Sep 11, 2017 by FYI Staff. FYI Music News.
“Titanically,” the third single from Heather Rankin’s self-titled debut solo album, co-written with David Tyson, was inspired by the 2013 auctioning of the violin played by Titanic bandleader Wallace Hartley as the famed ship was sinking.
The violin, in a music case, was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean, still strapped to Hartley’s body, by the crew of the Mackay-Bennett Cable Ship. Hartley’s body was taken to Halifax and then sent home to his family for burial, but his violin and case were sent directly to his fiancée, who had given the violin to Hartley, engraved with their names, as an engagement present.
As no record of the violin leaving Halifax was archived with later Titanic research, scholars and enthusiasts debated for decades about what happened to Hartley’s violin, whether it went down with the Titanic, or was lost or stolen between Halifax and Liverpool. It wasn’t until 2006 that the violin came to light when it was found in an attic in England. It went through a series of tests to authenticate it and was then auctioned off for $1.7M. It is the most expensive Titanic artifact to date. “Titanically” is told from the perspective of Hartley’s violin, yearning to be returned to the man who loved and played it. The music video was directed by Thom Fitzgerald and is a fanciful exploration of the immortality of music, of the musician’s spirit and the enduring stories surrounding the Titanic. The single is produced by Doug Pettigrew of Emotion Pictures.