Tour Scotland Skye Boat Song Video

Tour Scotland Skye Boat Song Video. Barbara Dickson performing the traditional Scottish Skye Boat Song.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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The Skye Boat Song is a Scottish waltz and folk song recalling the escape of Charles Edward Stewart, Bonnie Prince Charlie, from Uist to the Isle of Skye after his defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Stewart escaped in a small boat with the aid of Flora MacDonald disguised as a serving maid. The song is a traditional expression of Jacobitism and its story has also entered Scotland as a national legend.

chorus:

Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,
Onward! the sailors cry;
Carry the lad that's born to be King
Over the sea to Skye.

Loud the winds howl, loud the waves roar,
Thunderclaps rend the air;
Baffled, our foes stand by the shore,
Follow they will not dare.

chorus

Though the waves leap, soft shall ye sleep,
Ocean's a royal bed.
Rocked in the deep, Flora will keep
Watch by your weary head.

chorus

Many's the lad fought on that day,
Well the Claymore could wield,
When the night came, silently lay
Dead in Culloden's field.

chorus

Burned are their homes, exile and death
Scatter the loyal men;
Yet ere the sword cool in the sheath
Charlie will come again.