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Over the Sea to Skye
Traditional Scottish Folk Song Arranged and Performed by Gregory Tait © 2021. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license |
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Well known to fans of the TV series Outlander, the "Skye Boat Song" is a late 19th-century Scottish song recalling the journey of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) from Benbecula to the Isle of Skye as he evaded capture by government (English) soldiers after his defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
Sir Harold Boulton, 2nd Baronet composed the lyrics to an air collected by Anne Campbelle MacLeod in the 1870s, and the line "Over the Sea to Skye" has become a cornerstone of the tourism industry on the Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Alternative lyrics to the tune were written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1892. After hearing the Jacobite airs sung by a visitor, he judged the words of this song to be "unworthy", so he made a new set of verses "more in harmony with the plaintive tune."
It is often played as a slow ballad or waltz.
Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye.
Mull was astern, Rum on the port,
Eigg on the starboard bow;
Glory of youth glowed in his soul:
Where is that glory now?
Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye.
Give me again all that was there,
Give me the sun that shone!
Give me the eyes, give me the soul,
Give me the lad that’s gone!
Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye.
Billow and breeze, islands and seas,
Mountains of rain and sun,
All that was good, all that was fair,
All that was me is gone.
-- Robert Louis Stevenson (1892)
Sir Harold Boulton, 2nd Baronet composed the lyrics to an air collected by Anne Campbelle MacLeod in the 1870s, and the line "Over the Sea to Skye" has become a cornerstone of the tourism industry on the Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Alternative lyrics to the tune were written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1892. After hearing the Jacobite airs sung by a visitor, he judged the words of this song to be "unworthy", so he made a new set of verses "more in harmony with the plaintive tune."
It is often played as a slow ballad or waltz.
Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye.
Mull was astern, Rum on the port,
Eigg on the starboard bow;
Glory of youth glowed in his soul:
Where is that glory now?
Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye.
Give me again all that was there,
Give me the sun that shone!
Give me the eyes, give me the soul,
Give me the lad that’s gone!
Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye.
Billow and breeze, islands and seas,
Mountains of rain and sun,
All that was good, all that was fair,
All that was me is gone.
-- Robert Louis Stevenson (1892)
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MacCrimmon's Lament
Scottish Bagpipe Tune Arr. Helen Hopekirk (1905) Performed by Gregory Tait © 2021. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license |
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This Scottish bagpipe tune was composed by Clan MacLeod’s piper, Donald Ban MacCrimmon, during the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. Accompanying Chief Norman MacLeod of Clan MacLeod on the Hanoverian side of the rebellion, Donald Ban was captured in December at Inverurie by Jacobite forces, and such was his fame at the time that even the Jacobite pipers went on strike to protest against his detention. The original Scottish Gaelic words to this song have been attributed to another member of MacCrimmon’s family following his death in battle near Inverness the following year.
Roon Cuillin’s peaks the mist is sailin
The banshee croons her note o wailin
My old blue een wi sorrow are streamin
For him that shall never return, MacCrimmon
No more, no more, no more forever
In war and peace shall return MacCrimmon
No more, no more, no more forever
Shall love or gold bring back MacCrimmon
Roon Cuillin’s peaks the mist is sailin
The banshee croons her note o wailin
My old blue een wi sorrow are streamin
For him that shall never return, MacCrimmon
No more, no more, no more forever
In war and peace shall return MacCrimmon
No more, no more, no more forever
Shall love or gold bring back MacCrimmon
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Loch Lomond
Old Scotch Air Arr. Arthur Foote (1897) Performed by Gregory Tait © 2021. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license |
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"The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond", or "Loch Lomond" for short, is a traditional Scottish song. The song prominently features Loch Lomond, the largest of Scotland's lakes, located within Trossachs National Park about 15 miles northwest of Glasgow.
The original composer of the melody is unknown. The author of the traditional lyrics is also unknown.
By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes,
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond,
Where me and my true love were ever wont to gae,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.
Chorus:
O ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland a'fore ye,
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.
The original composer of the melody is unknown. The author of the traditional lyrics is also unknown.
By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes,
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond,
Where me and my true love were ever wont to gae,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.
Chorus:
O ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland a'fore ye,
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.
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Barbara Allen
Traditional Scottish Ballad Arr. Roger Quilter (1921) Performed by Gregory Tait © 2021. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license |
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This song began as a Scottish ballad in the seventeenth century or earlier, before quickly spreading and transforming throughout the British Isles and later North America. A diary entry by Samuel Pepys on January 2, 1666 contains the earliest extant reference to the song. In it, he recalls the fun and games at a New Years party:
"...but above all, my dear Mrs Knipp whom I sang; and in perfect pleasure I was to hear her sing, and especially her little Scotch song of Barbary Allen."
The ballad tells a very sad narrative, given here by an early version of the lyrics.
It was in and about the Martinmas time,
When the greene leaves we a fallan,
That Sir John Grehme o' the west contrye
Fell in luve wi' Barbara Allan.
He sent his man down throw the towne,
To the plaice wher she was dwellan:
"O haste and cum to my maister deare,
Gin ye bin Barbara Allan."
O hooly, hooly raise she up,
To the plaice wher he was lyand;
And whan she drew the curtain by,
"Young man, I think ye're dyand."
"O its I'm sick, and very, very sick,
And its a' for Barbara Allan."
"O the better for me ye'se never be,
Though your harts blude wer spillan."
"Remember ye nat in the tavern, sir,
Whan ye the cups wer fillan,
How ye made the healths gae round and round,
And slighted Barbara Allan?"
He turn'd his face unto the wa',
And death was with him dealan;
"Adiew! adiew! my dear friends a',
Be kind to Barbara Allan."
Then hooly, hooly raise she up,
And hooly, hooly left him;
And sighan said, she could not stay,
Since death of life had reft him.
She had not gane a mile but twa,
Whan she heard the deid-bell knellan;
And everye jow the deid-bell geid,
Cried, "Wae to Barbara Allan!"
"O mither, mither, mak my bed,
O make it saft and narrow;
Since my love dy’d for me to-day,
Ise die for him to-morrowe."
"...but above all, my dear Mrs Knipp whom I sang; and in perfect pleasure I was to hear her sing, and especially her little Scotch song of Barbary Allen."
The ballad tells a very sad narrative, given here by an early version of the lyrics.
It was in and about the Martinmas time,
When the greene leaves we a fallan,
That Sir John Grehme o' the west contrye
Fell in luve wi' Barbara Allan.
He sent his man down throw the towne,
To the plaice wher she was dwellan:
"O haste and cum to my maister deare,
Gin ye bin Barbara Allan."
O hooly, hooly raise she up,
To the plaice wher he was lyand;
And whan she drew the curtain by,
"Young man, I think ye're dyand."
"O its I'm sick, and very, very sick,
And its a' for Barbara Allan."
"O the better for me ye'se never be,
Though your harts blude wer spillan."
"Remember ye nat in the tavern, sir,
Whan ye the cups wer fillan,
How ye made the healths gae round and round,
And slighted Barbara Allan?"
He turn'd his face unto the wa',
And death was with him dealan;
"Adiew! adiew! my dear friends a',
Be kind to Barbara Allan."
Then hooly, hooly raise she up,
And hooly, hooly left him;
And sighan said, she could not stay,
Since death of life had reft him.
She had not gane a mile but twa,
Whan she heard the deid-bell knellan;
And everye jow the deid-bell geid,
Cried, "Wae to Barbara Allan!"
"O mither, mither, mak my bed,
O make it saft and narrow;
Since my love dy’d for me to-day,
Ise die for him to-morrowe."
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Auld Lang Syne
Old Scottish Tune Arr. Helen Hopekirk (1905) Performed by Gregory Tait © 2021. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license |
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The national poet of Scotland, Robert Burns, first wrote down “Auld Lang Syne” in 1788, and submitted it to James Johnson’s Scots Musical Museum publication with the remark, "The following song, an old song, of the olden times, and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript until I took it down from an old man." Parts of some of the verses may indeed have been "collected" from someone else, but the complete Scots language poem is attributed to Burns himself. Here is Burns’ original Scots verse for "Auld Lang Syne" , literally translated as "Old Long Since" which is interpreted to mean "old times" or "old times' sake" :
