Ah Scotland, the land of the courageous. And, like all good Celtic nations, the land of the track. Like many folks tunes, numerous Scottish songs have made their manner past the nation’s borders to be loved the world over.
In the event you don’t know the lyrics, you’re assured to have heard the tunes to most of those performed by pipers around the globe at New Yr’s Eve celebrations, birthday events or worldwide rugby matches. Seize a glass of whisky and be part of us for a track.
Finest Scottish songs of all time
Flower of Scotland
You possibly can’t do a round-up of Scottish songs with out together with Scotland’s unofficial nationwide anthem. ‘Flower of Scotland’ was adopted by Scots in 1974 when the nation’s rugby winger Billy Steele persuaded his teammates to sing it whereas they had been on tour in South Africa. The 1990 5 Nations recreation between Scotland and England helped cement its repute, because of the truth that its lyrics rejoice the Scottish victory over England on the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Good for slightly Scottish-English rivalry.
We included ‘Flower of Scotland’ in our round-up of the greatest rugby songs to sing throughout the Six Nations.
Auld Lang Syne
‘Auld Lang Syne’ might be probably the most well-known Scottish track of all time, its attain now prolonged far past Scottish shores. It’s grow to be a agency a part of New Yr’s Eve around the globe, with revellers crossing arms and singing it in unison to herald in a brand new 12 months. This custom is believed to have begun in 1929 when the home band at New York Metropolis’s Roosevelt Lodge led a rendition of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ in a efficiency that was broadcast reside over the airwaves around the globe. Its lyrics been tied to Scotland’s nationwide poet Robert Burns, although he admitted that many of the textual content was handed to him by an previous man.
Loch Lomond
This track brings to life a narrator longing to be reunited with a departed love on the ‘bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond’, Scotland’s largest loch situated simply outdoors Glasgow. The textual content is written in colloquial Scottish, referring to ‘bonnie braes’ (stunning banks [of the loch]) and ‘wee birdies’ (small birds). The track is believed thus far again to the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, with the textual content created from a poem written by Scottish poet Andrew Lang within the Nineteenth century.
Scotland the Courageous
Scots are inclined to disagree about what constitutes an ‘unofficial nationwide anthem’, however ‘Scotland the Courageous’ is usually up there with ‘Flower of Scotland’ as a significant contender. Typically performed by pipe bands, ‘Scotland the Courageous’ is heard at parades, soccer matches, and was beforehand used because the Scottish anthem on the Commonwealth Video games – till it was changed by ‘Flower of Scotland’ in 2010. Its stirring tune was set to lyrics written by Glasgow journalist Cliff Hanley within the Fifties, portray an image of an excellent Scottish panorama, full with ‘misty highlands’, ‘shining rivers’ and ‘tropic skies’. As is conventional with many nationalistic folks tunes, the ultimate verse sees the narrator ‘longing and dreaming for the heartland once more’.
The Skye Boat Music
This late Nineteenth-century Scottish track tells the story of Prince Charles Edward Stuart – referred to within the track as ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ – making the journey from Benbecula (a small island within the Outer Hebrides) to the Isle of Skye as he escapes from the 1745 Jacobite rebellion. This track has introduced a lot publicity and a spotlight to the Isle of Skye within the Internal Hebrides, with the refrain line ‘Over the Sea to Skye’ that includes in a lot of the promotional language within the island’s tourism trade. It’s normally sung in a gradual, lilting 6/8 time signature, representing the mild back and forth of the boat on the water.
Take a look at the lyrics to the Skye Boat Music
