Background of the tune? Is the Bothy Band’s version of the tune a pretty common version played?
-Eric
J.Scott Skinner wrote it.
**Good old Wiki!
So it’s Scottish…
Anyone know of any sung recordings of the tune? All I’ve got to go off is the version done by the Bothy Band on their first album 1975. Maybe that’s all I need, I dont know. 
-Eric
He did indeed and here is a recording of him playing it. It is the very last track on the page.
Happy 50th Peter, I’ll be onboard in November but till then I am still in my forties..should anyone ask!
Slan,
D. 
**Well, it’s not your fault when you get this sort of info on websites:
“Hector the Hero (traditional Irish)”
http://www.archive.org/details/hth2003-12-17.f16f
But you can listen to a Flute play the tune on that page:
http://ia310135.us.archive.org/3/items/hth2003-12-17.f16f/hth20031217d1t08_64kb.mp3
You could try these Key_of_D, with their very authentic sounds of the Pipes 
http://pw1.netcom.com/~reincke/lyrics.html
&
http://www.whitestick.co.uk/midi/hector.mid
But seriously, there’s a Flute version of it here:
http://www.micksvirtualwhistle.net/whistle/index.html
… & a Bagpipe version here:
http://www.audiolicense.net/track_details.asp?type=1&trackid=4175&l1=&l2=&l3=&l1c=&l2c=54&l3c=
Bet your getting sick of listening to it now!
**
**Cross posting! 
Aye, obviously the one to listen to is the Scott Skinner version.
Great link that dubhlinn!
However his ‘Cradle Song’, for me, wins every time!
I canny listen tae that withoot sheddin’ a wee tear! 
**
Anthony Quigney and AIdan McMahon have a lovely version on the ‘Clare Conscience’
Peter,
I clicked on the ‘listen here’ link, and a flute played 20 seconds into it, then stopped, and that’s all I got… Snafu?
Hm yes, it was a site selling downloads so you only get a sample, there are other sites that have the tune up tough
Laurence Nugent plays it on ‘Two for Two’.
http://www.amazon.com/Two-Laurence-Nugent/dp/B000000E5S/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-2706891-4997468?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1174308295&sr=1-1
See Andy Kuntz’s fine article on Hector the Hero at:
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/air.htm
and also his entry from the Fiddler’s Companion at:
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/HEA_HEJ.htm which I have pasted below:
HECTOR [MACDONALD] THE HERO. Scottish, Lament (“with intense sadness,” 6/8 time). A Major. Standard. AAB (Hunter, Skinner/Harp): AA’BB (Perlman): ABC (Martin, Skinner). Composed by the great Scots fiddler and composer J. Scott Skinner (1843-1927) in honor of the famous Major-General Sir Hector MacDonald (1857 - 1903), one of the most famous Victorian-era British military figures. MacDonald was born in the Black Ilse and at the age of thirteen enlisted in the 92 Gordon Highlanders. He came up through the ranks, serving as a color-sergeant in the Afghan War, until he was promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant at the end of those hostilities. Transferred to South Africa, he was mentioned in dispatches in the 1st Boer War, and in 1885 he led a military expedition up the Nile to Sudanese territory. In 1888 he took part in the Battle of Sunkin and a year later won the Distinguished Service Order for his service in Sudan. He remained in the Sudan for the next decade, seeing action in the Battle of Tokar (1891), and leading the 2nd Infantry Brigade in the Dunglen Expeditionary Force, by which time he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General. During the next two years he took part in the battles of Khartoum and Omdurman, with which he ended his Sudan service. He subsequently served as the Aide de Camp to Queen Victoria and as a Major General with the Highland Bridgade in South Africa during the Boer War. In 1901 he was knighted and the next year was stationed as Major General with British forces in Ceylon, however, in 1903 he was accused of being a homosexual and, feeling disgraced, he committed suicide.
Though the charge of homosexuality was probably true it was popularly believed by all levels of society in Scotland at the time that MacDonald had been framed. Soon after the incident Edward VII made his first visit to Scotland, though the atmosphere was decidedly chilly.
This ballad was composed in the soldier’s honor:
HECTOR THE HERO
Lament him, ye mountains of Ross-shire;
Your tears be the dew and the rain;
Ye forests and straths, let the sobbing winds
Unburden your grief and pain.
Lament him, ye warm-hearted clansmen,
And mourn for a kinsman so true
The pride of the Highlands, the valiant MacDonald
Will never come back to you.
O, wail for the mighty in battle,
Loud lift ye the Coronach strain;
For Hector, the Hero, of deathless fame,
Will never come back again.
Lament him, ye sons of old Scotia,
Ye kinsmen on many a shore;
A patriot-warrior, fearless of foe,
Has fallen to rise no more.
O cherish his triumph and glory
On Omdurman’s death-stricken plain,
His glance like the eagle’s, his heart like the lion’s
His laurels a nation’s gain.
O, wail for the mighty in battle,
Loud lift ye the Coronach strain;
For Hector, the Hero, of deathless fame,
Will never come back again.
O rest thee, brave heart, in thy slumber,
Forgotten shall ne’er be thy name;
The love and the mercy of Heaven be thine;
Our love thou must ever claim.
To us thou art Hector the Hero,
The chivalrous, dauntless, and true;
The hills and the glens, and the hearts of a nation,
Re-echo the wail for you.
O, wail for the mighty in battle,
Loud lift ye the Coronach strain;
For Hector, the Hero, of deathless fame,
Will never come back again.
Perlman (1996) notes that the melody is currently played on Prince Edward Island as a lament at funeral services. Source for notated version: Sterling Baker (b. mid-1940’s, Morell, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island; now resident of Montague) [Perlman]. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 29. Martin (Ceol na Fidhle), Vol. 2, 1988; pg. 24. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 208. Skinner (The Scottish Violinist), pg. 49. Skinner (Harp and Claymore), 1904; pg. 152. The Bothy Band (1st album). Dougie MacDonald – “A Minor.” Green Linnet GLCD 1189, John Cunningham – “Celtic Fiddle Festival: Encore.” Greentrax CDTRAX 096, “Tony McManus” (1995). Lismore LCOM5233, Fred Morrison – “Broken Chanter”.
See also listings at:
Alan Snyder’s Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info
X:1
T:Hector the Hero
C:James Scott Skinner
Z:Juergen.Gier@post.rwth‑aachen.de
M:3/4
L:1/4
K:A
A,|{B,}C>>B,A,|{E}F>>EC|{D}E3|~E2A,|{A,B,}C>>B,A,|{E}F>>EC|\
{A,}B,3|~B,2A,/<B,/|{B,}C>>B,A,|{E}F>>EC|{D}E2A,|{A,}[A,2A2]{AB}A/F/|\
E<<A,{B,}C|{D}B,2=G,/<A,/|A,3|~A,2||A|{AB}c>>BA|{A}f>>ec|e3|e2A|\
{AB}c>>BA|{A}f>>ec|{A}B3|~B2A/<B/|c>>BA|{A}f>>ec|{c}e2A|\
{ABcdefg}a2{ab}af|e<<A{B}c|{Bd}[E2B2]{Bd}[E/B/][E/A/]|[E3A3]|\
[E2A2]c/<[c/e/]||[d2f2][~df]|[c2a2]g/<f/|[A3e3]|[A2e2]c/<[c/e/]|\
[d2f2]{fg}e/<c/|e<<AB/<c/|[E3B3]|[E2B2]c/<[c/e/]|[d2f2]f/{gfef}>g/|\
[c2a2]a/{bag}>f/|e<<AB|c<<a{ab}a/f/|e<<AB/<c/|\
{Bd}[E2B2]{Bd}[E/B/][D/A/]|[E3A3]|[E2A2]|]
There’s a really sweet version on Celtic Fiddle Festival Encore.
It’s no news that I’m one of Nugent’s big fans, but his rendering of HTH is probably my least favorite. I thought Kevin Burke did a really nice setting of it.
Come to think of it, I believe it was indeed on the Celtic Fiddle Festival Encore CD that I heard Burke’s version of it.
It’s awesome. Sometimes, his bow is barely touching the strings. It’s as delicate as a baby’s touch.
Actually, it’s Johnny Cunningham playing that track. I heard him perform it live several times, too. I always thought he had a magical touch with the slow airs. What a loss …
Thanks for the correction. 
Were you with us when he sat in at The Field in October '02? He played Hector the Hero (on my fiddle 
) that evening. This was the day before the “bizarre surfing accident” when he broke his wrist…
Now where did I put that minidisc?
No, darnit, I missed that, but remember hearing about it from you. I wouldn’t mind hearing that minidisc recording sometime.
Well, Frankie Gavin showed up at our session in Long Beach a few weeks ago, and I missed that, too. I’m cursed! Or maybe the famous session visitors were blessed, depending on your point of view.
I found the disc, but now my patch cord has gone missing. 