I love this Phil Cunningham tune and the story behind it.
Phil had wrote Sarah’s Song, a haunting, slow air, on the back of a napkin during the dinner before a charity auction in 1992. He’d been gripped by a sudden fear that the signed memorabillia he’d originally offered for auction didn’t match what other donors had brought, so the hastily written tune was put up instead.
The winning bidder, who earned the right to give the tune a title, named it after his wife, and Phil’s been playing it eaver since.
The music was actually written for bagpipes but Phil reveled that by the time he’d finished scribbling the tune on the napkin, the pipers at the event were in no condition to play it – so he ended up playing it himself on the accordian.
It was only during a visit to the Omani desert in the Spring of 2007 that Phil first heard Sarah’s Song played by a pipe band
The present Mrs H and I went to an Ally Bain and Phil Cunningham concert in a small community hall in Oban some years ago.
The place was jumping until Cunningham played Sarah’s Song during which you could have heard a pin drop before he got a standing ovation so richly deserved.
It is a slow air, but may I suggest you stick with it until Ally Bain joins in at 2:26. Gives me goose bumps. Simply beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLsd8dU89qw
