The Skye Boat Song
Words from 1884Gaelic rowing airPublic domain
A rocking Scottish boat song that many families use as a lullaby. It sounds ancient, yet its English words were written in 1884. On this page you will find the chorus and the lullaby verses, what they say and the real story of the song.
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Chorus
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.
(Fly fast, lovely little boat, like a bird on the wing, the sailors call out as they row. Carry the young man who was born to be king over the sea to the Isle of Skye.)
Verse 1
Loud the winds howl, loud the waves roar,
Thunderclaps rend the air,
Baffled, our foes stand by the shore,
Follow they will not dare.
(The winds howl, the waves roar and thunder cracks overhead, but the pursuers are left standing on the shore. They do not dare to follow.)
Verse 3
Though the waves leap, soft shall ye sleep,
Ocean's a royal bed.
Rock'd in the deep Flora will keep
Watch o'er your weary head.
(Though the waves leap about, you may sleep softly: the sea is a royal bed. Rocked by the deep, Flora will keep watch over your tired head.)
Good to know
What this song means
The song pictures a small boat crossing stormy water at night, with a tired young man asleep in it and a woman watching over him. That picture, sleep under protection while the sea rocks the boat, is why the song became a lullaby. The words belong to a real piece of Scottish history, the escape of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, called Bonnie Prince Charlie, who fled to the Isle of Skye in 1746 after the defeat at Culloden with the help of Flora MacDonald.
We show the chorus and the two verses that carry the lullaby feeling. The other verses speak about the battle and its aftermath, and we have left them out for little ears. The English lines under each part are our own paraphrase.
History
Where this song comes from
The Skye Boat Song is younger than it sounds. Its English words were written by Harold Boulton and published in 1884 in the book Songs of the North, which he made with Annie MacLeod. MacLeod had heard a Gaelic rowing song while being rowed across Loch Coruisk, on Skye, in the 1870s, and she wrote down the tune as she remembered it.
The air is related to a Gaelic song of unrequited love, "Cuachag nan Craobh", by the poet William Ross, from around 1782. Boulton set new words to it about the escape of Bonnie Prince Charlie, and many people soon took them for ancient Gaelic verses. They are not: the Jacobite story is a Victorian addition, and the song is best described as a Scottish air with Victorian English words.
Sources & rights
- Words: Sir Harold Boulton (1859 to 1935), first published in 1884. Public domain.
- Tune: an air noted by Annie MacLeod in the 1870s, related to the Gaelic song "Cuachag nan Craobh" by William Ross (about 1782), published in 1884. Public domain.
- We do not use any modern arrangement, television version or altered words of this song.
- Meaning: our own paraphrase, written for understanding.
- Video: a selection from our own handplayed videos. This song does not have a dedicated recording by us yet.
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