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GUEST,Jim I OTHER Loch Lomond Songs ? (15) Lyr Add: LOCH LOMOND + FLORA'S LAMENT FOR HER ... 29 Jan 07


As sung by Matt McGinn

^^
Loch Lomond
Oh whither away my bonnie May
Sae late and sae dark in the gloamin?
The mist gathers gray oer moorland and brae.
O whither sae far are ye roamin?

Chorus
O, yell tak the high road and Ill tak the low.
Ill be in Scotland afore ye.
For me and my true love will never meet again
By the bonnie, bonnie banks o Loch Lomond.

I trysted my ain love last night in the broom,
My Donald wha loves me sae dearly.
For the morrow he will march for Edinburgh toon,
Tae fecht for his king and Prince Charlie.

O, weel may I weep for yestreen in my sleep.
We lay bride and bridegroom together.
But his touch and his breath were cold as the death,
And his hairtsblood ran red in the heather.

As dauntless in battle as tender in love,
Hed yield neer a foot tae the foeman.
But never again frae the fields o the slain
Tae his Moira will he come by Loch Lomond.

The thistle may bloom, the king hae his ain,
And fond lovers will meet in the gloamin.
And me and my true love will yet meet again
Far above the bonnie banks o Loch Lomond.

Then there is the broadside version (which might be from Sanderson)

^^
FLORA'S LAMENT FOR HER CHARLIE

It's yon bonny banks and yon bonny braes
Where the sun shines bright and bonny
Where I and my true love went out for to gaze
On the bonny bonny banks of Benlomond

It's you'll take the high road and I'll take the low road.
And I'll be in Scotland before you.
And I and my true love shall never meet again
On the bonny banks of Benlomond.

It's not for the hardships that I must endure
Nor the leaving of Benlomond
But it's for the leaving of my comrades all
And the bonny lad that I love so dearly

With his bonny lac'd shoes and his buckles so clear
And his plaid o'er his shoulder hung so rarely
One glance of his eye it would banish dull care
So handsome the looks of my Charlie

But as long as I live and as long as I do breathe
I will sing to his memory fairly
My true love was taken by the arrows of death
And now Flora does lament for her Charlie

Then there is the poem by Andrew Lang which, I believe, is the source of the oft-quoted bit about Scots prisoners in Carlisle gaol.

^^
THE BONNIE BANKS O' LOCH LOMOND
Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

There's an ending o' the dance, and fair Morag's safe in France,
And the Clans they hae paid the lawing,
And the wuddy has her ain, and we twa are left alane,
Free o' Carlisle gaol in the dawing.

So ye'll tak the high road, and I'll tak the laigh road,
An' I'll be in Scotland before ye:
But me and my true love will never meet again,
By the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

For my love's heart brake in twa, when she kenned the Cause's fa',
And she sleeps where there's never nane shall waken,
Where the glen lies a' in wrack, wi' the houses toom and black,
And her father's ha's forsaken.

While there's heather on the hill shall my vengeance ne'er be still,
While a bush hides the glint o' a gun, lad;
Wi' the men o' Sergeant Môr shall I work to pay the score,
Till I wither on the wuddy in the sun, lad!

So ye'll tak the high road, and I'll tak the laigh road,
an' I'll be in Scotland before ye:
But me and my true love will never meet again,
By the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.


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