You'll Take the High Road and I'll Take the Low Road!

You’ll take the high road and I’ll take the low road, And I’ll be in Scotland afore you!¹

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

“The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond” is a song that refers to the Jacobite Uprising of 1745, in which my mother’s ancestor, Alexander MacGillivray played an important role.

The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond:

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 a’fore 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, 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.