks back to the land's Scandinavian roots. It is a shape-shifting story of a seal / man whose fate is told with great simplicity and grace.

Hannah James learned this song from Mary Macmaster at the Folkworks Summer School 1999 and recorded it with Kerfuffle in 2004 for their second album, K2.

June Tabor sang The Great Selkie of Sule Skerry in 2011 on her Topic album Ashore.

See also Barbara Dickson's version of Sule Skerry on her anthology For the Record.

Lyrics
Maddy Prior sings Great Silkie of Sules Skerry
An earthly nourris sits and sings
And aye she sings “Ba lily wain
And little ken I my bairn's father
Far less the land that he dwells in”

Then one arose at her bedfoot
And a grumbly guest I'm sure was he
Saying here am I, thy bairn's father
Although I be not comely

I am a man upon the land
I am a silkie on the sea
And when I'm far and far frae land
My home it is in Sules Skerry

And he has ta'en a purse of gold
And he has placed it upon her knee
Saying give to me my little young son
And take thee up thy nurse's fee

And it shall come tae pass on a summer's day
When the sun shines bright on every stone
I'll come and fetch my little young son
And teach him how to swim the foam

And you, you shall marry a pround gunner
And a proud gunner I'm sure he'll be
But the very first shot that e'er he shoots
He'll kill both my young son and me.

Folk Index: The Grey Silkie [Ch 113]

Sm - I Come and Stand [at Every Door]
Friedman, Albert B. (ed.) / Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-S, Viking, sof (1963/1957), p 27 [1850s] (Great Silkie of Sule Skerry)
Friedman, Albert B. (ed.) / Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-S, Viking, sof (1963/1957), p 28 [1870s?]
Sing Out Reprints, Sing Out, Sof, 5, p38 (1963)
Clayre, Alasdair (ed.) / 100 Folk Songs and New Songs, Wolfe, Sof (1968), p 97 (Great Silkie of Sule Skerry)
Blood, Peter; and Annie Patterson (eds.) / Rise Up Singing, Sing Out, Sof (1992/1989), p 10 (Great Silkie)
Luboff, Norman; and Win Stracke (eds.) / Songs of Man, Prentice-Hall, Bk (1966), p316
Yolen, Jane, et.al. / Fireside Song Book of Birds and Beasts, Simon & Schuster, Bk (1972), p184 (Great Silkie of Sule Skerry)
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p321 (Great Silkie of Sule Skerry)
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p323 (Great Silkie of Sule Skerry)
Leach, MacEdward / The Heritage Book of Ballads, Heritage, Bk (1967), p 59 (Great Selchie of Shule Skerry)
Baez, Joan. Joan Baez, Volume 2, Vanguard VSD 2097, LP (1961), trk# 4 (Silkie)
Baez, Joan. Siegmeister, Elie (arr.) / Joan Baez Song Book, Ryerson Music, Sof (1971/1964), p 56 (Silkie)
Broadside Electric. More Bad News, Clever Sheep CS-1704C, Cas (1996), trk# A.04 (Silkie)
Clapp, June. Buttermilk Hill, Butterfly CP 1992, Cas (1992), trk# A.07 (Silkie)
Collins, Judy. Golden Apples of the Sun, Elektra EKSL-7 222, LP (1962), trk# A.06 (Great Selchie of Shule Skerry)
Denver, John. Okun, Milt (ed.) / Something to Sing About, MacMillan, Bk (1968), p129 (Great Silkie)
Dobson, Bonnie. She's Like a Swallow, Prestige Folklore FL 14015, LP (1963), trk# A.03 (Silkie of Sule Skerry)
Edwards, Jay. Edwards, Jay; and Robert Kelley / Coffee House Songbook, Oak, Sof (1966), p156 (Great Silkie of Sule Skerry)
Gooding, Cynthia. Faithful Lovers and Other Phenomena, Elektra EKL 107, LP (1956), trk# B.07 (Great Selchie of Shule Skerry) Highwaymen. Standing Room Only!, United Artists UAL 3168, LP (1962), trk# B.05 (Great Silkie)
Irish Crystal Band. New and Original Sound of Irish-Grass, Showcase, LP (1982), trk# A.04 (Great Silkie of Sule Skerry)
Kerr, Sandra and Nancy. Neat and Complete, Fellside FECD 107, CD (1996), trk# 10 (Great Silkie)
McMorland, Alison. Belt wi' Colours Three. Scots Songs and Ballads, Tangent TGS 125, LP (1977), trk# A.02
Redpath, Jean. Jean Redpath, Philo 2015, CD (1987), trk# 9
Rite of Spring. Seaward Robin, Wallowa WLS 010, LP/ (1978), trk# B.05 (Great Silkie of Sule Skerry)
Robertson, Kim. Highland Heart, Gourd GM 137, CD (2006), 8 (Selkie)
Sinclair, John. Folk Songs of Britain. Vol 6. Sailormen and Servingmaids, Caedmon TC 1162, LP (1962), trk# 12 [1934]
Smith, Ralph Lee. Dulcimer; More Old-Time and Traditional Music, Skyline DD 106, LP (1975), trk# 13 (Silkie)
Taussig, Harry. Taussig, Harry / Folk-Style Guitar, Oak, Sof (1973), p 42 (Great Silkie)