The origin of Bonny Portmore...

POSTED BY: Micronaut
UPDATED: Thursday, September 11, 2008 01:15
VIEWED: 26624
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MICRONAUT

Sunday, May 30, 2004 5:21 AM

Just saw ShadowVessel's "Bonny Portmore" video... very nice indeed.

However, I believe ShadowVessel has the singer of the song incorrectly listed as Laura Creamer... The song in fact is performed by Canadian folk-celtic singer/harpist Loreena McKennitt ( http://www.quinlanroad.com), and is from her 1992 album "The Visit." The song, also written by McKennitt, is an arrangement of a traditional celtic tune, and was featured in the movie "Highlander III". She has several other albums out, her latest being "The Book of Secrets" (studio - 1997) and "Live in Paris and Toronto" (live - 1999).

Yes, I am a fan...

"Just remember... all success is illusion: what has really been accomplished is the displacement of an area of specific failure to somewhere else... or is it the other way around?"

ZAPHODB

Sunday, May 30, 2004 6:14 PM

Can you provide with a link to ShadowVessel's vid? My digging around the threads here has turned up nothing yet and I'd like to see it. Thanks!

Industrial Looniee & Madness - http://www3.telus.net/vchrusch

SUCCATASH

Sunday, May 30, 2004 6:31 PM

It took me a while to find the link too. I look forward to watching this but I'm still downloading.
http://168.215.229.19/tmobp75m.zip

MICRONAUT

Sunday, May 30, 2004 8:31 PM

Umm... Home Page, under "Features" is "The 'Message' of Bonny Portmore"...

Here's the link...

http://www.fireflyfans.net/feature.asp?f=55

"Just remember... all success is illusion: what has really been accomplished is the displacement of an area of specific failure to somewhere else... or is it the other way around?"

ZAPHODB

Sunday, May 30, 2004 10:27 PM

Thanks guys! I didn't see that it was right under my nose all the while. Serves me right for not imbibing enough caffeine...

Industrial Looniee & Madness - http://www3.telus.net/vchrusch

PBI

Monday, June 7, 2004 10:17 PM

Thanks for beating me to the punch, Micronaut :) Hadn't been by the site in a few and just now dl'd and watched the vid and was about to post the correction when I saw this thread. Nice to know Loreena still has fans around :)

If you can survive death, you can probably survive almost anything.

MILORADELL

Thursday, July 1, 2004 3:04 PM

Absolutely f****ing LOVE Loreena!! Saw her in concert at the State Theatre in MPLS last tour through the US - best concert I have EVER seen!!

Finally downloaded and watched the vid posted by ShadowVessel - can I just say wow?? Late to the party, I know, but glad I finally dl'd it!

sigh....that episode always makes me cry and that song always makes me cry, so yep, I cried over the vid!

KNIBBLET

Thursday, July 1, 2004 3:55 PM

The song is a protest against English occupation of Scotland and the destruction of Scottish lands to further English aims.

In particular, it is about the destruction of trees to build the English fleet. All of the tallest tress in Scotland were cut down to build the masts of the sailing ships.

Bonnie Portmore is about the Portmore tree, a huge tree lost to the greedy maw of the British navy.

A song of mourning and loss. A song about fighting a losing battle. Somehow, it is appropriate.

"Just keep walkin, preacher man."

SHADOWVESSEL

Thursday, November 4, 2004 11:16 PM

Shite! And oops. In my haste to get the video finished and put on the site I got fadangled. You see, there's three different versions of the song since Highlander the series got a hold of it. Laura Creamer was the singer they brought in for the series renditions. While the video was being made there was no internet access and I forgot to write down her name for the credits of the video. So, give a buddy a call who has internet but no interest in Highlander or Bonnie Portmore and you get kind of sloppy help. I am so sorry. I really wanted to give credit to Laureena McKennitt being how it was her version that both inspired me and was used. I love her voice. Something about Laura Creamer's versions on the series just didn't feel right.

But thanks to everybody for spending an hour or two downloading the video to watch it. Haken was supposed to make a lower quality version, but I guess he got sidetracked. Which is cool with me, I've got the video on a VCD at the house being how I still don't have a computer of my own.

I didn't even know this discussion was over here. Cool story: I Dogpiled "Shadowvessel", looking for more cool images of the big, bad-ass fkers, and it started showing these mentions of me on the site. Cool to me anyway.

Thanks again all.

(Gorramn Double Post)
"I'll be in my bunk."

YT

Tuesday, November 30, 2004 8:47 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Knibblet:
The song is a protest against English occupation of Scotland and the destruction of Scottish lands to further English aims.

Um, not exactly.

Quote:
In particular, it is about the destruction of trees to build the English fleet.

Yes, perhaps taking some artistic license.
By the b'ye, ShadowVessel originally credited the song to Laura Creamer, who sang a short & a long version of it for the TV series. The lyrics Laura Creamer used do not mention England or the English.

Quote:
All of the tallest tress in Scotland were cut down to build the masts of the sailing ships.

Mebbe so, but . . .

Quote:
Bonnie Portmore is about the Portmore tree,

Now we're getting down to it. It is about the Great Oak of Portmore, on the lands of Portmore Castle, near Lough Beg, in Northern Ireland.
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/immie/bonny.html

Quote:
a huge tree lost to the greedy maw of the British navy.

"Huge" doesn't do it justice -- its trunk was used to build an entire ship, not just the masts. Yet 'though the British Navy bought the trunk, local history has it that the tree was not cut down, but rather blown down in a storm.

Quote:
A song of mourning and loss. A song about fighting a losing battle. Somehow, it is appropriate.

A perfect match to the Message.

Keep the Shiny Side Up

Wutzon: What else? the Message of Bonnie Portmore

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