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.
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.