Caledonia (song)
Encyclopedia
Caledonia is a modern Scottish
folk
ballad
written by Dougie MacLean
somewhere between 1974 and 1977. and published in 1979 on an album of the same name. The chorus features the lyrics "Caledonia
, you're calling me, and now I'm going home". MacLean plays the song in the key of E using Open C tuning
with a capo
on the 4th fret.
The term "Caledonia" itself is a Latin
word for Scotland
. The song was featured in an advert on Scottish television for the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns
's birth. The anniversary of Burns also marks the 2009 Homecoming Scotland, a campaign by VisitScotland which invites people to come home to Scotland in 2009. The advert features a variety of Scottish actors, singers and celebrities, including Sean Connery
, Sir Chris Hoy
, Eddi Reader
and Lulu
, all of whom sing (or speak, as Connery does) part of the song.
An earlier song with similar sentiments is Jean and Caledonia.
by several artists. Dolores Keane
recorded a popular cover of the song on her self titled solo album in 1988. A version by Frankie Miller
was used in approximately 1990 in a television advertisement for Tennent's Lager
. Another cover version is included on the 2007 album release by Celtic Woman
, A New Journey
, sung by Lisa Kelly
. The song is also covered by the singer/songwriter Paolo Nutini
on a special version of his album These Streets
; Nutini's version is a live recording.
Another cover was included as a hidden track on singer/songwriter Amy Macdonald
's album This Is the Life
and it has also been covered on Leon Jackson
's debut album Right Now
. In 2007 "Caledonia" was also covered by Celtic Thunder
.
Additional covers have been released by Fish
, Ruth Notman, Na Fianna
, and Julienne Taylor
. The majority of these covers have been by artists from either Scotland
or Ireland
, and it has been popular amongst artists specialising in Celtic music
. Mary Black performed the song during her November 20, 2010 concert in San Francisco at Bimbo's 365 Club
. It was covered by Norway's Hanne Krogh on her Vestavind album released in 1998. Ronan Keating
too covered it on his album Winter Songs
(2009). The song was further covered by Jackson Greenhorn in 2011 as part of an online demo, The Scottish Connection.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
written by Dougie MacLean
Dougie MacLean
Dougie MacLean OBE is a Scottish singer-songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist.His career started with a traditional band, The Tannahill Weavers, in 1976. His solo career started in 1981 and since then he has recorded numerous albums...
somewhere between 1974 and 1977. and published in 1979 on an album of the same name. The chorus features the lyrics "Caledonia
Caledonia
Caledonia is the Latinised form and name given by the Romans to the land in today's Scotland north of their province of Britannia, beyond the frontier of their empire...
, you're calling me, and now I'm going home". MacLean plays the song in the key of E using Open C tuning
Open C tuning
Open C Tuning is an open tuning for guitar. The open string notes in this tuning are CGCGCE. It uses the three notes that form the triad of a C major chord: C, the root note; G, the perfect fifth; and E the major third....
with a capo
Capo
A capo is a device used on the neck of a stringed instrument to shorten the playable length of the strings, hence raising the pitch. It is frequently used on guitars, mandolins, and banjos. G.B...
on the 4th fret.
The term "Caledonia" itself is a Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
word for Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The song was featured in an advert on Scottish television for the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
's birth. The anniversary of Burns also marks the 2009 Homecoming Scotland, a campaign by VisitScotland which invites people to come home to Scotland in 2009. The advert features a variety of Scottish actors, singers and celebrities, including Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
, Sir Chris Hoy
Chris Hoy
Sir Christopher Andrew "Chris" Hoy, MBE is a Scottish track cyclist representing Great Britain and Scotland. He is a multiple world champion and Olympic Games gold medal winner...
, Eddi Reader
Eddi Reader
Eddi Reader MBE is a Scottish singer-songwriter, known both for her work with Fairground Attraction and for an enduring solo career. She is the recipient of three BRIT Awards and has topped both the album and singles charts...
and Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
, all of whom sing (or speak, as Connery does) part of the song.
An earlier song with similar sentiments is Jean and Caledonia.
Cover versions
"Caledonia" has been coveredCover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by several artists. Dolores Keane
Dolores Keane
Dolores Keane is an Irish folk singer and occasional actress. She was a founding member of the successful group De Dannan, and has since embarked on a very successful solo career, establishing herself as one of the most loved interpreters of Irish song.-Background:Keane was born in a small village...
recorded a popular cover of the song on her self titled solo album in 1988. A version by Frankie Miller
Frankie Miller
Frankie Miller is a Scottish rock singer-songwriter, who had his biggest success in the 1970s. Miller was raised at Colvend Street, Glasgow with his parents, Cathy and Frank, and elder sisters Letty and Anne. Miller attended Sacred Heart Primary school. He was an altar boy in Sacred Heart Chapel...
was used in approximately 1990 in a television advertisement for Tennent's Lager
Wellpark Brewery
Wellpark Brewery is a brewery situated in Duke Street in the East End of Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded in 1740 on the bank of the Molendinar Burn by Hugh and Robert Tennent...
. Another cover version is included on the 2007 album release by Celtic Woman
Celtic Woman
Celtic Woman is an all-female musical ensemble conceived and assembled by Sharon Browne and David Downes, a former musical director of the Irish stage show Riverdance...
, A New Journey
Celtic Woman: A New Journey
Celtic Woman: A New Journey is the second on-stage production by the group Celtic Woman. The show was filmed at Slane Castle in County Meath, Ireland and featured Hayley Westenra as a new addition to the group...
, sung by Lisa Kelly
Lisa Kelly
Lisa Ann Kelly is a singer of both classical and celtic music. She has taken part in many musical theatre productions and concerts, and is a member of the musical group Celtic Woman.-Early life:...
. The song is also covered by the singer/songwriter Paolo Nutini
Paolo Nutini
Paolo Giovanni Nutini is a Scottish singer, songwriter and musician from Paisley. His father is of Italian descent, from Barga, Tuscany, although both his parents are Scottish, his family having been in Scotland for three generations....
on a special version of his album These Streets
These Streets
These Streets is the debut studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini, released by Atlantic Records on July 17, 2006 . It debuted and peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart and was later certified quadruple Platinum by the BPI, shipping in excess of 1,200,000 copies. So far, the...
; Nutini's version is a live recording.
Another cover was included as a hidden track on singer/songwriter Amy Macdonald
Amy Macdonald (singer)
Amy Macdonald is a Scottish recording artist. Macdonald rose to fame in 2007 with her debut album, This Is the Life and its fourth single, "This Is the Life". The single charted at number one in six different countries worldwide, and charted inside the top ten in another eleven countries worldwide...
's album This Is the Life
This Is the Life (Amy Macdonald album)
-Deluxe edition:After the major success of "This Is the Life" across Europe, in the end of 2008 a deluxe version of the album was released. The 2-disc-set include the standard version of the album and a bonus-CD with several bonus tracks, live and acoustic versions.-Personnel:*Amy Macdonald -...
and it has also been covered on Leon Jackson
Leon Jackson
Leon Jackson is a Scottish singer-songwriter. He won the fourth series of British talent show The X Factor in 2007. Following his win, Jackson was the main star of his on-web series entitled Leon's Life, which ran from 2007 until 2008...
's debut album Right Now
Right Now (Leon Jackson album)
Right Now is the debut album by Scottish Jazz singer Leon Jackson, released on October 20, 2008 on Syco Music. Jackson described the album as "a mixture in styles of modern jazz with singer-songwriter elements, and a lot of it is really soulful." The album was released via Syco Music and Sony BMG,...
. In 2007 "Caledonia" was also covered by Celtic Thunder
Celtic Thunder
Celtic Thunder is a singing group composed of male soloists who perform both solo and ensemble numbers. Celtic Thunder debuted in August 2007 at The Helix in Dublin, Ireland...
.
Additional covers have been released by Fish
Fish (singer)
Derek William Dick, better known as Fish, is a Scottish progressive rock singer, lyricist and occasional actor, best known as the former lead singer of Marillion.-Biography:...
, Ruth Notman, Na Fianna
Na Fianna
Na Fianna are an Irish ballad group, comprising John Walsh, Lee Campion, Ross Hennessy and Damian Walsh. They were the runners-up of second series of RTÉ reality talent show The All Ireland Talent Show in 2009–2010, coming second to Chloe Coyle....
, and Julienne Taylor
Julienne Taylor
Julienne Taylor is a Scottish singer / songwriter who has been hailed as “Scotland’s best female voice since Annie Lennox”...
. The majority of these covers have been by artists from either Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
or Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and it has been popular amongst artists specialising in Celtic music
Celtic music
Celtic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe...
. Mary Black performed the song during her November 20, 2010 concert in San Francisco at Bimbo's 365 Club
Bimbo's 365 Club
Bimbo's 365 Club, also known as Bimbo's 365, is an entertainment club located at 1025 Columbus Avenue in San Francisco, California. It specializes in live rock and jazz shows. The location is one of San Francisco's oldest nightclub sites, and has operated under two names with a series of owners...
. It was covered by Norway's Hanne Krogh on her Vestavind album released in 1998. Ronan Keating
Ronan Keating
Ronan Patrick John Keating is an Irish recording artist, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Keating debuted on the professional music scene alongside Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch and Stephen Gately, in 1994 as the lead singer of Boyzone. His solo career started in 1999, and...
too covered it on his album Winter Songs
Winter Songs (Ronan Keating album)
Winter Songs is the sixth studio album released by Irish singer/songwriter and Boyzone frontman Ronan Keating. It was released by Polydor Records on November 16, 2009 in the UK and Ireland, debuting at number 16 and 12 in each respective album chart...
(2009). The song was further covered by Jackson Greenhorn in 2011 as part of an online demo, The Scottish Connection.
Cross references
- Compare with "Erin's Flowery Vale" also known as "The Irish Girl's Lament" or "Dobbin's Flowey Vale" (Roud 999, Laws O29) (plot) and references there
Other references
- Robert Ford, Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland (one-volume edition, 1904), pp. 237–239, "Jean and Caledonia" (1 text, 1 tune)
- John Ord, Bothy Songs and Ballads (1930; Reprint edition with introduction by Alexander Fenton printed 1995), p. 116, "Jean and Caledonia" (1 text)
- Roud Folk Song IndexRoud Folk Song IndexThe Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...
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