Comments on: (Now) Westlin Winds

By: Diana

Diana — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 08:42:34 +0000

What can I say that has not already been said, and so much better than anything I could add. Lovely Jon and nicely sung. Like Muzza writes one can hear the words clearly.

By: Old Muzza(NW Surrey-UK)

Old Muzza(NW Surrey-UK) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 08:07:20 +0000

I’ll stick with Jon’s excellent version…………I can hear the words.

By: nev perry

nev perry — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:57:19 +0000

Truly inspirational!

By: Craig Herbertson

Craig Herbertson — Mon, 02 May 2011 20:28:08 +0000

For me the lyric is unsurpassed

The poet describes nature in all its awful beauty. He then says to his lover but all of this beauty is eclipsed by you. It’s quite simply the most wonderful declaration of love possible, partly because Burn’s description of nature is so utterly beautiful but mostly because in the last verse he sublimates that beauty to his lover.

I think its the best song ever written and Gaughan’s arrangement is faultless – but then I’m biased

By: Jenny

Jenny — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 16:35:12 +0000

Thanks for all these insightful comments. Now I have a fuller appreciation for the poem. I would love to have the guitar tab for Dick Gaughan’s work. Does anyone know how I could obtain it?

By: muzza

muzza — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 08:14:57 +0000

Yep……………I’ve listened to this again and I am grateful for all the comments above and ‘at last’ the penny has dropped and Robbie had it right…….I was too blind to see..
Old Blokes I ask yer!

By: admin

admin — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:55:44 +0000

Blue Scouse I think you hit the nail well and truly on the head. It’s the poetic undertow I was after in my intro, explained very well. Thanks all, I really enjoyed this both as a song and performance and it’s made me realise I need to know more about Burns.

By: Jane Ramsden

Jane Ramsden — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 21:46:37 +0000

Completely new to me too. Thanks to Blue Scouse, Phil and Lizabee for their informative comments.

By: Hilary

Hilary — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:15:23 +0000

This was completely new to me, and I found it charming and profound. Thank you – amazingly sung.

By: Phil

Phil — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 15:37:06 +0000

That was terrific – one of the best yet. (Even beats Gaughan IMO.) It just shows how much you can do with an unaccompanied voice. (It helps if you’ve got a voice like this, admittedly!)

As for how it all hangs together, I think it’s fairly straightforward. In verse 1 he says that the hunting season has started and he’s walking in the country thinking about his love; in verse 2 he talks about how wild creatures want to be with their own kind (just as he wants to be with Peggy). Everything else follows from those three intertwined thoughts. It’s a brilliant poem (he was 16???) but I don’t think it’s obscure.