"The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond", or "Loch Lomond" for short, is a Scottish song (

Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

No. 9598). The song prominently features

Loch Lomond Loch Lomond (; gd, Loch Laomainn - 'Lake of the Elms'Richens, R. J. (1984) ''Elm'', Cambridge University Press.) is a freshwater Scottish loch which crosses the Highland Boundary Fault, often considered the boundary between the lowlands of C ...

, the largest Scottish loch, located between the

council areas For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as "council areas" ( gd, comhairlean), which are all governed by single-tier authorities designated as "councils". They have the option under the Local Government (Ga ...

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire ( sco, Wast Dunbairtonshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann an Iar, ) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the west of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's commuter to ...

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

and

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 2020) ...

. In Scots, "

bonnie Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...

" means "attractive", "beloved", or "dear".

Lyrics

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 gae, On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond. ''Chorus:'' O ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' 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 o' Loch Lomond. 'Twas there that we parted, in yon shady glen, On the steep, steep side o'

Ben Lomond Ben Lomond (Scottish Gaelic: Beinn Laomainn, 'Beacon Mountain'), , is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. Situated on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, it is the most southerly of the Munros. Ben Lomond lies within the Ben Lomond National Me ...

, Where in soft purple hue, the highland hills we view, And the moon coming out in the gloaming. ''Chorus'' The wee birdies sing and the wildflowers spring, And in sunshine the waters are sleeping. But the broken heart it kens nae second spring again, Though the waeful may cease frae their grieving. ''Chorus''

Interpretation

Historian Murray G. H. Pittock writes that the song "is a Jacobite adaptation of an eighteenth-century erotic song, with the lover dying for his king, and taking only the 'low road' of death back to Scotland."Murray G. H. Pittock, ''Poetry and Jacobite Politics in Eighteenth-Century Britain and Ireland'' (Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 136–137. It is one of many poems and songs that emerged from Jacobite political culture in Scotland.

Andrew Lang

About 1876, the Scottish poet and folklorist

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University o ...

wrote a poem based on the song titled "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond". The title sometimes has the date "1746" appended—the year of the defeat of

Bonnie Prince Charlie Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...

's rebellion and the hanging of some of his captured supporters. Lang's poem begins Morag—''great one'' in Gaelic—referred to Bonnie Prince Charlie, who fled to France after his forces were defeated. ''Lawing'' means ''reckoning'' in Scots. The poem continues: ''Wuddy'' means ''hangman's rope'', according to Lang's own notes on the poem; ''dawing'' is ''dawn''.RPO – Andrew Lang : The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond
The poem continues with the song's well-known chorus, then explains why the narrator and his true love will never meet again: The poem's narrator vows to take violent revenge on the English: "Sergeant Môr" is

John Du Cameron John Du Cameron ( gd, Iain Dubh Camshròn) (executed 23 November 1753) was a Scottish Sergeant in the French Royal Army who came back to Scotland to fight for Prince Charles Edward Stuart during the Jacobite rising of 1745. When the rebellion fa ...

, a supporter of Bonnie Prince Charlie who continued fighting as an outlaw until he was hanged in 1753.

Irish variant

The Irish variant of the song is called "Red Is the Rose" and is sung with the same melody but different (although similarly themed) lyrics. It was popularized by Irish folk musician

Tommy Makem Thomas Makem (4 November 1932 – 1 August 2007) was an internationally celebrated Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banj ...

. Even though many people mistakenly believe that Makem wrote "Red Is the Rose", it is a traditional Irish folk song.

Arrangements and recordings

"Loch Lomond" has been arranged and recorded by many composers and performers over the years, in several

genres Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

ranging from traditional Scottish folk to barbershop to

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

Classical music

Ralph Vaughan Williams made an arrangement for baritone solo and unaccompanied male choir in 1921. It has been recorded several times, notably by the

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

Ian Partridge Ian Partridge (born 12 June 1938) is a retired English lyric tenor, whose repertoire ranged from Monteverdi, Bach and Handel, the Elizabethan lute songs, German, French and English songs, through to Schoenberg, Weill and Britten, and on to conte ...

and the London Madrigal Singers for EMI in 1970.

Popular music

Scottish folk-rock band

Runrig Runrig were a Scottish Celtic rock band formed on the Isle of Skye in 1973. From its inception, the band's line-up included songwriters Rory Macdonald and Calum Macdonald. The line-up during most of the 1980s and 1990s (the band's most succe ...

have made the song their unofficial anthem, closing their concerts with a rendition for over 25 years. Two verses of the song and the chorus are now a favourite anthem of the supporters of the Scotland rugby team and also of the

Tartan Army Tartan ( gd, breacan ) is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-crossed, horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Sc ...

, the supporters of the Scotland football team, and as such are fixtures including at the respective teams' home games at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh and Hampden Park in Glasgow. One re-recorded version in 2007 for BBC Children in Need that featured both Runrig and the Tartan Army peaked at number nine on the UK singles chart and number one in Scotland. In April 2022, their recording was

certified Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

silver by the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with ...

(BPI) for sales and streams exceeding 200,000 units. Possibly taking a cue from Runrig, and sung at a faster marching pace, the original sad lament is enthusiastically bellowed out by thousands of Scots to celebrate a score and to spur on the team.

Jazz

The Jazz Discography ''The Jazz Discography'' is a print, CD-ROM, and online discography and sessionography of all categories of recorded jazz — and directly relevant precursors of recorded jazz from 1896. The publisher, Lord Music Reference Inc., a British Columbia ...

,'' an online index of studio recordings, live recordings, and broadcast transcriptions of jazz – as of May 22, 2019 – lists 106 recordings of "Loch Lomond" and one recording of "Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond". A notable

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

version of "Loch Lomond", arranged by

Claude Thornhill Claude Thornhill (August 10, 1908 – July 1, 1965) was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. He composed the jazz and pop standards "Snowfall" and "I Wish I Had You". Early years Thornhill was the son of J. Chester Thornhill ...

, was recorded in a live performance on January 16, 1938, by the Benny Goodman and His Orchestra on the album, ''

The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert ''The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert'' by Benny Goodman, Columbia Records catalogue item SL-160, is a two- disc LP of swing and jazz music recorded at Carnegie Hall in New York City on January 16, 1938. First issued in 1950, the landmark ...

,'' on January 16, 1938, featuring

Martha Tilton Martha Tilton (November 14, 1915 – December 8, 2006) was an American popular singer during America's swing era and traditional pop period. She is best known for her 1939 recording of " And the Angels Sing" with Benny Goodman. Tilton was born ...

on vocals ( Columbia SL 160). Jazz singer

Maxine Sullivan Maxine Sullivan (May 13, 1911 – April 7, 1987), born Marietta Williams in Homestead, Pennsylvania, United States, was an American jazz vocalist and performer. As a vocalist, Sullivan was active for half a century, from the mid-1930s to just b ...

, for whom it was a career-defining hit, recorded it at least 14 times: : Her first on August 6, 1937, with

(piano),

Frankie Newton Frankie Newton (William Frank Newton, January 4, 1906 – March 11, 1954) was an American jazz trumpeter from Emory, Virginia, United States. He played in several New York City bands in the 1920s and 1930s, including those led by Sam Wooding, Chic ...

(trumpet),

Buster Bailey William C. "Buster" Bailey (July 19, 1902 – April 12, 1967) was an American jazz clarinetist. Career history Early career Buster Bailey was taught clarinet by classical teacher Franz Schoepp, who also taught Benny Goodman. Bailey gained his s ...

(clarinet), Pete Brown (alto sax), Babe Russin (tenor sax), John Kirby ( bass), and O'Neil Spencer ( drums) (

matrix Matrix most commonly refers to: * ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise ** ''The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film ** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchis ...

21472-1;

Vocalion Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...

OKeh Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...

364); and : Her last, in a live performance at the Fujitsu-Concord Jazz Festival in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, on September 28, 1986, with the Scott Hamilton Quintet. It was her second to last recording. She died months later, on April 7, 1987.

TV and film

In ''

Our Gang Follies of 1938 ''Our Gang Follies of 1938'' (later reissued as simply ''Follies of 1938'') is a 1937 American musical short subject, the 161st short subject entry in Hal Roach's ''Our Gang'' (''Little Rascals'') series. Directed by Gordon Douglas as a sequel to ...

'', an American short musical film by Hal Roach, Annabelle Logan sings a rendition of “Loch Lomond” at the local talent show. In the 1945 Sherlock Holmes film, '' Pursuit to Algiers'', starring Basil Rathbone and

Nigel Bruce William Nigel Ernle Bruce (4 February 1895 – 8 October 1953) was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in a series of films and in the radio series ''The New Adventures of Sherlock ...

, Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) sings a rendition of "Loch Lomond" accompanied by Sheila Woodbury ( Marjorie Riordan) on the piano. In the 1955

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

animated classic ''

Lady and the Tramp ''Lady and the Tramp'' is a 1955 American animated musical romance film produced by Walt Disney and released by Buena Vista Film Distribution. The 15th Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and ...

'', one of its characters, Jock, a

Scottish terrier The Scottish Terrier ( gd, Abhag Albannach; also known as the Aberdeen Terrier), popularly called the Scottie, is a breed of dog. Initially one of the highland breeds of terrier that were grouped under the name of ''Skye Terrier'', it is one ...

, renders his own version of "The Bonny Banks Of Loch Lomond" when collecting his bones "in the back yard". The song is heard in the 1963

film ''

The Three Lives of Thomasina ''The Three Lives of Thomasina'' is a 1963 fantasy film directed by Don Chaffey, starring Patrick McGoohan, Susan Hampshire, child actor Matthew Garber and child actress Karen Dotrice in a story about a cat and her influence on a family. The ...

''. A recording of a Scotsman singing the song in captivity during the

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featured in the 2007

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...