My favorite OUTLANDER song

2/18/2010 07:14:00 PM

If I had to pick one song that in my opinion most clearly expresses the depth of Jamie and Claire's relationship, it's this one: Marc Cohn's "True Companion".

I've loved this song for many years, and it was only after I discovered the OUTLANDER books in 2006 that I realized just how closely the lyrics seem to parallel events in Jamie and Claire's lives.

Baby I've been searching like everybody else
Can't say nothing different about myself
Sometimes I'm an angel
And sometimes I'm cruel
And when it comes to love
I'm just another fool.

To me, that's Jamie. For all that he's a violent man, he can also be incredibly gentle and caring. And his love for Claire does indeed make him take foolish risks now and then.

Yes, I'll climb a mountain
I'm gonna swim the sea
There ain't no act of God girl
Could keep you safe from me.

I think that's certainly true. <g>

My arms are reaching out
Out across this canyon
I'm asking you to be my true companion
True companion
True companion

Maybe it's stretching a point, but the "canyon" could be the abyss that's mentioned several times in AN ECHO IN THE BONE? (An abyss of despair into which both Jamie and Claire have fallen, at various points in their lives.) Or it could be the immense differences between them, the difference in attitudes, cultural mores, etc., between the 18th century and the 20th.

So don't you dare and try to walk away
I've got my heart set on our wedding day
I've got this vision of a girl in white
Made my decision that it's you all right.

Claire did indeed try to flee several times, in OUTLANDER, before the wedding. And Jamie makes it very clear that he knew from the beginning that he wanted Claire as his wife.

And when I take your hand
I'll watch my heart set sail
I'll take my trembling fingers
And I'll lift up your veil

You may recall that Jamie's hands trembled during the wedding ceremony. <g>

Then I'll take you home
And with wild abandon
Make love to you just like a true companion
You are my true companion
I got a true companion
True companion.

Another key part of Jamie and Claire's relationship: great sex! <g>

When the years have done irreparable harm
I can see us walking slowly arm in arm
Just like the couple on the corner do
'cause girl I will always be in love with you
And when I look in your eyes
I'll still see that spark
Until the shadows fall
Until the room grows dark

I love this. As much as we all hate to see Jamie and Claire growing older, it's inevitable that we will see further signs of their aging as the series progresses. But I don't mind, as long as they're still as much in love as ever.

Then when I leave this earth
I'll be with the angels standin'
I'll be out there waiting for my true companion
Just for my true companion
True companion
True companion

Again, I think these lyrics really fit the story very well. Think of Jamie in DRAGONFLY: "If I must endure two hundred years of purgatory, two hundred years without you...." The idea of a love so powerful that it can outlast even death itself is one of the most compelling themes of the series, to me at least.

What about the rest of you? Do you have a particular song that reminds you of Jamie and Claire, or any of the other characters in the books?


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7 comments

Jo M said...

I've always loved this song, and I think you make some good parallels to the book!

February 18, 2010 at 9:03 PM
Lisa said...

Yes, I do have a song that always reminds me of Jamie and Claire and I heard it on the radio today. Uncle Kracker's Follow Me.

You don't know how you met me
You don't know why, you cant turn around and say good-bye
All you know is when I'm with you I make you free
And swim through your veins like a fish in the sea
I'm singing....

Follow me
Everything is alright
I'll be the one to tuck you in at night
And if you want to leave
I can guarantee
You won't find nobody else like me

And I don't worry 'bout the ring you wear
Cause as long as no one knows
Than nobody can care
You're feeling guilty
And I'm well aware
But you don't look ashamed
And baby I'm not scared
I'm singin...

Follow me
Everything is alright
I'll be the one to tuck you in at night
And if you want to leave
I can guarantee
You won't find nobody else like me

Solo

Won't give you money
I can't give you the sky
You're better off if you don't ask why
I'm not the reason that you go astray
We'll be alright if you don't ask me to stay

Follow me
Everything is alright
I'll be the one to tuck you in at night
And if you want to leave
I can guarantee
You won't find nobody else like me

You don't know how you met me
You don't know why, you cant turn around and say good-bye
All you know is when I'm with you I make you free
And swim through your veins like a fish in the sea
I'm singing....

Follow me
Everything is alright
I'll be the one to tuck you in at night
And if you want to leave
I can guarantee
You won't find nobody else like me

February 19, 2010 at 12:32 AM
Tracey R. said...

Karen: AMAZING CHOICE!!! I absolutely adore that song but would never have thought of it (guess I haven't heard it since I started reading the books). I haven't read your commentary on the song (afraid of spoilers, being 100 pp from the end of ABOSAA), but I'm totally adding it to my playlist.

What's funny is that independent of your blog post, I tweeted basically the same question as My Outlander Purgatory's Fun Friday question on Twitter. (Great minds, right? ;-) ) My number one Claire/Jamie song is Power of Two by the Indigo Girls. To me, it's the song that plays during the closing credits of the Outlander movie I see in my head--it's all about love getting people through the hard times. Soooo love that song for them.

Now the parking lot is empty
Everyones gone someplace
I pick you up and in the trunk Ive packed
A cooler and a 2-day suitcase
Cause there's a place we like to drive
Way out in the country
Five miles out of the city limit were singing
And your hands upon my knee

So we're okay
We're fine
Baby I'm here to stop your crying
Chase all the ghosts from your head
I'm stronger than the monster beneath your bed
Smarter than the tricks played on your heart
We'll look at them together then we'll take them apart
Adding up the total of a love that's true
Multiply life by the power of two

You know the things that I am afraid of
Im not afraid to tell
And if we ever leave a legacy
Its that we loved each other well
Cause I've seen the shadows of so many people
Trying on the treasures of youth
But a road that fancy and fast
Ends in a fatal crash
And I'm glad we got off
To tell you the truth

Cause were okay
We're fine
Baby I'm here to stop your crying
Chase all the ghosts from your head
I'm stronger than the monster beneath your bed
Smarter than the tricks played on your heart
We'll look at them together then we'll take them apart
Adding up the total of a love thats true
Multiply life by the power of two

All the shiny little trinkets of temptation
Something new instead of something old
All you gotta do is scratch beneath the surface
And its fools gold

Now we're talking about a difficult thing
And your eyes are getting wet
I took us for better and I took us for worse
Don't you ever forget it
Now the steel bars between me and a promise
Suddenly bend with ease
The closer I'm bound in love to you
The closer I am to free

So we're okay
We're fine
Baby I'm here to stop your crying
Chase all the ghosts from your head
I'm stronger than the monster beneath your bed
Smarter than the tricks played on your heart
We'll look at them together then we'll take them apart
Adding up the total of a love that's true
Multiply life by the power of two

February 19, 2010 at 1:29 PM
Karen Henry said...

Tracey:

Glad you liked my choice! :-) There are no spoilers in my commentary, provided you've read past VOYAGER.

Karen

February 19, 2010 at 5:59 PM
Purgatory Carol said...

Hi Karen,

Awesome question. "All I Want is You" by U2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87xqUjR0fbM

Some of the lyrics aren't an exact match... but it's the intensity of the song that makes it so perfect in my mind. I think it's perfect for multiple rescue scenarios along the way. Toward the end of the song, Bono is literally screaming "all I want is youuuuu", and I get a chill up my spine every time I hear it.

Like I said - it's not because of the lyrics because the song is really about someone saying material possessions are not what is important; his true love is the only thing that matters... and lord knows neither Jamie nor Claire really cares about material possessions.

But one line I love that reminds me of Claire is:

"You say you want your story to remain untold"

since her "story" and where she came from is truly a mystery to most of the people surrounding her.

"All the promises we break
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you"

It just seems so primitive. Nothing else matters. There's you... and there's nothing else.

February 20, 2010 at 4:29 PM
Jo M said...

I was reading poetry essays the other day, and read "A Red, Red Rose," by Robert Burns, again, and I instantly thought of Jamie and Claire. I know Carol (My Outlander Prugatory) has a song version on her website, but here are the stanzas that I found particularly fitting:

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, 5
So deep in luve am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry:

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun; 10
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only Luve,
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my Luve, 15
Tho' it were ten thousand mile.

Can't you just hear Jamie telling Claire that "I will come again, my Luve, / Tho' it were ten thousand mile"!

February 23, 2010 at 6:04 PM
Karen Henry said...

Jo - I like that one very much!

Karen

February 23, 2010 at 6:19 PM

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