Skye Boat Song

Annie MacLeod | Harold Boulton

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

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

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

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

Many’s the lad, fought on that day
Well the claymore could wield
When the night came, silently lay
Dead on Culloden’s field

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

Burned are our homes, exile and death
Scatter the loyal men
Yet ‘ere the sword cools in its sheath
Charlie will come again

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

Laura Black from Australia writes: “Skye Boat Song, I learnt two or three years ago from my grandmother who is from Oban. The lyrics were written by Sir Harold Boulton. The first half of the tune is apparently an old Sea Shanty, while the second half is by Annie McLeod. If you don’t know the story, then here it is: Following the Jacobite defeat at the battle of Culloden (1745-46), a price of some 30,000 pounds was placed on the head of prince Charles Edward Stuart. After disguising him as her maid, a Jacobite heroine, Flora MacDonald (who incidentally is my great, times 7, grandmother) helped him to escape to the island of Skye. She herself was captured but was released in 1747.”