Who wrote the Outlander theme song?
Outlander’s theme song was arranged by Bear McCreary, one of the top composers working in television today. He also wrote the theme songs for other shows such as The Walking Dead, Da Vinci’s Demons, Black Sails and Battlestar Gallactica. But McCreary didn’t actually write the original melody for Outlander—he adapted it from a traditional Scottish folk tune called “The Skye Boat Song.” Words were written for the song in the 1870s by Sir Harold Boulton, but the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson thought he could do better, and rewrote them a couple decades later. “The words…seemed unworthy, so he made a new set of verses more in harmony with the plaintive tune,” Stevenson’s wife wrote in a preface in the author’sComplete Poems.
What inspired the Outlander theme song?
“The Sky Boat Song” fits Outlander so well because it’s about Bonnie Prince Charlie’s escape to the Scottish Isle of Skye after he and his supporters, called Jacobites, were defeated at the Battle of Culloden. As the events leading up to the battle are the main focus of Outlander’s first two seasons, the song was the absolute right choice. “I’ve always adored this piece, and felt its well-known lyrical connection to the Jacobite Uprising would make it appropriate for this show,” McCreary wrote on his blog.
What are the lyrics to the Outlander theme song?
But in addition to the Bonnie Prince Charlie connection, the song’s lyrics by Stevenson also happened to be perfect for Claire, a woman who disappeared from her own time and found herself transported to 18th-century Scotland. As McCreary wrote on his blog, the words were “suited to Claire’s story, and after we altered a few consonants to change the gender of the speaker, they connected even more directly.” He just had to change “lad” to “lass,” and the double meaning is uncanny: Sing me a song of a lass that is gone,Say, could that lass be I?Merry of soul she sailed on a dayOver the sea to Skye. Billow and breeze, islands and seas,Mountains of rain and sun,All that was good, all that was fair,All that was me is gone. Doesn’t it just give you chills?
Who sings the Outlander theme song?
McCreary’s wife, singer Raya Yarbrough, sung the Outlander theme song. “I originally intended to feature an instrumental Main Title. I’ve actually never composed a Main Title theme that featured lyrics before,” McCreary wrote on his blog. “I decided to bring Raya in to see how this melody would sound with lyrics. Immediately, I could tell her uniquely timeless vocal quality would bring something special to Outlander.” For the show’s fifth season, though, her voice was replaced with a full choir.
Does the Outlander theme song change every season?
Yep! This is one thing fans look forward to each season—and in the case of the second and third seasons, twice a season! Both the arrangement and the visuals change. Here’s how: Season 1’s theme song featured Scottish instruments, as well as now-iconic images of Outlander’s first episodes: Jamie in his kilt, Claire running through the mud after just landing in the past, the Druidic women Claire watches dancing with lanterns, and of course, the magical stone circle. In Season 2, Claire and Jamie head to France, so the credits were altered to include not only scenes of the elegant French court, but also new vocals in French, and new baroque instruments including a “viola de gamba.” The second half of season 2 has Claire and Jamie returning to Scotland, so that meant going back to the Scottish visuals and instrumentation—but with military-like snare drums as the storyline gets closer to the famous Battle of Culloden. “This main title sequence prepares us for war,” McCreary wrote on his blog. In the theme song for first half of season 3, we finally get a glimpse of the battle of Culloden itself—but we also get the sense that something is different, as Claire’s hand tunes a television set instead of the 1940s radio from the original theme song. Unfortunately, Claire has traveled back to her present day, and these episodes will chronicle her separation from Jamie. “My hope is that ‘The Skye Boat Song’ feels more dramatic and introspective,” McCreary wrote. “The change is subtle by design, because…well, it just might change again in the near future.” And it does just that. By the second half of season 3, Claire and Jamie have reunited, and undertake their voyage to the Caribbean. So, the Scottish music was altered to have a distinctly island flair. “This massive shift in geography had to be acknowledged with an equally seismic shift in the score,” McCreary wrote. “I cannot imagine any project other than Outlander that would allow me to set a soaring bagpipe melody over blistering congas!” Season 4 finds Claire and Jamie settling in their new home in colonial America, so the music takes on a bluegrass twang, and well as visuals that evoke another literal change in scenery. “Changing a series’ Main Title is relatively rare in television, and yet this marks the sixth, arguably seventh [with an extended season 1 version used only on the soundtrack], iteration of the beloved folk song I have produced for Outlander,” McCreary wrote. “Season 4’s ‘Appalachian Version’ might be the boldest yet.” Yarbrough recorded yet another “Skye Boat Song,” this time in a country-folk style, and was for the first time joined by other singers. Plus, banjos!
What is this season’s Outlander theme song?
Finally, season 5 marks yet another change in the opening music: Turns out McCreary and the producers liked the way multiple voices sounded, so they ended up going with a full chorus a cappella, or without instruments—perhaps the many voices represent the new community Claire and Jamie have founded at Fraser’s Ridge. The visuals also heavily feature the American landscape and what looks like a lead-up to the Revolutionary War. We’ll have to wait and see! Viewers can no doubt except another change for season 6, which has already been given the green light. “When I reflect back on my experiences with this song, I have to laugh at what a strange journey it has been,” McCreary wrote. “In the first season, I was scared to even change a word of the text! Since then, I have bent and adapted this song into many different styles I could never have foreseen at that time. Yet, with each permutation, the integrity and soul of the song remains clear. Perhaps that is why the song itself has endured for so long. Like all immortal folk songs, there exists something inherent to its musical DNA that allows it to change, evolve, blend, and adapt to new interpretations, while still retaining its identity.”
Where can I listen to the Outlander theme song?
Want more inside scoop on Outlander? Check out ourguide to the Outlander book series—plus, exclusive intel from author Diana Gabaldon.
