5 of the most amazing songs that refer to Inverness from Beethoven and Burns to The Prats and the legendary track Invershneckie
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With Inverness Singers set to launch a new song written about the citywe take a look and listen to the host of surprising and eclectic numbers, ranging from genius to the almost unlistenable, that reference the UK’s most northerly city.
The list of songs including Inverness goes back hundreds of years to the twin geniuses of Burns and Beethoven, synth-pop pioneers, Edinburgh punks, Scottish country legends to truly inimitable local view of one of the city.
Inverness by Suzanne Ciani
Let’s start across the water in the US with the multi Grammy Award nominee Suzanne Ciani the musician, sound designer, and composer who became famous in the 1970s as a pioneer of electronic music and sound effects for films and television commercials.
She penned this mood piece titled simply “Inverness.”
The lovely lass of Inverness by Ludwig van Beethoven and Robert Burns
For me the most surprising was the correlation of Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Burns and Inverness through the song called: Die holde Maid von Inverness or to give the English title: The lovely lass of Inverness.
It comes from Twenty-five Scottish songs: for voice, mixed chorus, violin, violoncello and piano (Opus 108) with music composed by Beethoven from the lyric by Scotland’s national poet.
The work was first published in London and Edinburgh in 1818 and it is the only collection among Beethoven's folksong arrangements to be assigned an opus number.
The Song of Inverness by Andy Stewart
Few parts of Scotland were left untouched by Andy Stewart, Skye perhaps the most well known (“I have just come down from the Isle of Skye/I'm not very big and I'm awful shy…”) and so does Inverness.
The Song of Inverness was released on the Scotland Is Andy Stewart in 1978 and carries the refrain: “Surrounding my dear Castle Hill whose landmarks yet I see/There's Raigmore Wid, the Auld Mill Burn, the Barracks on the hill; Each one appears to welcome me on en'tring by Cantrill.”
It concludes affectionately: “Oh how I miss my Highland town, the one I love the best; For I've been away, too long away, from home in Inverness.”
The Flower of Inverness by The Irish Rovers
Once again the ladies of Inverness are praised in The Flower of Inverness by The Irish Rovers, Irish-Canadian trad musicians who started their career back in the 1960s.
In this song a local lass is praised as “She's witty and she's frisky and as sweet as Highland whisky/Her lips are like red roses and as soft as morning dew/Her golden hair's still shining when the sun has gone declining/She's a lithesome and a bonnie lass with flashing eyes of blue.”
Inverness by The Prats
And finally, we come to The Prats. That is actually the band’s name as was the style in the late 1970s punk seen. The Prats were a punk rock group based in Edinburgh and were active from 1977 to 1981.
They are perhaps best known for their 1980 EP called The 1990s Pop containing four songs – Disco Pope, Nothing, TV Set, and Nobody Noticed – with Disco Pope getting played by John Peel.
This song could be titled anything because I personally cannot make out a word and verges on the unlistenable but it is named Inverness so here it is:
(Dis)honourable Mention: Invershneckie
Invershneckie was produced by mysterious musicians and certainly offered a less flattering depiction of Inverness to the point that we can't actually print its full title.
This online track takes the listener on a brief tour of the city’s neighbourhoods, provides a damning assessment of the city centre and others.
