Lyrics
Hieland Laddie
Traditional Scottish Song used as a Walkaway or Stamp-and-Go Shanty
Traditional
All- Intro:
There wuz a laddie come from Scotland,
Bonnie laddie! Hieland laddie!
Bonnie laddie from fair Scotland,
Me bonnie Hieland laddie O!
Way hay an’ away we go!
Bonnie laddie! Hieland laddie!
Way hay an’ away we go!
Me bonnie Hieland laddie O!
Girls Verse 1:
Where have ye been all the day?
Bonnie Laddie! Hieland laddie!
Where have ye been all the day?
Me bonnie Hieland laddie O!
Boys Verse 1:
I’ve been seeking fortune’s road,
Bonnie lassie! Hieland lassie!
There’s money at whalin’ so I’ve been told,
Me bonnie Hieland lassie O!
All-Chorus
Way hay an’ away we go!
Bonnie laddie! Hieland laddie!
Way hay an’ away we go!
Me bonnie Hieland laddie O!
Girls Verse 2:
I did not see you doon the glen,
Bonnie laddie! Hieland laddie!
I did not see you doon the glen.
Me bonnie Hieland laddie O!
Boys Verse 2:
Nay I joined a ship to go a-sailing’,
Bonnie lassie! Hieland lassie!
Sailing far nother to go a-whalin’.
Me bonnie Hieland lassie O!
All-Chorus
Way hay an’ away we go!
Bonnie laddie! Hieland laddie!
Way hay an’ away we go!
Me bonnie Hieland laddie O!
Girls Verse 3:
Will ye go to Inverness,
Bonnie laddie! Hieland laddie!
There you’ll see the Hieland dress.
Me bonnie Hieland laddie O!
Boys Verse 3:
No I’ll ship far north on a Dundee whaler,
Bonnie lassie! Hieland lassie!
Ship far north as a whalin’ sailor.
Me bonnie Hieland lassie O!
All-Chorus
Way hay an’ away we go!
Bonnie laddie! Hieland laddie!
Way hay an’ away we go!
Me bonnie Hieland laddie O!
Girls Verse 4:
When will you come back again,
Bonnie laddie! Hieland laddie!
You an’ a’ the whalin’ men.
Me bonnie Hieland laddie O!
Boys Verse 4:
Bound away to Iceland cold,
Bonnie lassie! Hieland lassie!
Found much ice but not much gold.
Me bonnie Hieland lassie O!
All-Chorus
Way hay an’ away we go!
Bonnie laddie! Hieland laddie!
Way hay an’ away we go!
Me bonnie Hieland laddie O!
Girls Verse 5:
And Greenland is a cold country,
Bonnie laddie! Hieland laddie!
Not a place for you and me.
Me bonnie Hieland laddie O!
Boys Verse 5:
Thought it was a way to fortune,
Bonnie lassie! Hieland lassie!
Whalin’s not the road to fortune.
Me bonnie Hieland lassie O!
All-Chorus
Way hay an’ away we go!
Bonnie laddie! Hieland laddie!
Way hay an’ away we go!
Me bonnie Hieland laddie O!
Girls Verse 6:
I’ll be glad when you get hame,
Bonnie laddie! Hieland laddie!
You’ll give up this whalin’ game.
Me bonnie Hieland laddie O!
Boys Verse 6:
We’ll soon be homeward bound to Scotland,
Bonnie lassie! Hieland lassie!
Homeward bound to Bonnie Scotland.
Me bonnie Hieland lassie O!
Final Chorus:
Way hay an’ away we go!
Bonnie laddie! Hieland laddie!
Way hay an’ away we go!
Me bonnie Hieland laddie O!
Way hay an’ away we go!
Bonnie laddie! Hieland laddie!
Way hay an’ away we go!
Me bonnie Hieland lassie O!
My bonnie Hieland laddie O!
WHERE TO FIND IT
Song Notes
From Hugill’s Shanties from the Seven Seas: “. . . It is based on an old Scottish march and dance tune and was very popular both as a walkaway and capstan song in the old Dundee whalers and according to Davis & Tozer it was also used at halyards, without the final grand chorus. It is of fair age; Nordoff mentions it as having been used by the cotton stowers of Mobile Bay (in the thirties and forties of the [19th] century). He gives it without the grand chorus (like Davis & Tozer) and his refrain runs ‘Bonnie laddie, Highland laddie!'”