Annotation:Dark Island
X:1 T:Dark Island M:3/4 L:1/8 K:Edor B2|e3 fe2|d3 ed2|BG3 B2|A4 de|f3 ed2|fa3 A2|f4 a>f|e4 B2| e3 fe2|d3 ed2|BG3 B2|A4 de|f4 a>f|e4 f>e|d3 e d>c|d2 f2 g2| a3 AA2|f2 e2 d2|BG3 B2|A4 de|f3 e d2|fa3 A2|f4 a>f|e4 B2| e3 fe2|d3 ed2|BG3 B2|A4 de|f4 a>f|e4 f>e|d3 e d>c|d4|]
DARK ISLAND, THE. AKA and see "Dr. Mackay's Farewell to Creagorry." Scottish, English; Pipe Air (6/4 time) or Waltz (3/4 time). A Dorian ('A' part) & G Major ('B' part) {Martin}: D Dorian ('A' part) & C Major ('B' part) {Merryweather}: E Dorian ('A' part) & D Major ('B' part) {Johnson}. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Martin): AB (Johnson): AA'B (Merryweather). Composed in 1963 as a pipe lament by the late Iain MacLachlan, an accordion player from Creagorry who originally titled it "Dr Mackay's Farewell to Creagorry," after a local physician. Various lyrics have been written to the tune, although the first version was by David Silver of Inverness, who was asked to write a song for a BBC TV thriller, "The Dark Island", filmed in Benbecula in 1963. The island was his inspiration for the pensive song. He set his lyrics to MacLachlan's air. Subsequently others wrote sets of lyrics to the melody, including one in Gaelic, "Eilean Dorcha."
