Thanks for your warm comments, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed PB and it's great to hear that the tune was so well received, and is still remembered. Very rewarding. I love to play it sometimes, maybe I should dig up some of the other songs too like "Row My Boat"
I doubt you know how many millions of people out there still have your song stuck in their heads, 40 years later. It pops into my head all the time, and is always welcome. Brings back lovely memories. Thank you!
It's a lovely song, has something of the seaside about it and I can't understand why. It's quite moving and takes me right back to my childhood. Thank you for writing and sharing.
That's very special to hear it is your earliest memory. Thanks for sharing, you can see that I have posted all the episodes on a personal site (to avoid copyright issues)
I just remembered this song out of nowhere and started singing it to my new born daughter. It's lodged in there from when I was a child and probably a lot to do with why I like John Martyn, Sandy Denny, Bert Jansch etc as an adult! thank you :)
A theme tune I have never forgotten. It resounds as much today as it did back then. A truly marvellous and timeless thing. It's a real joy to see the man and his guitar. The very same duo that imprinted such an unforgettable and deep memory upon me, oh so many years ago....
This is such a pretty song. I listen to it a lot. For some reason it makes me think of the cute coloured houses in Tenby and can take me back 40 years to family holidays there, to the point I can even smell the fishing village smells from decades ago
You ever have one of those moments where you remember something from your childhood that you haven’t thought about SINCE your childhood? Just had that now with this. The words Portland Bill came into my head so I searched it and got this...and I remember it so clearly having not thought about it for 30 years. A childhood flashback. Very cool. Thanks for this upload.
Jeezo, just found this, thank you so much for uploading! Whenever I have my guitar in DADGAD, I always end up singing this beautiful little tune from my childhood, which inevitably leads me to youtube to hear the original. Thanks a lot, Mik!
Thanks Jeezo, I'm glad you enjoy playing this - I sometimes just play it in Drop-D (6th), too lazy to go the full DADGAD. Hasn't quite got the same sound but sort of works ok.
Sat in bed 3:30am, 41 years old and the memory of this song pops into my head. No real reason. Years since I heard it last (at least 30) and unreal to see the actual original artist performing it. Awesome. Thankyou.
bless you, thank you for sharing. that was the year I was born. what a great tune it was and is to still be in my head 40 years on. Really great stuff and the amazing thing about music to be able to create something like that and leave such a positive mark on the lives of many. thank you Mik.🥰
Dear Mik, I don't know if you're still reading comments on here, but I hope you are. I'm proud to have reached the grand old age of 27, and the wee tune that you wrote 3 and a half decades ago has been in my memory for almost all of my time. It's a joy, really, that keeps on giving. I'll go years without remembering it, and then out of no where I realise I'm humming the tune or singing it to myself. It never ceases to bring a smile to my face and a glow to my heart (as I hope reading this comment has done for your self). It never ceases to amaze me how intertwined music and memory are; and if we ARE our memories, then by extension your work is a part of me, and a part of so many others. Thanks Mik - love and best wishes to you and yours
Thanks Jake, that's a heart warming comment! Yes I'm still here, at the grand old age of 70! I still play the song from time to time, and am amazed that so many people remember it. And from the sound of it for many years to come!! Have a great life!
I was just messing around on a banjo and this tune sort of ‘fell out’. I can’t have have heard it for over 30 years but the melody was still fresh in my mind -I guess that’s the sign of a great tune, thank you sir! I’m currently tuning my guitar to dadgad to have proper go at it!
Thats a great compliment Rhys, thanks. Back in the day it just fell out for me too whilst messing with the DADGAD tuning. In the context of the song it just happily worked out.
Man how this takes me back,absolutely love the tune (I can play it a bit ,but not as good as yersel')had 2 vhs videos of the cartoon,gave a loan to an ex bandmate who told me he lost it, (was the one where Bill,Ross and Cromorty had a 'jam' session) I still ask him if he has found it yet ,even though it must have been 20 years ago,the bugger that he is!!!!!
You have a gift! You have changed many lives! As I write this I too am in tears because at 39 years old I’m finding out how to live my life because of your song. Many thanks Sir xxx
Every time I go to the seaside I sing this song in my head, Portland has just been on the news and u sang it to my kids. Amazing how this song never leaves and I'm not the only one it seems, Love it, Thank you.
Love this masterpiece so much! So many lovely memories of watching the series as a kid. Thanks so much for the song (and this cracking performance!). I still sing this to my kids to this day!
..of characters so I will have to split this post. Thank you so very much for a beautiful song that always faded out before we got to hear it all. I have received many compliments on my guitar playing, but I think whatever ability I have is down to the music I listended to when growing up & learning to play. While most things I play are on electric guitars, I cannot thank you enough for the Portland Bill theme which remains an acoustic favourite :) Thanks & best wishes, Dog
Hi Mike, Thank you so much for posting this video :) I have played guitar since I was six years old & long before video recorders of the internet I had to depend on my memory for learning nice tunes I had heard. Your theme to Portland Bill has been one of my favourite theme tunes since the first time I heard it & I have often played my memorised version in the years since then. I had figured the bottom string was D not E, but hadn't thought about the top one! I am running out..
Thank you Mik for a song that has been with me since a child. Would love love love to be able to play it. Is there anyway I can find the guitar sheet music or tab for it? Even still today when I or my wife do something wrong I say "Oh Cromarty!" Thanks again Mik and as someone who lives close by your a local hero to. It's my childhood in one little tune. Best wishes.
He's a pro that man 👨 and there's nothing like the 80's the age of punk's, The Terminator, Hand's across America and the Berlin Wall being torn down. Oh those where the time's.
Hello sir, i am a youtube vlogger and doing a video at the moment from Portland Bill, i would love to use this music can you send it to me? and ill give you a mansion
Thanks Mik, I always loved the theme song to Portland Bill when I was a child in the 80's and still do. I learned to play it years ago, just a brilliant bit of acoustic writing, that hammer on run is just magical. All the best.
