Category: Lyrics

Chorus

Come along, come along let us foot it out together

Come along, Come along be it fair or stormy weather

With the hills of home before us and the purple of the heather

Let us sing in happy chorus come along, come along

With the song of the lark the sky is all awake

With the promise of the day for the road we gladly take

So it’s heel and toe forward bidding farewell to the town

For the welcome that awaits us ere the sun goes down

It’s the call of sea and shore It’s the tang of bog and peat

And the scent of brier and myrtle that put magic in our feet

So it’s on we go rejoicing o’er bracken over stile

And it’s soon we will be tramping Out the last long mile

When I’ve done my work of day, 
And I row my boat away, 
Doon the waters of Loch Tay, 
As the evening light is fading 
And I look upon Ben Lawers 
Where the after glory glows; 
And I think on two bright eyes 
And the melting mouth below.

She’s my beauteous nighean ruadh, 
She’s my joy and sorrow too; 
And although she is untrue, 
Well I cannot live without her, 
For my heart’s a boat in tow, 
And I’d give the world to know 
Why she means to let me go, 
As I sing horee horo.

Nighean ruadh, your lovely hair 
Has more glamour I declare 
Than all the tresses rare 
‘tween Killin and Aberfeldy. 
Be they lint white, brown or gold, 
Be they blacker than the sloe, 
They are worth no more to me 
Than the melting flake of snow.

Her eyes are like the gleam 
O’ the sunlight on the stream; 
And the songs the fairies sing 
Seem like songs she sings at milking. 
But my heart is full of woe, 
For last night she bade me go 
And the tears begin to flow, 
As I sing horee, horo.

Chorus:
I’m a rover, seldom sober, I’m a rover of high degree,
It’s when I’m drinkin’, I’m always thinkin’ how to gain my love’s company.

There’s ne’er a night I’m going tae ramble, there’s ne’er a night I’m going tae roam,
There’s ne’er a night I’m going tae ramble, intae the airms of me ain true love.

Though the night be as dark as dungeon, not a star can be seen above,
I’ll take the road there without a stumble, into the arms of my own true love.

I crept up to her bedroom window, leaning gently upon a stone,
I whispered softly through her bedroom window: “My darling dear must ye lie alane”

She raised her head from her down soft pillow, wi’ her arms around her breasts,
Says: “Who is that at my bedroom window disturbing me at my long night’s rest?”

Pray open the door my own true lover pray open door and let me in,
For I have come on a long night’s journey, and I’m near drenched to the skin.”

She opened the door without a murmer, she opened the door and she let me in,
They kissing inside and embraced each other, until the morning they lay as yin.

The day was dawning the cock was calling’, the birds were whistling’, in every tree

Farewell my true love for I must leave you for the long night has turned to day.

WITH OUR NETS AND GEAR WE;RE FAR-ING ON THE WILD AND WASTEFUL OCEAN

IT’S OUT THERE ON THE DEEP THAT WE HARVEST AND REAP OUR BREAD

AS WE HUNTED FOR THE SHOULS O’ HERRING

O, it was a fine and a pleasant day
Out of Yarmouth harbour I was faring
As a cabin boy on a sailing lugger
For to go and hunt the shoals of herring

O, we left the home grounds in the month of June
And to canny Shiels we soon was bearing
With a hundred cran of the silver darlings
That we’d taken from the shoals of herring

O, we fished the Swarth and the Broken Bank
I was a cook and I’d a quarter-sharing
And I used to sleep, standing on me feet
And I’d dream about the shoals of herring

Now you’re up on deck, you’re a fisherman
You can swear and show a manly bearing
Take your turn on watch with the other fellows
While you’re searching for the shoals of herring

O, the work was hard and the hours were long
And the treatment sure it took some bearing
Scraps o’ navigation that’s yer education
As you hunted for the shoals of herring

In the stormy seas and the living gales
Just to earn your daily bread you’re daring
Sailed a million miles caught ten million fishes
We were sailing after shoals of herring

NIGHT AND DAY WE’RE FAR-ING COME WINTER WAVE OR WINTER GALE

SWEATING THROUGH COLD GROWING UP GROWING OLD AND DYING

AS WE HUNTED FOR THE SHOULS O HERRING.

Westering home and a song in the air
Light in the eye and its good by to care
Laughter o love and a welcoming there
Isle of my heart my own one

Sing me of lands of the Orient gay
Sing me o’ the riches and joys o’ Cathay
Say but it’s glad to be wakin at day
Tae find oneself nearer to Islay

Where are the folks like the folks of the west
Canty and couthy and kindly, our best
There I would lie me and there I would rest
At home with my own folks in Islay

Chorus.

The first time it was fathers,
The last time it was sons
In between your husbands
Marched away with drums and guns.
But you never thought to question.
You just went on wi’ your lives.
Cause all they taught you who to be,
Was mothers, daughters, wives.

You barely just remember
The tears your mother she’d
As she sat and read the papers
Through the lists and lists of dead.
And the gold frame held a photogragh
Your mother kissed each night.
And the door frame held a shocked
And silent stranger from the frae.

And twenty-one years later,
You had children of your own.
The trumpets sounded once again,
And the soldier boys were gone.
But you made their guns and drove their trucks
And you tended to their wounds.
At night you kissed their photograph
And prayed for safe returns.

And when it was all over
You had to learn again
To be just wives and mothers,
Tho’ you’d done the work of men.
But you worked to help the needy
And you never trod on toes.
And the photo on the mantlepiece

Struck a happy family pose

But your daughters grew to women
And your little boys to men.
And you wished that you were dreaming
When the call up came up again.
But you bravely smiled and held your tears
As you proudly waved goodbye.
But the photo on the mantel piece
It always made you cry.

Now you’re getting older
And in time the photos fade.
In widowhood you sit there
And reflect on the parade.
And the passing of your memories
How your daughter change their lives.
Seeing more to their existences
Than mothers, daughters, wives.

Come all ye young lassies whaur hae ye been

Sae sleepy and drowsy I ken by yer een

In all the wide world ye’ll neer find a frein

Like the lads that are reared among heather

Chorus

Awa wi yer satins yer silk and yer shawls

Ye’r soirees and yer parties an yer elegant balls

for a dance in the barn is worth ten in the hall

Wi the lads that are reared among heather

Tak’ a walk roon yer cities, braw buildings ootside
Gaze on the splendors and the wonder with pride
Fine ships have been built, on the banks o’ the Clyde
By the lads that were reared among heather

When the queen wants some soldiers, she kens whaur to send
To the mountains and valleys, the hills and the glens
Wi’ their bonnets and plaids, they’re aye true tae the end
Are the lads that were reared among heather

Now England can boast for the sweet-scented rose
And Ireland can boast for the shamrock she grows
But gi’ me the land, where the clear water flows
And the mountains are covered with heather

Cam’ ye by Athol, lad wi’ the philabeg
Down by the Tummel, or banks of the Garry?
Saw ye the lads, wi’ their bonnets an’ white cockades
Leaving their mountains to follow Prince Charlie

Chorus

Follow thee, follow thee, wha wadna follow thee?
Long has thou lov’d an’ trusted us fairly!
Charlie, Charlie, wha wadna follow thee?
King o’ the Highland hearts, bonnie Charlie

I have but ae son, my gallant young Donald;
But if I had ten, they should follow Glengarry;
Health to MacDonald and gallant Chan Ronald
For these are the men that will die for their Charlie

I’ll go to Lochiel, and Appin, and kneel to them;
Down by Lord Murray and Roy of Kildarlie;
Brave Mackintosh, he shall fly to the field wi’ them;
These are the lads I can trust wi’ my Charlie

Down by thro’ the Lowlands, down wi’ the whigamore
Loyal true Highlanders, down wi’ them rarely;
Ronald and Donald drive on wi’ the braid claymore
Over the necks o’ the foes o’ Prince Charlie

The west winds blow to Coshieville
And with the winds came we
And where the river hugs the wood
And blackthorns bloom in May
There stood a single rowan tree
So young and tender so were you
I loved you both as there you grew
The day I took the road that leads by Rannoch to the sea

We carved our names in Coshieville
The rowan leaves were still
But the darkening west was in your eye
Despite your kisses and my lies
My thoughts had crossed the hill
I broke your heart as the minutes passed
For I shrugged and said that nothing lasts
But many’s the backward glance I cast
As I went north to the drill

The big wheels rumble up and down
The lorries know the way
I waved my hand I hitched a ride
We crossed the bridge at Rannochside
Where the diesel motors play
Then I set myself to a cliff of stone
My ear to the boring hammer’s drone
And the ache inside I rued alone
For you were far away

But the money moved from Ericht’s Loch
And the Great Glen beckoned on
At Moriston the hills grew pale
And we fought and drank through old Kintail
Till our money soon was gone
Then I cursed Loch Awe side’s autumn rain
And the winter whiskey in Dunblane
Till the west winds rose in spring again
And my heart leapt to it’s song

And I came at night to Coshieville
With a dozen hills aflame
You had another hand to hold
Beneath the names we carved of old
There was another name
You looked me through you made no sign
I drank the cup of bitter wine
But well I knew the fault was mine
And I went the road I came

Repeat verse three.

Chorus