The song 'Largs' comes from the archive documentary 'From Scotland With Love', a 75-minute film from Director Virginia Heath with a score by Scottish musician and composer King Creosote. Made entirely from films from the National Library of Scotland's Moving Image Archive, 'From Scotland with Love' is journey into Scotland's collective past.
The film explores universal themes of love, loss, resistance, migration, work and play. Ordinary people, some long since dead, their names and identities largely forgotten, appear shimmering from the depth of the vaults to take a starring role. Brilliantly edited together, these silent individuals become composite characters, who emerge to tell us their stories, given voice by King Creosote’s poetic music and lyrics.
Produced by Faction North, Crossover, National Library of Scotland Scottish Screen Archive in association with BBC Scotland and Creative Scotland.
Logged-in users can watch the whole film in our new Screening Room facility by following the link below.
How many different eras are represented in this clip?
How has the beach changed over time?
Are any shots that leap out at you?
Do all the shots come from documentary films? If not how can you tell?
Where does the sense of movement come from?
What is glamour? How has glamour changed?
Primary schools: Start by discussing your dream day out.
Drawing: Draw a 'selfie' of you at the beach, or draw a postcard.
Write a postcard: Who are you going to write to? What will you tell them about your day? Write a 25 word story sent from the beach.
Other songs and stories: What other songs and stories do you know that are set on the beach. e.g. 'Five Children and It.'
Mind-map: Create a mind map or list nouns and describing words that you think of when you think of a day out at the beach.
Poetry: A cinquain is a type of poem made of 11 words.
Here is a simple formula for your students to follow.
Example:
Summer
The Beach
Sandy and sunny
I want an ice cream
Heaven
Here is a variation on the formula:
Example:
Summer
Shimmering sun
Bright, windy, Ayrshire
Coast of forgotten dreams
Childhood
Secondary schools:
Lyrics: Reflect on the differences between the lyrics (reproduced below) and images.
What patterns repeated in the lyric – gang bursting forth, etc.
Who is the main character in the song? Is there one character or more than one character? Who is the queen of ice creams? Seaside as a sexual arena. Glamour and adventure.
What other characters in literature does the character remind you of?
What does the beach represent in British society? How do people behave differently at the beach than in other places?
Are we more prudish or less prudish than other Europeans? Do people behave differently then and now? Are there any other beach stories you can think of?
Reflect on the similarities and differences between lyrics and visuals.
Discus the repeating patterns in the lyrics – gang bursting forth, etc.
Who is the main character in the song? What can we surmise about him or her? Who is the queen of ice creams?
What other characters in literature do these characters remind you of?
What does the beach represent in British society? How do people behave differently at the beach than in other places? Are British people more prudish or less prudish than our European counterparts?
Discuss the ways in which the beach has changed over the past 100 years in relation to the environment, health and safety, costume, etc. Did people behave differently then in the past than they do today?
Are there any other stories or films set on a beach that you can think of?
How are women represented in this clip? Would they be represented this way today or not?
To hear the filmmakers talk about the making of ‘Largs’ follow the link to 'Dreaming Without Sleeping - the Making of 'From Scotland with Love' – 00:13:53 - 00:19:16
Lyrics from the song 'Largs' by King Creosote:
So who cares if nothing
Comes out of this morning
But an earful of sea and a neck-full of sun
And a deckchair always broken
When sunbathed upon
Each of us is as backwards
At coming forwards
Silence from me
Whilst you're keeping schtum
My mind is still as blank
As that postcard we've barely begun
So would you look at this gang
How we all burst forth at sun up
From our caravan parks
Whilst the kids are going mental
Kicking up sand I shall take this chance
To slope off, find the queen of ice-creams
I shall ask her to dance
While she dithers with wafers
99 is the number of my knockbacks
The water here doesn't get any warmer
She won't let me get anything near her
I'm just looking for a bandstand
Holiday only romance
Or at least share a slider
While sitting beside her
I'll kid on I'm rich, kid on I'm older and wiser
Kid I'm foreign
Maybe kid on I'm only from Largs
So would you look at this gang
How we all burst forth at sun up
From our caravan parks
Whilst the kids are going mental kicking up sand
They're kicking up sand
So would you look at this gang
How we all burst forth at sun up
From our caravan parks
Whilst the kids are going mental
Kicking up sand I shall take this chance
To slope off, find the queen of ice-creams
I shall ask her to dance
While she dithers with her wafers
99 is the number of my knockbacks
Of my knockbacks
| Resource Rights Holder | Faction North |
|---|---|
| Date | 2014 |
| Genre | Musical documentary |
| School Subject | English, Rivers and Coasts, Health and Wellbeing |
| Subject Matter | Beach, Rivers & Coasts, Summer holidays |
| Who | Virginia Heath, Director, Grant Kier, Producer, King Creosote, Composer, David McAulay, Music Supervisor, Colin Monie, Editor, Paul Savage, Sound Engineer |
| Where | Prestwick, Dunbar, Saltcoats |
| Event | Commonwealth Games 2014, Summer holidays |
| Attributes | Black and White, Colour, Sound |
| Clip Length | 01:38 |
| Film Length | 72:52 |