Author: David Gilfillan

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 wind howls 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

Many’s the lad fought on that day
Well the claymore did wield
When the night came
Silently laid dead on Colloden 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

Is there for honest poverty
That hings his head an’ a’ that?
The coward slave, we pass him by
We dare be poor for a’ that
For a’ that, an’ a’ that
Our toils obscure an’ a’ that
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp
The man’s the gowd for a’ that

What though on hamely fare we dine
Wear hoddin gray an’ a’ that?
Gie fools their silks and knaves their wine
A man’s a man for a’ that
For a’ that, an’ a’ that
Their tinsel show an’ a’ that
The honest man though e’er sae poor
Is king o’ men for a’ that

Ye see yon birkie ca’d a lord
Wha struts an’ stares an’ a’ that?
Though hundreds worship at his word
He’s but a cuif for a’ that
For a’ that, an’ a’ that
His ribband, star, an’ a’ that
The man o’ independent mind
He looks an’ laughs at a’ that

A prince can mak a belted knight
A marquis, duke, an’ a’ that
But an honest man’s aboon his might
Guid faith, he mauna fa’ that
For a’ that, an’ a’ that
Their dignities an’ a’ that
The pith o’ sense an’ pride o’ worth
Are higher rank than a’ that

Then let us pray that come it may
As come it will for a’ that
That sense and worth o’er a’ the earth
Shall bear the gree an’ a’ that
For a’ that, an’ a’ that
It’s comin’ yet for a’ that
That man to man the world o’er
Shall brithers be for a’ that

I went to church on Sunday
My love, she passed me by
I knew her mind was changing
By the roving of her eye
By the roving of her eye
By the roving of her eye
I knew her mind was changing
By the roving of her eye

My love’s fair and proper
Her waist is neat and small
She is quite good-looking
And that’ s the best of all
And that’ s the best of all
And that’ s the best of all
And she is quite good-looking
And that’ s the best of all

Oh, Hanna, loving Hanna
Come give to me your hand
You said that if you’re married
That i will be the one
That i will be the one
That i will be the one
You said that if you’re married
That i will be the one

I will go down by the river
When everyone’s asleep
I’ll think of loving Hannah
And then sit down and weep
And then sit down and weep
And then sit down and weep
I’ll think of loving Hannah
And then sit down and grieve

I went to church on Sunday
My love she passed me by
I knew her mind was changing
By the roving of her eye
By the roving of her eye
By the roving of her eye
I knew her mind was changing
By the roving of her eye

Twas Johnny the weasel that gave us the wire
They were closin’ our factory down
Tho’ we didn’t believe him and we called him a liar
The redundancy letters came down
As we read them in silence I choked back a tear
It is hard to believe after twenty-odd years

Chorus

Farewell my companions, my friends and my workmates
Farewell to the paydays, the pints, and the crack
Oh we gave them our best years, now they’ve paid us back,
By making us yesterdays men sure as hell
By making us yesterday’s men.

So we said our goodbyes by the factory gate
One cold Friday evening last year
And I saw it all there in the eyes of me mates
The anger the sadness the fear
Like our fathers before us we worked there with pride
Now we fought back the bitterness burning inside.

Now Ginny said sure give the kids a few bob,
After all it was Friday night
Ah, how could I tell her I was out of a job?
And now things were going to be tight
How well I remember it cut like a knife
I was never a day on the dole in my life

The machines now are silent, the workbench is bare
And there’s dust on the factory floor
They’ve boarded the windows and they’ve chained up the gate,
And they’ve padlocked the factory door,
And I’m on the scrap heap, and I’m thirty-nine
As one of the hundreds shot down in my prime.

Farewell my companions, my friends and my workmates
Farewell to the paydays, the pints, and the crack
Oh we gave them our best years, now they’ve paid us back,
By making us yesterdays men sure as hell
By making us yesterday’s men.

The fire is out, the moon is down
The parting glass is dry and done
And I must go and leave this town
Before the rising of the sun
And long’s the road and far’s the mile
Before I rest my soul again
With girls that weep and girls that smile
And all the words and ways of men

but there for those,who cannot bide
But wander to the journey’s end
Nor take a girl to be his bride
Nor take a man to his a friend
And when I’m done with wandering
I’ll sit myself by road and weep
For all the songs I did not sing
And promises I did not keep

As I was sittin’ with my jug and spoon
One fine mornin’ in the month of June
a birdie sang in an ivy bunch
and the song he sang was the jug o’ punch

chorus:
tooriloorilay, tooriloorily
tooriloorilay, tooriloorily
a birdie sat in an ivy bunch
and the song he sang was the jug o’ punch

what more diversion can a man desire
than be sittin’ down by a snug turf fire
a pretty maid seated on the bench
and on the table a jug o’ punch
tooriloorilay, tooriloorily
tooriloorilay, tooriloorily
a pretty maid seated on the bench
and on the table a jug o’ punch


and when I’m dead and laid in my grave
no costly tombstone will I crave
just bury me in my native peat
with a jug o’ punch at my head and feet
tooriloorilay, tooriloorily
tooriloorilay, tooriloorily
just bury me in my native peat
with a jug o’ punch at my head and feet

Chorus.

Oh, there’re sober men and plenty,
And drunkards barely twenty,
There are men of over ninety
That have never yet kissed a girl.
But give me a ramblin’ rover,
Frae Orkney down to Dover.
We will roam the country over
And together we’ll face the world.

There’s many that feign enjoyment
From merciless employment,
Their ambition was this deployment
From the minute they left the school.
And they save and scrape and ponder
While the rest go out and squander,
See the world and rove and wander
And are happier as a rule.

I’ve roamed through all the nations
In delight of all creations,
And enjoyed a wee sensation
Where the company, it was kind.
And when partin’ was no pleasure,
I’ve drunk another measure
To the good friends that we treasure
For they always are in our mind.

If you’re bent wi’ arthiritis,
Your bowels have got Colitis,
You’ve gallopin’ bollockitis
And you’re thinkin’ it’s time you died,
If you been a man o’ action,
Though you’re lying there in traction,
You will get some satisfaction
Thinkin’, “Jesus, at least I tried.”

Oh fare you well my own true love,
Fare you well my dear;
For the ship is waiting and the wind blows high,
And I am bound away for the sea, Mary Ann. 

And I am bound away for the sea Marie Ann

.

Oh yonder don’t you see the turtle dove
That sits on yonder stile,
Lamenting the loss of her own true love
As I do now for mine love Mary Anne.

As I do now for mine love Mary Anne.

.

And if I should suffer grieve an pain

Tis for a little while 

for thou I must go I’ll return again 

Thou I go ten thousand miles my love Marie Ann

Thou I go ten thousand miles my love Marie Ann

.

And the waves shall cease to beat the shore

The Stars fall from the skys

but I will love you more and more

Until the day I die my lover Marie Ann

Until the day I die my lover Marie Ann


Repeat 1^st verse.

Chorus.

Come o’er the stream Charlie, dear Charlie, brave Charlie
Come o’er the stream Charlie, and dine wi MacLean
And though ye be weary, we’ll mak yer heart cheery
And welcome oor Charlie and his loyal train

We’ll bring doon the red deer, we’ll bring doon the black steer
The lamb fae the brecken and the doe fae the glen
The salt sea we’ll harry and bring to oor Charlie
The cream fae the bothy, the curd fae the pen

Come o’er the stream Charlie, dear Charlie, brave Charlie
Come o’er the stream Charlie, and dine wi MacLean
And though ye be weary, we’ll mak yer heart cheery
And welcome oor Charlie and his loyal train

And you shall drink freely the dews of Glensheerly
That stream in the starlight, where kings dinna ken
And deep be your meed of the wine that is red
Tae drink to your sire and his friend the MacLean

It ought to invite you, or more will delight you
Tis ready a troop of our bold Highland men
Shall range on the heather, with bayonet and feather
Strong arms and broad claymores, three hundred and ten

Oh, Mary, this London’s a wonderful sight
With people here working by day and by night
They don’t sow potatoes nor barley nor wheat
But there’s gangs of them diggin’ for gold in the street
At least when I asked them, that’s what I was told
So I just took a hand at this diggin’ for gold
But for all that I’ve found there, I might as well be
Where the dark Mourne sweeps down to the sea

I believe that when writin’ a wish you expressed
As to how the fine ladies of London were dressed
But if you’ll believe me, when asked to a ball
They don’t wear no tops to their dresses at all
Oh, I’ve seen them myself and you could not in truth
Tell if they were bound for a ball or a bath
Don’t be startin’ them fashions now, Mary McRee,
Where the dark Mourne sweeps down to the sea

There’s beautiful girls here, oh, never you mind
Beautiful shapes Nature never designed
Lovely complexions of roses and cream
But let me remark with regard to the same
That if at those roses you venture to sit
The colors might all come away on your lip
So I’ll wait for the wild rose that’s waitin’ for me
Where the dark Mourne sweeps down to the sea

You remember young Danny Mcloughlan , of course
But he’s over here with the rest of the force
I saw him one day as he stood on the strand
Stopped all the traffic with a wave of his hand
As we were talking of days that are gone
The whole town of London stood there to look on
But for all his great powers, he’s wishful like me
To be back where the dark Mourne sweeps down to the sea