This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for music. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. Find sources: "The Road to the Isles" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(May 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "The Road to the Isles" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(May 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
(Learn how and when to remove this message)
"The Road to the Isles" is a famous tune composed by Pipe Major John McLellan DCM which was originally called ‘The Bens of Jura’, though it previously had other titles. It is part of the Kennedy-Fraser collection and it appeared in a book entitled 'Songs of the Hebrides' published in 1917, with the eponymous title by the Celtic poet Kenneth Macleod.[1] The poem is headed by the statement 'Written for the lads in France during the Great War'. The impression is given by the notes appended to the book that the author was Kenneth Macleod himself. Marjory Kennedy-Fraser toured the Western Isles of Scotland in the summer of 1917 and collected a group of local tunes. The tune associated with the Road to the Isles was an air played by Malcolm Johnson of Barra on a chanter and composed by Pipe Major John McLellan of Dunoon (originally titled ‘The Bens of Jura’ and "The Burning Sands of Egypt"). Kenneth Macleod then wrote the words for a voice and harp (or piano) arrangement of this air by Patuffa Kennedy-Fraser.
The tune was written as a march for the British Army. It is said to have been played by Bill Millin, piper to Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat, during the first day of the Normandy Landings on D-Day during World War II, during a daring Commando attack during Operation Roast in the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy, and also at the start of construction on Toronto's first subway line, under Yonge Street, in 1949.
The lyrics mention first the hills of the Isle of Skye (whose memory is calling the traveller west); then the successive locations he will pass on the way across the Western Highlands and Inner and Outer Hebrides. The locations mentioned are (in this order): the Cuillin Hills (on the Isle of Skye), Tummel and Loch Rannoch (both in Perthshire), Lochaber (a district in the western Scottish Highlands), Shiel (a reference to Loch Shiel west of Fort William), Ailort (near the Sound of Arisaig), Morar (near Loch Morar), the Skerries (rocky islets – in this case, just off Skye), and the Lews (a former name of the Isle of Lewis).[1]
A cromach or cromack is a shepherd's crook or stick.[2] "Tangle", or sea tangle, is oarweed or similar seaweed.[3]
^ ab"Road to the Isles – "A far croonin' is pullin' me away" Eh?". 2020-11-29. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
^Caledonian Sticks (Fancy Crooks and Cromachs)
^"tangle2". OxfordDictionaries.com. Archived from the original on 25 September 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
and 25 Related for: The Road to the Isles information
(Isle of Man) – Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki". www.sabre-roads.org.uk. Retrieved 27 June 2018. Wikimedia Commons has media related toRoads in the Isle...
Council of theIsles of Scilly Source 2: Isles of Scilly Council Tax St Mary's is the only island with a significant road network and the only island...
Mallaig branch), and the town is linked to Fort William by the A830 road – the "RoadtotheIsles". The village of Mallaig was founded in the 1840s when Lord...
transport services around theIsle of Man, mostly consisting of paved roads, public transport, rail services, sea ports and an airport. The island has a total...
of A roads in Northern Ireland Isle of Man List of roads in theIsle of Man Jersey Transport in Jersey § A-roads Ireland National primary road § List...
racing events in the world as many competitors have died. TheIsle of Man TT is run in a time-trial format on public roads closed tothe public by an Act...
by-passed by the A830, part of theRoadtotheIsles, between Fort William and Mallaig. The village was formed of the farms and crofts of Bourblach, Beoraid...
The toponym "British Isles" refers to a European archipelago comprising Great Britain, Ireland and the smaller, adjacent islands. The word "British" has...
developed on theIsle of Dogs. Beginning in 1812 the Poplar and Greenwich Ferry Roads Company installed tolls on the East Ferry Road. These proved to be unpopular...
The terminology of the British Isles comprises the words and phrases that are used to describe the (sometimes overlapping) geographical and political areas...
automobile road-racing circuit for the 1908 Tourist Trophy event for racing automobiles, then known as the Four Inch Course. For the 1911 Isle of Man TT...
theIsle of Man along with most of Mercia. In the 9th century, Norsemen established the thalassocratic Kingdom of theIsles, which included theIsle of...
of the Light Infantry, and TheRoadtotheIsles, the double past of the Royal Green Jackets. Marching Speed – The Rifles march at 140 paces tothe minute...
the Strangers'; Scots: Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island (Scottish Gaelic: an t-Eilean Fada), is an island chain off the...
Douglas road in the town of Douglas, Isle of Man. The Quarterbridge Road runs from the bottom of Bray Hill tothe major road junction at the Quarterbridge...
TheIsles of Shoals are a group of small islands and tidal ledges situated approximately 6 miles (10 km) off the east coast of the United States, straddling...
grew up in Achiltibuie on the Coigach peninsula, overlooking the Summer Isles. She has released an album entitled Summer Isles. Scottish islands portal...
The Flannan Isles (Scottish Gaelic: Na h-Eileanan Flannach) or the Seven Hunters are a small island group in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, approximately...
that lies at the head of Loch Ailort, a sea loch, on the junction of theRoadtotheIsles (A830) between Fort William and Mallaig with the A861 towards...
along theRoadtotheIsles, which linked up Lochaber and the Inner Hebrides to markets in Perthshire in the south. The 2022 documentary film The Hermit...
Global Information
