Bagpipe Creativity
I was shopping at Big W the other day (that’s roughly the Aussie equivalent of Wal-Mart although it feels more like a Zellers) and I heard the sound of bagpipes playing on a television or something somewhere in the store. They played 2 songs. I have discovered that these are the ONLY 2 songs that are ever played on the bagpipes. I am beginning to wonder if there is a rule or law regulating the pipes’ useage. I’m sure you already know which songs I’m talking about, but here they are for your reference:
1. Amazing Grace – You should already know this one and I won’t bother providing a sample. Nice song, very meaningful, but come on people. It’s time to move on.
2. Scotland the Brave – I never knew the name of this song; to me it was just “The Bagpipes Song.” This song is constantly heard in Nova Scotia. Obviously we have a connection to Scotland, but since it’s NEW Scotland maybe we should come up with something new. Here’s a sample:
Okay so these two songs sound good on the bagpipes but can we not get a little more creative and come up with maybe a third option? I feel bad for my sister in Halifax who probably hears these two songs played all day every day (especially during the summer).
There is one example of bagpipe creativity that I would like to draw your attention to. Ross’s rendition of “Celebration” is my favourite scene in the entire series of Friends:
Ok there are a FEW other bagpipe songs – but not very many. I’ve actually asked this question of a couple of bagpipers before. Apparently, the problem is, the bagpipes are excessively difficult to play, so it takes a really long time to be good at any one song, let alone a lot of them. Most non-professional bagpipers only perfect a half dozen songs because that’s all they’ll ever really need.
Bagpipes are cool for the first 3 minutes, then it gets REALLY OLD. As a tour guide (especially one who worked for a company that billed itself as “the company with the kilts”) I think I’ve heard a collective total of about 10,000 hours of bagpipe music. Sigh.
From now on I’m going to start rickrolling you with bagpipe music!!
you need more blogging….
Celebration by Cool and The Gang….it is THE best bagpipe song. Didn’t we see some young bagpiping buskers about 5 years ago in Halifax?
It has now been 606 days since your last blog post. I find this unacceptable.