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2008-2025
Eric Maclewis - BAGPIPE SOUNDS
Eric Maclewis
If you are looking for a tune to make Scottish patriotism vibrate, to be recognised and sung by everyone in Scotland or among the diaspora, there is no need to turn to Scotland The Brave whose seniority is very relative: The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond - or simply Loch Lomond - arrives just after Flower Of Scotland in the heart of the Scottish-Scottish.
It is a song deeply rooted in the history of the country and in particular in its tragic episodes such as the last Jacobite revolt and the Culloden disaster (1746) that almost led to the outright disappearance of the culture and populations of the Highlands.
It is therefore understood that everything related to this period is marked by a strong emotion transmitted from generation to generation.
The lyrics were written long after the events under the title The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond by Andrew Lang (1876) and were attached to an older tune, first published in 1841 and perhaps older.
They clearly refer to the last of the Jacobite revolts: see in particular the last verse of the third verse Tae fecht (to fight) for his King and Prince Charlie (To fight for his king and for Prince Charlie).
Another version, based on the same tune, exists in the Irish repertoire under the name Red Is The Rose.
The air has been covered by many groups or artists, starting with the AC/DC Boys - the Young brothers being of Scottish origin - under the title Fling Thing or Bonny.
As for the bagpipe repertoire, Loch Lomond is most often played in March (Slow March) by pipe-bands and rather in slow air by soloists.
It is this last version that I have favoured to classify and interpret this superb melody.
However, I retained a rather playful tempo from the public reception during my performances and underlining the patriotic character very strongly felt when listening to this song.
NB: the score I propose follows the chorus but not the entire air, as some pipe-bands do; the melody has a larger scale of notes than what the Scottish bagpipe allows, forcing moderately happy compromises.
The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond
- The Corries version -
(Andrew Lang)
O wither away my bonnie May
Sae late an’ sae far in the gloamin’
The mist gathers grey o’er moorland and brae
O wither sae far are ye roamin’?
O ye’ll tak the high road an’ I’ll tak the low
I’ll be in Scotland before ye
For me and my true love will never meet again
By the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond
O will may I weep for yestreen in my sleep
We stood bride and bridegroom together
But his arms and his breath were as cold as the death
And his heart’s blood ran red on the heather
I trusted 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
(chorus)
As dauntless in battle as tender in love
He’d yield ne’er a foot tae the foeman
But never again frae the field o’ the slain
To 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
O ye’ll tak the high road an’ I’ll tak the low
I’ll be in Scotland before ye
For me and my true love will never meet again
By the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond
THE BONNIE BANKS O'LOCH LOMOND
SLOW AIR
- score by Eric Maclewis with CelticPipes