The Skye Boat Song Lyrics
Irish RosesMusic Video
The Skye Boat Song
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 o'er 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.
Burned are their homes, exile and death
Scatter the loyal men;
Yet ere the sword cool in the 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.
Many's the lad fought on that day,
Well the Claymore could wield,
When the night came, silently lay
Dead in 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.
Song Details
✍️ Lyrics (Adaptation): Sir Harold Boulton, 2nd Baronet (1855 – 1921)
🎶 Music: Air collected in the 1870's by Anne Campbelle MacLeod (1855–1921)
📅 Date: 1884
📝 Song Brief:
A late‑19th‑century Scottish folk adaptation that retells one of the most famous episodes of the Jacobite era: the escape of Prince Charles Edward Stuart — Bonnie Prince Charlie — after the defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. With government troops searching the Highlands, the prince fled in disguise, aided by Flora MacDonald, who helped him cross from Uist to the Isle of Skye in a small boat.
The Battle of Culloden (Scottish Gaelic: Blàr Chùil Lodair) was the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745 and part of a religious civil war in Britain. On 16 April 1746, the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart were decisively defeated by loyalist troops commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands...📖 Glossary:
- Skye — The largest and most northerly island of the Inner Hebrides, known as the Isle of Skye. It is the destination of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s escape after the defeat at Culloden.
- Uist — A central group of islands in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Prince Charles Edward Stuart fled from South Uist before being taken across the sea to Skye.
- ere — A poetic or archaic word meaning “before.”
- Charlie — A reference to Bonnie Prince Charlie (Prince Charles Edward Stuart), the Jacobite claimant who fled Scotland after the Battle of Culloden.
- Flora — Flora MacDonald, the Highland woman who famously helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape to Skye in 1746.
- Claymore — A large, double‑edged broadsword traditionally used by Scottish Highlanders.
- Culloden — A moor east of Inverness where the Battle of Culloden was fought in 1746 — the final, devastating defeat of the Jacobite Rising.
👥 Covers: John McDermott, The Fureys, Phil Coulter, Glenn Murphy, Emma (Welsh), Kenneth McKellar (Scottish Tenor), Steam Jenny (Scottish Band), Rosalind McAllister.
🎤 Featured Artists: Irish Roses - Rowena Taheny, Laurel MacDonald & Eleanor McCain.
💿 Album: Women Of Celtic Song
Released: 2009
Country: UK
Format: CD
Label: Somerset Entertainment
🎸 If you'd like to play this song on guitar, you can view the chord version on our sister site, Bell & Co Music.
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📖 References
- Wikipedia The Skye Boat Song... a late 19th-century Scottish song adaptation of a Gaelic song composed c.1782 by William Ross, entitled Cuachag nan Craobh ("Cuckoo of the Tree").
- The Associated Clan MacLeod Societies - Anne Campbell MacLeod
- Wikipedia The Battle of Culloden - the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745.
