<P> Sir Michael Tippett originally included "Over the Sea to Skye" in his arrangements of Four Songs from the British Isles for unaccompanied four - part chorus in 1957, in response to a commission from North West German Radio, Bremen, for a festival of European folk song . But the amateur choir for which they were intended found the songs too difficult, and the first performance took place only in July 1958, given by the London Bach Group, conducted by John Minchinton, at Royaumont in France . The recently published volume of Tippett's Selected Letters, edited by Thomas Schuttenhelm, includes a progress report on the Four Songs to the composer's German publisher, dated 28 July 1957, in which he says that he proposes to replace "Over the Sea to Skye" because it is "too strictly held by a publisher here". It was only rediscovered after Tippett's death in the offices of his London publishers Schott's; it was published at the end of 2002, and first performed the following July in Dublin . </P> <P> Marc Gunn recorded this song for the 2013 album Scottish Songs of Drinking & Rebellion . </P> <P> Bear McCreary adapted the song as the opening titles of the 2014 TV series Outlander, sung by Raya Yarbrough, changing the text of Robert Louis Stevenson's poem Sing Me a Song of a Lad That Is Gone (1892) to fit the story . </P> <P> Patrick Troughton as the second Doctor on the British science - fiction television series Doctor Who played the song repeatedly on his recorder in Episode 6, Scene 10 of "The Web of Fear" (broadcast 9 March 1968). </P>

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