The Waterboys: The Stolen Child

Take a poem from W.B. Yeats' early, Celtic Twilight period, have it set by Mike Scott of the Waterboys, with his weakness for the children's books of C.S. Lewis, and you fear that you will end up with something dangerously twee.

But I like this song. It appears on The Waterboys' LP Fisherman's Blues, but I know it from the Yeats compilation Now and in the Time to Be.

There are live versions on Youtube, but I think the narration on this studio version adds something to it. Serious, with notes of twinkling and Father Jack, it is by Tomas Mac Eoin.