Loch Lomond
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Barry Taylor
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Loch Lomond is an old Jacobite Air. It is based on an older folk tune Robin Cushie (Kind Robin Loves Me), in McGibbons Scots Tunes Book I, dated 1742. The words are attributed to Lady John Scott (1810-1900) who adapted a broadside by Sanderson of Edinburgh (1838). The version we are familiar with today is said to have first appreared in print in Poets and Poetry of Scotland (1876).

Folklore has it that the words were written by a captured Jacobite solider in Carlisle Castle in 1745. Two soldiers were captured and one lived (took the high road) and the other was executed. This is a nice addition to Jacobite folklore, but otherwise is not true.

For other Jacobite tunes go to the bottom of The Contemplator's Short History of the Jacobite Uprisings.

By yon bonnie banks
And by yon bonnie braes,
Where the sun shines bright
On Loch Lomond
Oh we twa ha'e pass'd
sae mony blithesome days,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks
O' Loch Lomond.
Oh ye'll tak' the high road
and I'll tak' the low road,
An' I'll be in Scotland before ye',
But wae is my heart until we meet again
On the Bonnie, bonnie banks
O' Loch Lomond.
I mind where we parted
In yon shady glen
On the steep, steep side
O' Ben Lomon'
Where in purple hue
The highland hills we view
And the morn shines out
Frae the gloamin'
Oh ye'll tak' the high road
and I'll tak' the low road,
An' I'll be in Scotland before ye',
But wae is my heart until we meet again
On the Bonnie, bonnie banks
O' Loch Lomond.
The wee bird may sing
An' the wild flowers spring;
An' in sunshine the waters are sleepin'
But the broken heart
It sees nae second spring,
And the world does na ken
How we're greetin'
Oh ye'll tak' the high road
and I'll tak' the low road,
An' I'll be in Scotland before ye',
But wae is my heart until we meet again
On the Bonnie, bonnie banks
O' Loch Lomond.
Related Links
From
Music for Everyone, No. 21
The World's Best Collection of Folk Songs
and Ballads of All Nations
See Bibliography for full information.