{"id":61813,"date":"2025-11-12T18:47:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T17:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=61813"},"modified":"2025-11-14T18:45:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T17:45:33","slug":"loreena-mckennitt-the-old-ways-a-song-that-turned-out-to-be-sadly-prophetic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2025\/11\/12\/loreena-mckennitt-the-old-ways-a-song-that-turned-out-to-be-sadly-prophetic\/","title":{"rendered":"Loreena McKennitt, 'The Old Ways': a song that turned out to be sadly prophetic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have admired the Canadian singer Loreena McKennitt for many years, a virtuous, moreover, with the piano and the harp.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2018\/05\/18\/loreena-mckennitt-dantes-prayer-a-beautiful-prayer-that-came-from-a-hell\/\">Loreena McKennitt, 'Dante's Prayer': A beautiful prayer that came from a hell<\/a><\/rel><br \/>\n<rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2025\/02\/23\/deanta-ready-for-the-storm-the-song-of-a-lonely-sailor-in-the-middle-of-a-storm\/\">D\u00e9anta, 'Ready for the storm': the song of a lonely sailor in the middle of a storm<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n<p>Seven years ago (how time flies!) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2018\/05\/18\/loreena-mckennitt-dantes-prayer-a-beautiful-prayer-that-came-from-a-hell\/\">I talked to you here about her song \"Dante's Prayer\"<\/a>, one of her best tracks, with truly beautiful lyrics. <strong>Today I bring you one of my favorite songs from her extensive repertoire: \"The Old Ways.\"<\/strong> This track appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/loreenamckennitt.com\/album\/visit\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">her 1991 album \"The Visit\"<\/a>, being the eighth and best song on that album. I am writing this article on a day of yellow alert due to a storm in the Galician R\u00edas Baixas, and it is because <strong>this song speaks of a \"pounding sea\" that calls the singer home, to her beloved<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>En su sitio web oficial, <a href=\"https:\/\/loreenamckennitt.com\/album\/visit\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Loreena explica as\u00ed el origen de esta canci\u00f3n<\/a>: <em>\"<strong>I spent a most haunting New Year\u2019s Eve in Doolin, County Clare, Ireland some years ago<\/strong>, and was moved by the antiquity of some of the celebrations. <strong>I was met by deep reminders that they may be the remnants of the old world meeting the \u201cnew\u201d.<\/strong>\"<\/em> Aqu\u00ed pod\u00e9is escuchar la versi\u00f3n de estudio de esta canci\u00f3n de 1991, remasterizada en 2004:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Old Ways (2004 Remaster HD)\" width=\"665\" height=\"499\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2NUtYyEPMfM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Personally, I prefer <strong>Loreena's recording of this song at a concert in the Alhambra of Granada in September 2006<\/strong>, a concert that she released on a magnificent album the following year entitled \"Nights from the Alhambra\":<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Loreena McKennitt - &quot;The Old Ways&quot;(with Lyrics)\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/15JbD2PXPh0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>In this video, we see Loreena with a sad and evocative look as she performs this song.<\/strong> She had reason to be that way. Seven years after releasing that album, and eight years before this concert, <strong>Loreena's fianc\u00e9, Ronald Rees, his brother Richard, and his friend Gregory Cook drowned<\/strong> in a boating accident in Georgian Bay, on Lake Huron. This event deeply affected Loreena, who that same year founded a memorial fund for water safety, reducing her public appearances.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\"The Old Ways\" turned out to be a sadly prophetic song<\/strong>, and it's not hard to imagine the memories Loreena evoked when she sang it at that concert in the Alhambra, eight years after losing her beloved, reading <strong>what the lyrics of this song say:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\"The thundering waves are calling me home, home to you.<br \/>\nThe pounding sea is calling me home, home to you.<\/p>\n<p>On a dark new year's night<br \/>\nOn the west coast of Clare,<br \/>\nI heard your voice singing,<br \/>\nYour eyes danced the song.<br \/>\nYour hands played the tune,<br \/>\nT'was a vision before me.<\/p>\n<p>We left the music behind as the dance carried on.<br \/>\nAs we stole away to the seashore,<br \/>\nWe smelt the brine, felt the wind in our hair<br \/>\nAnd with sadness you paused.<\/p>\n<p>Suddenly I knew that you'd have to go.<br \/>\nYour world was not mine, your eyes told me so-<br \/>\nYet it was there I felt the crossroads of time<br \/>\nAnd I wondered why?<\/p>\n<p>As we cast our gaze on the tumbling sea,<br \/>\nA vision came o'er me<br \/>\nOf thundering hooves and beating wings,<br \/>\nIn clouds above.<\/p>\n<p>As you turned to go I heard you call my name,<br \/>\nYou were like a bird in a cage spreading its wings to fly.<br \/>\n\"The old ways are lost,\" you sang as you flew,<br \/>\nAnd I wondered why?<\/p>\n<p>The thundering waves are calling me home, home to you.<br \/>\nThe pounding sea is calling me home, home to you.<\/p>\n<p>The thundering waves are calling me home, home to you.<br \/>\nThe pounding sea is calling me home, home to you\".<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>---<\/p>\n<p><small>Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/loreenamckennitt.com\/tour\/programme\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">loreenamckennitt.com<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have admired the Canadian singer Loreena McKennitt for many years, a virtuous, moreover, with the piano and the harp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11348],"tags":[239],"class_list":["post-61813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","tag-loreena-mckennitt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}