"Book of Days" is a song by Irish musician

Enya Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (born 17 May 1961; anglicised as Enya Patricia Brennan) known mononymously as Enya, is an Irish singer and composer. With an estimated equivalent of over 80 million albums sold worldwide, Enya is the best-selli ...

. The original version, included on her 1991 album '' Shepherd Moons'', is sung in

Irish Gaelic Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigeno ...

. The subsequent 1992 single version is bilingual, with new English lyrics; this version was recorded for

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American filmmaker and actor. Howard started his career as a child actor before transitioning to directing films. Over his six-decade career, Howard has received List of awards and nominations r ...

's film '' Far and Away'', and scenes from the film feature in the video. The bilingual English-Irish version replaced the original pure Gaelic version on subsequent pressings of ''Shepherd Moons'' from mid-1992 onwards, making the original recording relatively rare. "Book of Days" became Enya's second top-10 single on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 10, and reached number 12 on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

. It was used as a temp track during the editing of

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...

's film ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

'', for the scene eventually accompanied by the musical cue called "Take Her To Sea, Mr. Murdoch" on the finished soundtrack by

James Horner James Roy Horner (August 14, 1953 – June 22, 2015) was an American film composer. He worked on more than 160 film and television productions between 1978 and 2015. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements alongside tr ...

. It was later used on the ''

Robot Chicken ''Robot Chicken'' is an American adult animation, adult stop motion, stop-motion animated sketch comedy television series created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The twelve-minute ...

'' season 10 finale "Endgame".

Critical reception

Ned Raggett from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

stated that the singer's "trademark understated drama rein full flow" on the "wonderful" song. ''

Gavin Report The ''Gavin Report'' was a San Francisco-based radio industry trade publication. The publication was founded by radio performer Bill Gavin in 1958. Its Top 40 listings were used for many years by programmers to decide content of programs. The ...

'' wrote, "This is a melodic and harmonic masterpiece with all the elements to make it a classic." ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' said, "Taken from the motion picture '' Far and Away'', this is the sung version of the original ethereal

Clannad Clannad () were an Irish band formed in 1970 in Gweedore, County Donegal, by siblings , and (Moya) (in English, Brennan) and their twin uncles Noel and (Duggan). They have adopted various musical styles throughout their history. Beginn ...

instrumental." ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' commented, that

's "latest sonic soundscape, Book Of Days, is typically mellifluous. Multi-textured yet as light as air".

Track listings

Charts

Release history

In popular culture

The Gaelic version of "Book of Days" was used in the theatrical trailer of the Japanese film '' Calmi Cuori Appassionati'' (2001). The original Gaelic version was also used the same year on the original US trailer for the British film ''

Billy Elliot ''Billy Elliot'' is a 2000 British coming-of-age Comedy film, comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Lee Hall (playwright), Lee Hall. Set in County Durham in North East England during the 1984–1985 miners' strike, the fi ...

''.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Enya songs 1991 songs 1992 singles Songs with lyrics by Roma Ryan Songs with music by Enya Warner Music Group singles