Here's to the Dreamers (MP3) (Patreon)

Before I fell in love with Loreena McKennitt’s song I had already fallen in love with “The Lady of Shalott”. That was because of a TV mini-series called Anne of Green Gables.

The show was based on the books by Lucy Maud Montgomery. There’s a wonderful scene in the series where Anne Shirley and some friends reenact the story of “The Lady of Shalott” using a boat. Anne is lying in the boat with flowers across her chest. Her friends push her out onto the river as she recites the poem. The boat slowly glides downstream before it springs a leak. She sits up and tries her best to scoop water out of the sinking boat. Eventually, she is rescued at a bridge by her love interest, the dashing Gilbert Blythe.

My mom introduced me to the VHS of the mini-series during my senior year of high school. I don’t know why the show resonated so much with me. Maybe it had a lot to do with the beautiful imagery of Prince Edward Island and the wild imagination and creativity of “that Anne-Girl.” It still delights me to this day, though I haven’t seen the show in probably a decade.

In college, I read all of Montgomery’s books and even devoured a book of poetry by her. I remember one poem resonated a LOT at the time. But I can’t for the life of me remember what it was.

By 2004, Anne of Green Gables was sort of a comfort show for me. I used to watch shows on repeat while I worked. This one regularly made it into rotation for me. One evening I was watching it. I paused the show and picked up the autoharp. I wrote a tribute to dreamers like Anne. The song was sadly short-lived at shows. But I eventually recorded it for my CD, A Tribute to Love.

20:49 – “Here’s to the Dreamers” by Marc Gunn from A Tribute to Love