Irish Advent Calendar – 18th December

IRISH ADVENT CALENDAR – 18th December

ENYA’S CHRISTMAS ADVENTURES PART 1: OÍCHE CHÚIN AND ON MY WAY HOME 

Enya has been active in music since 1980. After two albums with Clannad, she started her solo career in 1982. She composed the soundtrack for the BBC series The Celts in 1986. However, it was Watermark that made her famous because it featured the hit Orinoco Flow. Since 1988 she has reached everything that an artist could dream about.

Enya said in her interviews that Christmas is her favourite holiday. Her first festive recording was Oíche Chúin – the Gaelic version of Silent Night.  Originally it was a single B-side, then it came out as a CD single in Japan and later in the USA, Australia and finally in Europe in 1994 under the title Christmas EP. She re-recorded a chorale version of the song for her 2008 Christmas Album And Winter Came…

Her second wintery number was On My Way Home. It was the last track on The Memory of Trees in 1995. A shorter remix of the song was issued as a CD single in December of 1996. It became a Top 30 hit in the United Kingdom.

On My Way Home reflects on the beauty of childhood, the wonder of memories and life itself. However, it was the video clip that enhanced its wintery mood. The director Rob Dickins and the producer Paul McNally created a unique and marvellous visual world inspired by the late Victorian era and the American artist Maxfield Parrish. 

There are three versions available of the song. The album version is 5:08, the 3:36 single remix omits the instrumental bridge. Finally, a longer remix was created for the music video. It remained unavailable for many years, but in 2020 Enya released it as a digital single.