Queen of the Northern Isle

a song from my youth

As you might know by now, I have been playing and writing music since I was a wee teenager and that my love for the indigenous music of the British Isles (which should be renamed “The Irish Isles” lol) is pure and sincere.

When I was twenty-one or so, I remember on Holy Saturday going to Cowley’s, a bar in Farmington, Michigan to listen to a band named Pat’s People, three or four (I forget which) expatriate Irishman playing the music of their homeland. Cowley’s is still there, though with a much more upscale vibe than it had in the 80s. That night while I sat in the bar, by myself, listening to those very fine musicians run through their highly trad repertoire, my girlfriend at the time was visiting her mother’s family in Ireland and the weather in Michigan was misty and green. I think it was the next day, Easter Sunday, when I wrote this song, “Queen of the Northern Isle.” The title was at least inspired by the title of Bob Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country,” a title with which I was familiar but a song I had not listened to—until last year, believe it or not!

I’ve always been fond of this song. Though I’ve written hundreds of songs over the years, this is one dear to me, for whatever reason. I like it so much I included the lyrics in my most recent volume of poetry, Mythologies of the Wild of God. I didn’t want to die and let it be lost, if only my family could hold onto it. (Not trying to get melancholic here!) Even though I was twenty-one and far from even dreaming that I might one day be a teacher or professor or anything remotely like a sophiologist, this song is fairly dripping with a nascent Sophiology. I was even then haunted by the Divine Feminine.

I wrote the song in the key of G major—but my voice was higher then! I’ve been playing it in F, but decided to push myself to sing it in G in order that my dear friend, the Mighty Tom Donohue, uilleann piper extraordinaire, might lay down some haunting counter-melodies on it when we meet up soon (I hope) to record it with a few other ancient Hibernians. As for my voice deepening over the years, maybe a decade or more ago someone posted a video of my band Robb Roy playing and being interviewed on a local Detroit television show in 1985. When my kids saw it, the first thing they said was, “Why’s your voice so high?” I refrained from telling me that it was before the burdens of life and children had driven me to the depths. God help us! (If you want to see me when my hair was black and my voice was higher, look here.)

I recorded this song now because my eldest three sons gave me a new camera and a big honking stereo microphone for Christmas after my YouTube channel blew up last Fall (it has since blown back down—effing algorithm gods). I’ve been using the camera, but only just this week unwrapped the mic. I wanted to see how it would record guitar and singing. I was pleasantly surprised.

I hope you like the song.