[719] Loch Lomond

Chiming in...

By yon bonnie banks, and by yon bonnie braes,
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond,
Where me and my true love were ever wont to be,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

Oh, you'll take the high road, and I'll take the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

I mind where we parted in yon shady glen,
On the steep, steep side of Ben Lomond,
Where in deep purple hue the Highland hills we view,
And the moon coming out in the gloaming.

Oh, you'll take the high road... etc.

The wee birdies sing and the wild flowers spring,
And in sunshine the waters are sleeping,
But the broken heart will ken no second spring again,
And the world does not know how we are greeting.

Oh, you'll take the high road... etc.

	-- Lady John Scott

Mistakenly attributed by Lord Ickenham to the poet Burns.

Referred to in 'Uncle Fred In The Springtime' (1940):

  From some spot hidden from them by thick shrubberies there came the sound
of a pleasant tenor voice. It was rendering "Bonny, Bonny Banks of Loch
Lomond", and putting a good deal of feeling into it.
  "Gah! that whistling feller again!"
  "I beg your pardon?"
  "Chap who comes whistling and singing outside my window," said the Duke,
like the heroine of an old-fashioned novelette speaking of her lover.

	-- P. G. Wodehouse, 'Uncle Fred In the Springtime"

The Duke (Alaric, of Dunstable) dislikes the song with an especially
virulent dislike because, well, it doesn't _rhyme_. Oh well. One can't have
everything <grin>.

thomas.

[Moreover]

Leslie Nelson's _Contemplator_ folk website has a MIDI file of this song:
http://www.contemplator.com/folk/lomond.mid
recorded by Barry Taylor.

Nelson goes on to say:

"Loch Lomond is an old Jacobite Air. It is based on an older folk tune
'Robin Cushie (Kind Robin Loves Me)', in McGibbons' Scots Tunes Book I,
dated 1742. The words are attributed to Lady John Scott (1810-1900) who
adapted a broadside by Sanderson of Edinburgh (1838). The version we are
familiar with today is said to have first appreared in print in Poets and
Poetry of Scotland (1876).

Folklore has it that the words were written by a captured Jacobite solider
in Carlisle Castle in 1745. Two soldiers were captured and one lived (took
the high road) and the other was executed. This is a nice addition to
Jacobite folklore, but otherwise is not true."

	-- Leslie Nelson, http://www.contemplator.com/folk/lomond.html

(The above link has more on Loch Lomond, the Jacobite uprising, and Scottish
folk music - it's worth a visit).

[Credits]

Thanks to V. Ganesh, <ganesh@>, for sending in this link:
http://people.netscape.com/thaths/wodehouse/
which is 'an attempt by the good folks at alt.fan.wodehouse to collect the
text of all the songs that P.G.,Wodehouse makes cursory references to in his
books'.

From: Ira Cooper <iracooper@>

I remember learning this song, early in elementary school.  I will never
forget that one female classmate, by the name of Bonnie, was so taken by the
words of the song that she inscribed her last name into our music book,
right after one of the "Bonnies."  I also remember the fit thrown by the
teacher, upon discovery of the editing!

From: "John McManamon" <jmcmanamon@>

One of the most beautiful recordings of this song is done by Chanticleer on
their album "Wondrous Love" which is a collection of folk songs from around
the world.  It's guaranteed to stir the Celtic soul!

- John McManamon

From: GrainneInGlasgow@

Each year whilst we camped in Argyll, Scotland, with our grandfather, my
brothers and I sang this poem.  We had to pass Lochs Lomond and Restal and
various others en-route to our site.  We always assumed the "high road" meant
the new road (over the Rest and Be Thankful), whilst the "low road" meant the
old track deep in the glen .... obviously wrong but it made sense to us as
children :-)

Just seeing this poem again has brought back so many pleasant memories ...

Gráinne

From: "Ian Baillieu" <ianbaill@>


As regards the folklore about the lyrics referring to two
captured Jacobite soldiers, one of whom was to be hanged,
and the other freed to walk back to the Scottish highlands,
someone once told me many years ago that the 'high road' in
this song meant swinging high on the gallows, while the 'low
road' was the survivor's road at ground level.  This is the
opposite of the interpretation usually given, that the 'low
road' means death.   The 'usual' interpretation may seem
easier to reconcile with Lady Scott's lyrics, but there
other versions of this song earlier than hers.   Some of the
original sense of the song may have been confused by changes
introduced from one version to the next.