Skye Boat Song
COMPOSER’S NOTE
In 2011, I was commissioned by Decca Records to produce new orchestral arrangements of several British folk songs for soprano Laura Wright and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for the Number One selling album, The Last Rose.
The Skye Boat Song is a late 19th century Scottish song with words by Sir Harold Edwin Boulton, 2nd Baronet (1859-1935) recalling the journey of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) from Uist to the Isle of Skye as he evaded capture by Government troops after his defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
DURATION
5 minutes
SOLOIST
Soprano
INSTRUMENTATION
Piano OR Strings, Flute & Oboe
YEAR OF COMPOSITION
2011
PUBLISHER
Novello
SHEET MUSIC
Available from
JW Pepper
Music Room
Music Shop Europe
[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.
Loud the winds howl, loud the waves roar,
Thunderclaps rend the air;
Baffled, our foes stand on the shore,
Follow they will not dare.[Chorus]
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.[Chorus]
Many’s the lad fought on that day
Well the claymore did wield;
When the night came, silently lay
Dead on Culloden’s field.[Chorus]
Burned are their homes, exile and death
Scatter the loyal men;
Yet ere the sword cool in the sheath
Charlie will come again.[Chorus]
Words: Sir Harold Edwin Boulton, 2nd Baronet (1859 – 1935)
