Skye Boat Song
Speed, bonnie boat — carrying the lad born to be King over the sea
Listen
Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
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,
Thunderclouds 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.
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
The "Skye Boat Song" is one of the most famous Scottish folk songs, its melody both beautiful and instantly recognisable. The words were written by Harold Boulton in 1884, set to a traditional Gaelic boat rowing melody that was notated by Annie MacLeod (later Lady Wilson) after she heard it being sung by rowers on Loch Coruisk on the Isle of Skye.
The song commemorates the escape of Charles Edward Stuart — Bonnie Prince Charlie — after his defeat at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746. With the Jacobite cause in ruins and a price on his head, the prince was sheltered and ultimately helped to escape to France by Flora MacDonald, who disguised him as her Irish maidservant and sailed him from Benbecula to the Isle of Skye. "Flora will keep watch by your weary head" is a direct reference to this act of courage and loyalty.
The phrase "the lad that's born to be King" reflects the Jacobite conviction that Charles was the rightful heir to the British throne. He was never to return to Scotland. The song preserves the moment of escape — the wind, the waves, the pursuing foes — as a romantic elegy for a cause that was already lost when the boat set sail.
Our arrangement does full justice to the beauty and melancholy of this magnificent song.
