Sing me a Song of a Lad that is Gone
BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day,
Over the sea to Skye.

Mull was astern, Rum on the port,
Eigg on the starboard bow;
Glory of youth glowed in his soul;
Where is that glory now?

Give me again all that was there,
Give me the sun that shone!
Give me the eyes, give me the soul,
Give me the lad that's gone!

Billow and breeze, islands and seas,
Mountains of rain and sun,
All that was good, all that was fair,
All that was me is gone.

Compare with 'The Skye Boat Song', words written by Sir Harold Edwin Boulton in the 1870s. (He also wrote the words to 'Glorious Devon'.)

The song tells the tale of Bonnie Prince Charlie (Prince Charles Edward Stuart and grandson of James II and VII of Scotland) and his flight from Benbecula to the Isle of Skye, following his defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. It was the final attempt by the Stuarts to reclaim the throne after their last monarch Queen Anne died, at which point the crown was then passed to George I from Hanover. Bonnie Prince Charlie's supporters, however, believed he was the rightful heir to the throne.

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.