Farewell to Tarwathie

There's an old Scottish song called 'Farewell to Tarwathie'. In the 1960s, Judy Collins sang and recorded a most beautiful rendition, with recordings of humpback whale vocalizations in the background. I have difficulty finding a good photo or image of a humpback whale these days, or I would include one here.

For many years, I have loved the melody of 'Farewell to Tarwathie', and the Scottish sounding lyrics, and the sense of men seeking wilderness. It has seemed ironic to me, and painful, that such a beautiful song could be composed about men hunting down whales, that it should be layered with the voices of the whale.

I looked up the lyrics tonight, and the last three stanzas go like this:

'...The cold coast of Greenland
Is barren and bare
No seed time nor harvest
Is ever known there
And the birds here sing sweetly
In mountain and dale
But there's no bird in Greenland
To sing to the whale

'There is no habitation
For a man to live there
And the king of that country
Is the fierce Greenland bear
And there'll be no temptation
To tarry long there
With our ship under full
We will homeward repair

'Farewell to Tarwathie
Adieu Mormond Hill
And the dear land of Crimmond
I bid you farewell
I'm bound off for Greenland
And ready to sail
In hopes to find riches
In hunting the whale'

I don't have a good grip on it, the hunting of whales to find riches, and the beautiful voice of Judy Collins singing about hunting the whales. But then I see the phrase 'our ship under full' and I somehow trust her. With her rendition of the men's song, she includes the whales' song. Here I am in this blog, seeking riches in my way, in hunting the whale. I wasn't particularly a 'Save the Whales' activist, a Greenpeace member, in the past. But of late, whales have come my way, and I'm hunting the immaterial, seeking resurrection.