ONE HIT WONDERLAND: "The Mummers' Dance" by Loreena McKennitt
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- Опубликовано: 4 сен 2018
- This week's request takes us back to a bizarre moment in 1998 when a dance remix of a Celtic folk artist's pagan festival song became a mainstream hit. Yes, this really happened.
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She is also remembered by old school techies as a tech pioneer. When she couldn’t get a deal from a label she bought one of the first at home CD burners, made her own CDs and sold them directly to her fans at her concerts and by mail order on a new thing called the World Wide Web. This is one hell of a smart woman.
Jeez... yeah, she's definitely a very intelligent woman. Makes very timely music, but takes advantage of the modern sensibilities of technology. If she were younger, she'd probably have a hell of a cult following on SoundCloud right now with the artsy girls.
I really like her. Lovely lady.
Wonder how many of those CDs she had to sell to make back the cost of the at-home CD burner?
@@austintrousdale2397 A LOT, to put it simply.
CD burners were the new hot thing back then, and as such, were rather expensive, especially for the really good ones.
"CD burner." Now there are two words I haven't heard used together in what feels like a lifetime ago.
I love how the HurdyGurdy player is rocking out so hard.
That guy’s my neighbour!
For those about to folk, we salute you!
He's singing songs of love
@@GodInTheMachine Very true -- I've seen the guy from Hedningarna cut loose on one of those too ;)
As he should
As an Aussie, i grew up on Loreena Mckennitt. I remember i wrote to her when i was 9 or 10 and she wrote back and sent me autographed poster, CD and Frame with a photo of herself in it. I'm still a huge fan, Loreena is an angel.
Oh, that is just amazing! Postage couldn't have been cheap for all of that, that's so sweet of her!
cool
Rad asf. 🤘
I've met Loreena McKennitt. She's awesome. She's like a mother to everyone.
I’m so jealous it hurts. Meeting her and just having a cup of tea with her or something is at the very top of my bucket list!!
A redheaded mom who plays the harp and makes you flower crowns TwT she's like an elf XDD
May I just please extend a thank you to whoever requested this? This tune has been haunting me for YEARS, and now I have a name and lyrics to put to the song!
I love that feeling. When you have some vaguely familiar tune haunting you for years, and then one day you finally find out the title. Happened to me with Yaz’s “Don’t Go”. Nothing like that feeling in my book.
Hi, late reply, but yes, it's a pretty great feeling!
The funny thing is, I remembered the song from somebody using a midi version of it on their Neopets page. Just to show my age 😂👀
@@SugaredViolette I used to have that experience all the time with Newgrounds cause there was tons of flash games and animations that used licensed songs that I never could find out the names to cause they wouldn't credit the artist, biggest one of those being weirdly not one that was on Newgrounds but instead Adult Swim games Robot Unicorn Attack which should bring back a huge wave of nostalgia for most millennials.
@@hyousaisuper late to this comment but you just perfectly described the joy when I finally discovered the title and artist for Angela Bofil's I Tried. I felt like a ghost that just resolved my unfinished business
@@theninjamaster67 You ever find the name of the Robot Unicorn Attack song? It's "Always" by Erasure!
You’ve been teasing James Blunt for almost 3 years now.
Someday you’re gonna have to slay that dragon.
Jack Casey ikr.
I mean, the dragon itself makes fun of it. James Blunt was always very self-aware that his music sucks.
Except James Blunt isn't a One Hit Wonder. At least in the UK, can't seem to get rid of him over here.
@@ShinMario098 he's covered several acts that were one hits in the US but popular in their home country so that's not stopping him.
Almost all of his episodes about bands or singers from outside of the USA are big in their home countries. So yeah, he quallifies for OHW, cause if I'm not wrong, he only had "You're Beautiful" as a Billboard Top 100, and if not, probably another one scrapping the bottom that nobody outside the UK remembers.
Not to minimize her loss, but "my betrothed was lost at sea" is a strangely on-brand personal tragedy for someone who makes this kind of music. Like, it would be just as tragic if he'd died in a car accident, but drowning is the single most folk music form of death short of "hanged by the British crown".
Not 100% sure about Butt Rock people, but us Metalheads tend to be really into folk music.
I love the fact that you used the term buttrock. Btw when it comes to folk check out Heilung If you haven't already ;)
Agalloch is life.
I can see it. It's not hard to draw a pretty straight line from whatever kind of metal you get into, to power metal, to folk music. You listen to Nightfall in Middle Earth for the first time and it's GG, next thing you know you're knee deep in mandolins and pan flutes.
@@ValkyrieTiara Pretty much,I went from Nightwish,Blind Guardian and Rhapsody straight into Die Streuner,Blackmore's Night,Santiano,Corvus Corax and old Omnia.
Well yeah, folk songs are fucking metal. Every song is about war, murder, mystical demons, strange creatures rising from the sea, rebellion, ladies pledging revenge on god, sacrifices, deadly love triangles and group sex. My favourite Julie Fowlis song
Thig am Bata
The boat will come, àill i ò
Ro àilleagan àill i ò
Early tomorrow haoi ò
Ro àilleagan àill i ò
My father will be on board and my three brothers.
My brown-haired husband at the breast-oar.
They'll find me drowned.
They will lift me up on the oars.
My brown cloak swimming in the sea.
My brown locks among the carageen.
My silver broch among the sand.
It wasn't hunger that sent me to the shore
or a craving for dulse or limpets.
Another farewell to my little ones,
one a year old, one a two year old.
The year old, who is not strong,
I left him in the back room.
Tonight he will ask for his mother's breast.
If he does he will get only sea-water.
Oh my curses on the jealous woman
She left me on the rock of drowning
The boat will come early tomorrow,
They'll find me drowned.
Speaking as someone for whom this *is* down my alley, "if party rock anthem had been written in the thirteenth century" is, I think, the best description of this song I've ever heard.
Yeaaa ... I married into a Canadian family and this is in the background every Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter dinner. My mother-in-law loves this stuff. Probably why i like this stuff, I hear McKennitt's voice and all i can think of is the nicest people I've ever met feeding me scalloped potatoes and Yorkshire puddings and pie.
That's it. That's Canadian Gothic.
Yorkshire puddings FTW
Aurelia Verity yum’
That comment just gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. Congrats on marrying into a great family! An overbearing, hateful mother in law ended my engagement.
Literally the most bang-on description of Canadian culture I've ever read.
Mummering is still an ongoing tradition in Newfoundland. Stems from the acting tradition, but mummering in Newfoundland involves dressing in disguises (ill-fitting clothes, cross-dressing, masks, etc... ) and travelling the community to visit your neighbours and imbibe in drinking and hospitality. There are elements of the tradition where hosts attempt to guess the identities of the mummers, and mummers inhale as they speak to disguise their voices.
We even have a Christmas song, The Mummer's Song by Simani.
ruclips.net/video/E86bcriRtW8/видео.html
We do the parades too, but it doesn't involve overturning cars. That tradition is reserved for when Canadian teams lose hockey games.
When I clicked on this, I thought it was about Newfie Mummers
Well, where do you think the Newfies get their mummery from? Newfoundland and Nova Scotia have strong folk music traditions tying back to Ireland, Scotland, England, and more.
@@roguishpaladin Oh trust me, I am very aware of Newfoundland culture and its origins. *sips purity syrup*
@@juliamorton3438 *chugs a pineapple crush while eating vienna sausages*
@@juliamorton3438 *fries up some toutons*
Yeah Its weird to think Loreena McKennit as a one hit wonder when she is so clearly an album artist. Personally I think of the album artist as the opposite of the one hit wonder, is somebody who produces high enough quality work that people are prepared to buy 40-80 mins of it at a time usually without having heard most of it.
I think probably of all the descriptors world music fits the best. Her main talent in my mind is arranging, she has the ability to blend several different instruments into a single musical line in a way that is both striking and seamless. If you watch live at the Alhambra then one of the things that you should notice is the size of the ensemble that she works with.
Really brilliant observation. It's one of the aspects that makes the electric guitar in The Bonny Swans stand out without feeling out of place in a folk ballad.
You missed an important part of this song getting big during that time span. It was also used in the trailer for the movie Ever After. During that time in the 90s remakes of Shakespearean romance were huge too.
YAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! AGREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
THAT'S WHY I RECOGNIZE THIS!!! 😮
That's where I was trying to remember where hearing it all the time besides radio. Though checking the timeline that movie didn't come out until July long after the song had peaked.
Were there trailers for Ever After already in December when Titanic opened? Because that could explain why it's rise and fall mirrored Titanic's time in theaters. Otherwise you'd be looking at a situation where the song came seemingly out of nowhere in December only to get popular enough for them to use it in the Ever After trailer.
That must be why I vaguely recognized this song and I had no idea why.
I made another reply to Todd himself, but I might as well mention it here too: This is also when Medieval Times was really popular (I live near Chicago, and they opened one in Schaumburg in 1998 -- same year that this song came out). I wouldn't be surprised if that had some influence as well. And/or, maybe some of her songs were sampled in some fashion, and then sold to Medieval Times (I googled it, and it sounds like a different guy made the music, but I wouldn't be surprised if they used samples from her songs).
In general, the whole "Medieval" thing was popular around then (I went to a bunch of renaissance faires as a kid, etc). My parents weren't even into that stuff, but we'd still go to those fairs, and even to 4H fairs (farm fairs, basically, for those who don't know), because there's not much else to do in the south suburbs of Chicago. I remember the fairs being fun as fuck as a younger kid, and then just growing stale as I got older. They were still fun when I was younger, though.
"You can see Loreena and Celine neck and neck on the Adult Contemporary charts all that winter" Ha yes, the Great Canadian Civil War of 1998. I remember those dark times. It was bloody and left the countryside devasted.We're still living with the scars...
Do they still tell tales of Celine's Christmas Belt? I hear tell it shattered families. And eardrums.
And yet they still haven't charged Celine Dion with war crimes.
The maple syrup rationing was brutal.
War...has changed
Oh dear. My condolences. I've heard that every time Celine does her signature chest pounding thing......plus that high note.. eardums everywhere were laid to rest. On the bright side, i heard that Loreena McKennitt made harps of lots of breastbones.........so..There's that..
2019, husband and I went to Thomson Hall in Toronto - the house was PACKED. She’s still very relevant . And still amazing.
The Bonny Swans is basically an example of "if you know the vocab, a lot of old stories are a lot darker and more fucked up than they seem at first."
Algie met the bear, and the bear met Algie. The bear was bulgy, and the bulge was Algie
The Bonny Swans was my introduction to McKennitt and it absolutely blew me away. It may not have been a big hit, but it was a stunning display of mixing celtic folk with electric guitars and beautifully crafted songwriting. The whole Mask and Mirror album is a work of art.
My wife introduced me to this song when we first met and it will forever give me fond memories of her. She passed away from diabetes 2 years ago, but this song clears up any of the grief I may feel and reminds me of what broke me away from just being into hard rock and metal and broaden my musical tastes. You did a great job with this song and explained it perfectly. Thank you.
I'm profoundly sorry for your loss. Of the tons of reasons I adore music, I've always loved its ability to mentally transport someone to different or better times. Loreena herself lost her fiance in an accident, which is, while tragic, a parallel you have with her. It's a testament to the power of music and the circle of humanity that someone who has suffered a very similar loss is an artist who helps you heal from yours. Sending you hugs, internet stranger. 💖
@@petermccollum7432 that's so kind of you to say, Peter. Thank you! My one and only 2018 New Year's resolution (and is continued this year as well) was this: anytime I have a polite/uplifting/kind/complimentary thought about someone, even if it's a stranger, I MUST SAY IT. Social media is so overrun with hateful, rude, cruel people, and I want to put positivity out there. Reading that person's comments about losing his love made me cry. That loss is so devastating, and while I'm just an internet stranger, I hope to extend some kindness and humanity. ❤
@@petermccollum7432 im getting ready to upload on my channel again. All of my social media links are on my videos. Definitely give me a follow; we'll chat! Maybe we can collaborate!
So sorry for your loss. :(
@Kitsune Baka thank you for introducing me to the word anthedonia. And yes, how in the heck does one not like music at all?
How do you just accidentally fall into being an Irish folk singer?
Talent.
Yeah, with a voice like that. Sing for one of your mates jokingly down the pub, bam?
Ever heard the song "Dublin Jack of All Trades"? That's basically how. ;-)
Here's the Chieftains' version of the song, to add relevance to the video: ruclips.net/video/XIvCAB7nPo8/видео.html
Personally, in this case, I prefer the Johnstons cover of it, but it's very much a matter of taste.
r/suddenlyIrish
red hair, ethereal looks, can sing. It was destiny - perhaps accidental IS the wrong word?
She’s up there with Dead Can Dance as one of the best antiquity inspired musical artists.
Good band
She also seems like a genuinely nice person, based on my encounter with her years and years ago at her concert. She gave each person she spoke with her full and undivided attention in a way that struck me as very kind and authentic.
It's always so awesome to see that man! Frank Iero from My Chemical Romance is like that. 🖤
This is too funny to me. I have thirty seven Loreena McKennitt songs in my iTunes library, but I discovered her through the wonders of the Internet and had literally no idea that any of her songs had ever been 'mainstream' hits until three days ago. A new oldies radio station just started up a couple months ago in my city, and I heard the pop version of Mummer's Dance for the first time three days ago and nearly spat out my drink with shock at hearing her voice coming out of the radio. Now, bam, Todd drops this episode. Such a weird coincidence. XD
Prove she still have some appeal, without any nostalgia google on heh. Me i have know her stuff for a long time, but probably help i'm canadian for a while she was very present. Me a metal girl, her Album the book of secrets is one of the few album i actually brought the CD when i was a teen
Seamus Tarrant same.
Cool I discovered many artists through the internet mostly boredom 😂
I found her years ago through either her live show playing on pbs or last. Fm. That radio site intoduced me to so much new music. I don't know which came first.
So this song had the "I took a pill in Ibiza" effect of only getting famous on a Remix but the singer getting more credit for it
Well DNA didn't directly put themselves onto the remix at the day like they did for Tom's Diner or SeeB did with I Took A Pill In Ibiza.
See also, "Missing" by Everything But The Girl. Which Todd also covered.
Us 90s folks remember Enigma, Enya, The Chieftains, and especially Loreena Mckennitt.
Thank you! I was trying to remember the name of Enigma lol
No. Most of us don’t.
You guys were a weird fringe.
Some of us who were Irish American knew the chieftains as a thing our dads were into
@@joearnold6881 oh I'd totally agree with that I only knew about Enigma and Enya because my cousin had the tapes and I didn't find out about Loreena McKennit until I was in my early twenties and that was because my husband loved the Highlander song
I honestly don't even know who the Chieftans are
Grunge, classic rock, alt rock and rap were what was absolutely monstrous at my school in the nineties
As Todd says in another video, I dodged a lot of hackey sacks in high school and got verbal essays on what Nirvana's lyrics meant
Enigma is a very different beast though. It's mostly an electronic act with some chants added in as opposed to these others which are the other way around.
"Did she deserve better?" Well she decidedly deserved better than to lose her fiancé in a tragic accident...
Todd's a genius. His videos get taken down within hours, forcing everyone to watch it straight away.
I for one am not going to fall for it. Next time. Maybe.
wait, a one hit wonder I know but todd doesn't?
I feel so accomplished
That was me for the Jars of Clay episode
Robert .Breedlove same here...you get an interesting musical background being raised in a hugely religious home haha
Is that G.K Chesterton in your avatar
I grew up on the Canadian border and heard her on CBC. “The Mummer’s Dance” merely made her albums available in the US, meaning I didn’t have to cross the border to buy them.
It’s not even her best song.
"All Souls' Night" and "Caravanserai" have to be up there.
Love listening to drive the cold winter away while sitting in front of the fireplace
dude, that bonny swans song is a banger! honestly this does seem like my kind of thing. i like eluveitie so i'm not surprised
Maria Schleh The live version is even more intense - the violin and guitar kind of “duel” like the two sisters fighting.
Also check out The Highwayman by Loreena McKennitt, it's pretty dope.
@@rpvee All her live music is better than the album versions. I think it is because that kind of music lends itself better to a live performance. It's like listening to Bluegrass on a CD vs drinking moonshine and flatfooting to a band in person. lol
You might like Steeleye Span. English group from the 70s that played nice arrangements of English folk songs. They only had one minor hit, "All Around My Hat" but made albums full of excellent material that was outside the mainstream.
Someone has probably said this already, but The Mummer's Dance' was also featured prominently in the trailer for Ever After (that Cinderella movie starring Drew Barrymore) in 1998- but was oddly absent from the movie soundtrack.
I knew I wasn’t crazy.
I seem to recall it being the go-to song for movie trailers around that time. Anything with an even vaguely historical or rustic setting? Mummer's Dance.
That's normal. Trailer music rarely has any connection to the movie soundtrack because the soundtrack is generally the last thing done in movie production so the actual music isn't available when they are doing the trailers. Sequels are often exceptions because they can use existing music from the previous movies.
That reminds me of Creed and Titan A.E
That’s where I remember it from.
Holy shit, I had no idea Loreena McKennitt ever had a "hit." I never thought I'd see her here. Love her music though. I listen to her pretty regularly.
Same.
Well Tango to Evora was pretty big in a quiet sort of way I think, it got used for a bunch of commercials and stuff. I love her music too, been following her since about 95 or so, she's amazing.
If you ever get a chance to see her live do! She's still touring and it's one of the most incredible preformances I've ever seen!
I think the thing I love the most of Mummer’s dance video is how much the Hardy Gurdy player is aggressively rocking out to this laid back song.
The rave-up sound effects version of Mummer's Dance makes me laugh really hard for some reason.
yeah what the hell is with that? is that how the single was released?
milamber319 Nah, Todd added the sound effects as a joke about how ‘90s club remixes usually sound
@@SuperJNG18 Oh i thought you were talking about the one that was released as a single lol.
Same.
It's hard to pinpoint why, but this was probably one of your best episodes.
he stretched himself out of his comfort zone and still delivered
^ Plus, I learned a ton about Celtic music, which is also wildly outside my personal genre. I love when I feel like I actually learned something from viewing video essays.
word
...because there was so much knew to learn! Really interesting! :)
Loreena?
8:32 "And since spain was then conquered by the Moors-"
*Hits table and gets up*
*MOOPS*
_No one asked you, bubble boy_
@@Sammie1053 Shut it!
Sorry, the card says moops!
I love this song! Funny you at one point say, "That's so Metal!", because I first heard Loreena McKennitt when they played it through the PA, before a concert featuring DImmu Borgir and Samael. True Story.
I had the honor of seeing her live. She's such a gifted and humble soul, I adore her.
Oooh new todd. Ill finish the new Yhatzee episode and..wait Loreena Mckennitt?? Oh this takes precedence.
Why do all the good people all post on the same day
* says something stupid, loves your post ;)
RUclips's algorithm literally sent me here directly after the new Yahtzee video :)
Now that's a smart algorithm!
This was my favorite song when it came out and I still love it
I loved this song, too!
I remember this song form a bunch of pagan gatherings back in the day. I danced to this with my wife on true night we met. That said, I had no idea this hit the charts.
Thank you Todd, you beautiful hoodied silhouette.
I love that this series can be a portal into a segment of the music world that isn't generally talked about as much. I feel like together this entire series is starting to stitch together a pretty compelling history of popular music, in a weird way.
also this maybe joins the Proclaimers and Chumbawamba ones as favorites of mine, for celebrating acts that maybe aren't ever going to have cultural cachet beyond their one hit, but are something unique and worth celebrating.
Holy fuck, I heard the version without the dance beat way back in 3rd grade. My teacher was so cool then, she played quiet music when we had to do classwork. She even played the Lion King musical soundtrack on some days. It haunted me for years, they lyrics were little more than gibberish to me and reminded me of the 60s USA desktop theme I always had on my pc as a kid. Thank you time, and thank you Todd, for reintroducing me to the tune and finally telling me what song this freakin' is!! I'm so happy!!
Honestly wouldn't have thought of Loreena McKennitt as a One Hit Wonder. Granted, I never knew any of her stuff ever hit the mainstream, and I've been listening to her since single digits.
The best it ever did was #3 on billboard adult top 40
I love this song from when I was a kid. Still love her music.
Despite having everything in print at the time by her, I was surprised to hear her get radio play.
I didn't know that this music was a hit too
same, I never saw her as a one hit wonder either, just a giant in her own genre
I remember Loreena McKennitt from my childhood because my dad had her music always playing somewhere around the house, or in the car. Mummer's Dance was one of my favorites. I'm glad you decided to make a video about her and this song. She deserves more recognition
I love Loreena McKennit. Who else could put The Lady of Shallot to music and make it interesting
Emilie Autumn did it too, kinda, but Loreena McKennitt went the full monty.
Anne of Green Gables did a pretty good Lady of Shallot. That's all I know about it.
@@kittygrimm7301 I like some of Emilie Autumn's music but (imo) Loreena has much more depth to her
I was introduced to Loreena McKennitt when she sang this song at the Juno awards (Canada's answer to the Grammies) one year. I was so impressed that I went out the next day and bought the album. I have been a fan ever since!
@@theell9014 oh that must have been awesome! I'd love to see her live
So in other words, this woman was the Florence Welch of the ‘90’s?
That's actually a very apt comparison. I didn't even think of Loreena and Florence being so similar and now I can't unsee it.
I like her voice better than Florence though.
@@IceQueen975 For the most part I agree, but have you heard Florence Welch's cover of "Stand By Me" for Final Fantasy XV? It's beautiful.
Note to self: check out the rest of this woman's discography
While their genres are completely different and they sound nothing alike, I always likened Loreena to Melora Creager and her band Rasputina. Very niche, very striking musical expression, with a rabid fanbase and un-mainstream lyrical topics.
I watched the first half of your video yesterday. Spent the entire day listening to Loreena. Now I watched the other half. Anyway thanks Todd for introducing me.
Hey I got into her through this video too! "Bonny Swans" won me over and now I love all her stuff.
Thank you for doing this, Loreena McKennitt's music really brings me back. I remember my parents took me to see her perform (with the Chieftains, and a very young and unknown Ashley MacIsaac opening) back in 1993 when I was 9. Listening to this will always bring warm memories of my mom, who passed away a few years later. My dad hired a Celtic group to play at her funeral, as she always said she wanted people to have a party when she died.
That's so sweet!! May your mom rest in peace and I'm sorry you lost her. 💓
My condolences 🕯
“Dark Night of the Soul” is a song that always stuck with me. I feel like non-pop music is just music for a different purpose. You aren’t going to own the pop monoculture with a slow song about being tormented by lost love and nostalgia, but man you can rent some space in people’s brains.
I PLAYED SOME OF HER MUSIC WHEN I WAS A PUBLIC RADIO DJ!
Oh man, just hearing her voice makes me feel hungry and glad my shift is about to end.
Oh wow she reminds me of Kate Bush. Never heard of her but I remember hearing a that song in the 90s . She has a great voice.
Ebony Durden I get Kate Bush vibes too :)
Loreena is awesome. Her music just takes you to another place and time in spirit
albeit Kate Bush was more alternative pop
I recognized the melody immediately from Todd's piano intro. I probably haven't heard it in over 20 years, it was one of those deep childhood memories that I might've otherwise gone the rest of my life without digging up, but damn I'm glad it surfaced. I need to check out her catalog because this song is fantastic and Loreena sounds like an absolutely wonderful human being. As for whether or not she deserved better, she at least deserved to be able to get married to her beloved, so in that regard she deserved waaaaaaay better. But otherwise I agree, she doesn't seem like the kind of artist who intended or wanted to put out hits, so I genuinely hope she's content with the level of success she has.
I had never heard this song but I had heard of her. I remember watching the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and they played one of her songs ("The Old Ways") while a fiddle player dueled with his shadow. The image paired with the song was just so hauntingly cool.
This feels like one of those CD commercials they would announce on tv where you call the 1 800 number to order it lol
Nostalgia!
I'd buy that Pure Moods II disc 😊
Todd actually mentions that the Mummer's Dance apparently got onto one of those Pure Mood CDs. X-D
I honestly had no idea she had a mainstream hit. I discovered her through the song "The Highwayman". I've listened to all of her others songs since then and became a fan.
I found her through Bonnie Portmore but discovered The Highwayman shortly after as I love that poem
Same! My English teacher made us listen to it instead of reading the poem herself lmao
Couple of other facts. She did the background music for Jade and Universal Soldier movies neither Celtic. Mummers is an old tradition and still practiced in parts of Newfoundland and Britain. Typically it involves getting dressed up and visiting house to house while partying. Her following is very broad. If you look at the comments on You Tube songs they are in many languages and even many alphabets. I though the review interesting and well done.
I remember "The Mystic's Dream" being featured in Jade. It was very...unusual, to put it mildly, especially considering the scene it was used in. I was into her stuff before the movie came along, and thankfully, it didn't ruin the song for me.
And Philadelphia, apparently. When I Google the word “mummers”, it’s difficult to find any result that isn’t just about Philadelphia.
@@autumnphillips151 A friend I knew many years ago who lived in the southern US for many years but was born in Philadelphia was tremendously embarrassed about the Mummer's parade.
I love that you poke fun at it but still give it its due respect. 😂😍
As soon as I saw this, I practically gasped - can't believe a very beloved (albeit obscure) fave of mine is being covered here.
Loreena Mckennitt is my favourite female singer and you did her justice. Besides being able to play so many instruments she also has this wonderful delicate voice. I have to say all of her albums are from good up. I've never listened to one and not find at least one song that I liked. And I dare say she is better live (like on her Alhambra concert album). Also, I didn't know she had a song in the charts, but I've only discovered her around 2007 and I'm not from America (to know the top hits there)
Cris05
Love the Shalott thumbnail. Very appropriate!
@@archer1949 thank you!
She’s Canadian... Canadian Music doesn’t cross over very often. This song wasn’t that big in the states
My favorite part of the music video is the Hurdy Gurdy player almost headbanging in his chair. You go dude.
She's legit one of my probably top-20 artists.
I had to do a double-take when I saw the name Loreena McKennitt! Never expected that. I’ve loved her for many years, and her genre of music is very much up my alley 💕. If that tragic accident had never happened, I really feel like she had the potential to go much further and possibly make more of a lasting impression on the music scene.
What do you mean, "lasting impression on the music scene"? Do you mean selling millions of records to people who have no musical taste? Do you mean getting a duet with Taylor Swift? Do you mean getting more songs on shitty TV shows? Seriously, hun, no meaning to be snarky, but that's like saying "The internet wasn't, like, a really big thing until we got FaceBook and Twitter."
Kerth Gersen Yikes dude, what stick crawled up your butt and made a home there? I meant she might be more well known now, and thus more people would know about and enjoy her beautiful music. Also, don’t call me “hun” 🖕🏻
Is it terrible that when Todd brought up the tragic accidental death AT SEA of her fiance I though 'Fuck Me That Is On Genre'?
Yes, lol
@@Dachusblot Awks
Well...yeah??? but it's also not wrong????
It is the genre equivalent of a rapper getting killed in a drive-by shooting.
Lake not sea
She's one of my favorite musicians. I first heard of her many years ago when I was living in L.A. A medium-sized earthquake woke me up in the middle of the night & I couldn't go back to sleep, so I put in the radio and they were playing her music. I immediately fell in love with it.
In fact the first time I heard her, I thought it was Enya.
“Dante’s Prayer” is still my go-to track to test speaker quality. With a good treble-bass range, it’s like ASMR.
I was one of those who stuck with her after 1997, and quite liked “Marco Polo.”
Ooh, that's a good choice. I might have to use that instead of RATM's "Take the Power Back" the next time I need to test speakers.
@@hiimemily I've heard ("read") that professionals used to use The Blessings' Prince of the Deep Water to test speakers with. It's a great album too, should definitely check it out if you're not already aware of it.
If you think "The Mummers' Dance" charting on the Modern Rock Tracks chart is weird, wait until you stumble upon the charts from 1988 to roughly around September of 1991 (when "Smells Like Teen Spirit" began making its first appearances on the chart - which, by that time, debuted on September 21 at #27). You're gonna see a lot of interesting entries - mostly Baggy/Madchester, college rock stalwarts, holdouts from the punk scene, and (for some reason) some Enya ("Orinoco Flow" and "Caribbean Blue") and Information Society. Even Mojo Nixon made an appearance.
Hal Emmerich
The Smithereens had a song on Miami Vice, but that was 87 iirc
He's talked about a lot of weird hits in the pre-Nirvana runup, including the Madchester scene. Even with all that, Enya and Loreena McKennitt are even more of an odd outlier than the others.
I always referred to Orinoco Flow by Enya as the Sail Away song since that's the line my childhood self knows
I think a huge factor in the popularity of new age music was not just artists themselves but the smart advertising of compilation CDs. Pure moods, in particular, was advertised heavily on TV and brought in a new audience of adults in the 1990s who really enjoyed experimental music, in particular, those who were fans of 60s folk rock and 70s prog rock. Many of my relatives fell into the latter category, and by the 1990s very few prog rock bands were around, and those that still existed were at the twilight of their careers. I remember listening to all of the pure moods CDs as a kid.
Todd: I dont see any non european music trending big enough to get their own cd section
Kpop: Im About To End This Whole Mans Career
Hip-hop is non-European.
@@nagichampa9866 because that is american. He was talking about "world" music.
@@nagichampa9866 also there is british hip hop.
@@Drogon7102 Of course there is. There is also French, Japanese, Taiwanese, Senegalese, Indian hip-hop. That's not the point I was making. Hip-hop originates from the US, from African-American musical culture and experience as opposed to that of the Americans from European descent. I could say the same for Jazz, Blues, Soul, Funk and many other genres. They are mainly from African-American culture and experience (though there was a little bit of influence from classical music in jazz and ragtime).
@@nagichampa9866 well i know most languages have hip hop, just that your mentioning of hip hip in general doesnt really make sense for the topic that was referred to: music outside of the US and Europe.
As a 90s kid, I was practically raised on Lorena, thanks to my stepmom. So...I listen to her stuff to this day. Calms me down to think of better days...and helps me sleep.
I love Loreena McKennitt and her music. It's rare to see a musical artists who can play multiple different instruments and sing with the voice of an angel.
According to Spotify her biggest song is actually "The Mystic's Dream" from her 1994 album "The Mask and Mirror". Has about 150% as many plays. Answers on a postcard why that one caught on so much more.
Do I Know You that's the first song I ever heard from her. Loved her ever since
If I had to guess, I'd say it was because it was featured in the mini-series "The Mists of Avalon", which came out circa 2001. At least, that's how I first encountered it. It introduced me to Loreena and I've loved her ever since.
I think I might give McKennitt's work a listen; I love Old English folklore and murder ballads. Also, yes, that's an oud in "The Mummers' Dance." (Also, hey, I know where some of Ghost Quartet comes from now.)
Ariella Kahan-Harth You should check more of her stuff out! She’s even set Shakespeare to music (“Cymbeline”, “Prospero’s Speech”).
If you haven't already, you need to listen to "The Highwayman". Great poem set to great music.
My mom was really into her when I was in highschool, so, I've heard this song about 10 thousand times. Seeing you plow through it material is kinda nostalgic.
And yeah, it was DEFINITELY big in the Lilith Fair crowd.
I love Loreena so much! The best song has to be the Highwayman. It's so sad and beautiful and it's based on a poem that I love. She is wonderful! I discovered her when I was about 10 on holiday in France of all places.
It's ok Todd, I've never heard this song before either.
HardLeg Gaming same
I remember this song. They played it in the radio in Canada a lot because Canadian radio stations are obligated to play a certain percent of Canadian content.
Oh Joe... This is due cause for unfollowing on the twitches.
Woah, Hardleg! Very happy that you like this guy as well.
I'm... pretty sure that I have. I freaking swear this is familiar.
In the late eighties at a small fantasy convention on a Canadian college campus I wandered into a basketball gym early in the morning after staying up all night. Framed in a shaft of sunlight from a transom window, a woman was sitting playing the harp. It was like a vision out of a dream, and I silently sat down to watch, entranced. Over the next hour a few more people wandered in and each was immediately enchanted. At last she looked up and acknowledged us -- it was of course Loreena McKennit -- said she might as well start the concert early, and began to sing. Just her and harp on a basketball court -- one of the most magical things I've ever seen.
This song also was used as the bumper music for Art Bell's paranormal radio show for years.
I love how Loreena's music has aged so well after all these years
Sarina Alexa It’s quite timeless!
When your intro played I was like "That sounds REALLY familiar...." and when you played the song clip I realized I DID know this song! Like shit man, thanks for that.
Since everyone lists suggestions here is mine.
Eagle Eye Cherry - Save Tonight
My best memory of that song is being in a screening of phantom menace and having it play before the trailers and the audience sang along.
fuck yeah!
Yes please!!
Yes!
Both he and his sister- Nehna Cherry- were 90’s one hit wonders!
Finally hit me where I’ve first heard this song: ever after trailer
This was a fun video to watch. Loreena McKennitt, Enya, Maire Brennan, Clannad, I love all that stuff.
I love her. One of my favourite stories ever or poems I should say, is The Highwayman. She does a song cover of it and it's beautiful.
Yes!! So haunting!!!
An old favorite of mine too
Thats probably my second favorite after this one.
She would have fit in with Lord of the Rings soundtrack super easily.
I was thinking the same thing. She would have been a much more obvious choice to do a closing song than Annie Lennox or Emilíana Torrini. But given these films came out during her long hiatus I can see why it did not happen.
I can't say I'm unhappy with the result, though...plus, and I mean this is the nicest way possible, the LotR songs were Howard Shore's music, while McKennitt is pretty well known for her own melodies, even on songs which are otherwise considered standards (like The Twa Sisters).
Hillcrest Switch & Play enya was IN the LOTR soundtrack
Unlike Loreena McKennitt, which was the point being made here.
@@riahlexington I'm not sure what that has to do with this conversation, but yes. She was.
Arabic influence breaking into top Billboard including Dance charts--right after this song, '99-'00 Sting's Desert Rose featuring Algerian singer Cheb Mami. That song opened me up to the beauty and depth that could be found within the Arabic music world. I love discovering how different cultures expand on singing vocalizations. Love Celtic singing, love Gregorian chanting. AND remember Return to Innocence by Enigma in 1994? The 90s was really opening the cultural door for music from around the world...
She's a perfect example of an artist with a huge body of work that didn't sacrifice her art to fit commercialism.
This a music genre that I have zero knowledge of. Although I will say this episode makes it look interesting. I should look deeper into it.
I actually knew what a mummer was, because I do Tudor reenactments sometimes.
NERD!
Simon The Human I know what it is because I’m a big fan of farces
Wow this is a song I taped off the radio in 1997 & never found out who made it or what it was called (could've never guessed).
It is a rare joy for me to find songs from the 90s that I haven't been able to relisten to & you & your patrons have given me this rare joy!
"Perfect storm...no Arabic music trend..."
She should have waited until Desert Rose was released to put that out...
Was just about to type this.
Or collaborated with DJ Snake lol
Afro Celtic Sound System was popular for a few months.
I think her success primed the pump for Sting to be able to do that.
I love Loreena McKennitt, but had not Idea that she ever had a bonified hit.I think most of my fondness for her music is due to the fact that I grew up on a Mixtape that had a bunch of her songs from the Mask and Mirror and The Book of Secrets. The Mystics Dream and Marrakesh Market still remind me of sleepy late night carrides.
It's spelled "bonafide" .
@@newperve actually it is 'bona fide'
Nothing is more frustrating that something that is incredibly familiar, and yet, you can't remember what it even is...
Murcia doxial did you ever listen to Coast to Coast AM during the Art Bell days? He played Lorena Mckinnets music every episode for years.
@@WilliamBrinkley45 I'm not american so nope.
"That seems like little bit time commitment" - March 2020, this is the time!
She's a fantastic performer. I never forgot her live show I saw years ago. She's the musician I would love to have been had I ever pursued music.
To this day, one of the best concerts I have ever seen. Just fantastic.
I'm 99% sure that this is about Samhain. I mean, they actually talk about the festival beginning. Also, that's what it looks like is happening in the background. And Samhain mummers are very different than the mummers that ToddInTheShadows is talking about. Less mimes, more hiding from murder elves.
That explains why it sounds like The Wicker Man
The mummers were groups of performers that would go from house to house performing for their neighbors. Kind of like extreme caroling. They often dressed in costume and wore outlandish masks. The song is an homage to them. Another of her songs, "All Soul's Night, " would certainly be referencing the evening of November 1st, when Samhain celebrations reached their pinnacle.
In the first verse, she says "in the springtime of the year"
I thought it was about bring yer mum to school day
Pretty sure it's beltane not samhain. Unless samhain has moved.
Loreena McKennitt remind me of a less surreal Kate Bush if added folklore to her music.
Zack F Kate Bush has at least one song based on a murder balled. And her songs are full of literary allusions.
As a spaniard who had an intense irish-celtic music phase in the early 90s (there's been a big medievalist revival music scene here since the 70s plus a lot of that music never died in the small towns), Loreena McKennitt was BIG here and anything she released got airtime in Radio3. She was a frequeent performer in WOMAD, probably the biggest "world Music" festival, that happens to take place in Caceres since 1992. Probably where she got exposed to all that galician music.
Holy fuck.
You know what, thank you, Todd. This song has been haunting me as an adult, a memory I couldn't place, and little bits and pieces of this song has been flitting through my brain as both a teenager and an adult, and it was driving me crazy. THIS SONG EXISTS. AND NOW I KNOW WHAT IT IS.
I actually remember this song. I was going into college.
I remember it as well, though thats cause my mom used it (and other things like enya) to help me sleep when I was 4
@@Nullsparta2 did it help?
Finally, a title to one of the ear worms that would occasionally run through my head. I seem to be good at remembering songs but not so much with titles and artists.
I was a senior.
I hadn't heard of this one but I had heard of her other song 'The Mystic's Dream' because it's the opening SF Debris Star Trek DS9 reviews.
This is *ripe* for a metal cover.
Those hurdy-gurdys are very reminiscent of Eluveitie, if you don't already know them.
Oddtwang of Dork
I’ve read that Chrigal Glanzmann of Eluveitie has cited Loreena Mckennitt as a big early influence.
It’s not surprising. A lot of the Ren Faire, folk metal geeks that I know (including myself) can cite her as a kind of gateway drug, two decades back.
Abonos did a folk metal cover of McKennitt's 'All soul's night'
I feel like Myrkur could pull it off. She’s basically the Loreena Mckennitt of modern metal
This hit me right in the nostalgia. Maybe Deeper like some deeply repressed memory. like its familiar in an unrecognizable way.
Mummering is also still a folk tradition in Newfoundland, Canada which is what I know it from. In the 80’s certain traditions around it received a resurgence due to another mummers song that become popular and it’s remained a Christmas Tradition to this day kept alive by a heritage foundation. I’m surprised you didn’t mention that since she’s from Canada but you mentioned Philly.