The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond

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"The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond" is a traditional Scottish song. It was first published in 1841 in Vocal Melodies of Scotland.[1]

Loch Lomond is a large Scottish lake to the north of Dunbarton and north-west of Glasgow.

There are many theories about the meaning of the song. The primary interpretation is that it is (apocryphally) attributed to a Jacobite Highlander who was captured after the 1745 rising while he was fleeing near Carlisle and is sentenced to die. The verse is his mournful elegy to another rebel who will not be executed. He claims that he will follow the "low road" (the spirit path through the underworld) and arrive in Scotland before his still-living comrade.

It captures some of the romantic spirit of the lost cause of Bonnie Prince Charlie.[2]

[edit] Lyrics

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 afore ye

But me and my true love will never meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond.

‘Twas there that we parted in yon shady glen

On the steep, steep side o’ Ben Lomond

Where in deep purple hue, the hieland hills we view

And the moon comin’ out in the gloamin’.

The wee birdies sing and the wild flowers spring

And in sunshine the waters are sleeping

But the broken heart, it kens nae second spring again

Tho’ the waefu’ may cease from their greeting.