Scotland’s musical heritage is woven tightly into its rugged, peat-rich, windswept landscapes. Across glens, islands and lochs, generations have passed down songs that celebrate the land, mourn its losses and honour the people who have lived in its hills and valleys.
From the Jacobite laments of “Loch Lomond” and “Skye Boat Song” to the modern-day anthem “Caledonia”, we explore some of the most enduring Scottish folk songs and the stories behind them.
Best Scottish folk songs
John Barleycorn
While it’s not known for sure whether “John Barleycorn” originated in Scotland or England, it has become tied in with Scottish musical traditions thanks to the 1782 version published by the legendary Scottish poet Robert Burns.
The song’s protagonist, John Barleycorn, is a personification of barley – and the beer made from it. He is punished by the process of barley cultivation: “They took a plough and plough’d him down, put clods upon his head, and they hae sworn a solemn oath, John Barleycorn was dead.” An earlier 16th-century Scottish song “Allan-a-Maut” (“Alan of the malt”) precedes this tradition of giving life to barley.
Loch Lomond
Also known as “The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond”, this tune is thought to date back to the Jacobite rising of 1745, when Prince Charles Edward Stuart (nicknamed “Bonnie Prince Charlie”) tried to get the throne back for his father, King James VII of Scotland, who had been forced out and replaced by his Protestant relatives.
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Some have interpreted the lyrics as a lament of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s march back to Scotland, having failed to garner support from the English. The song celebrates the stunning landscapes around Loch Lomond: “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.”
Wild Mountain Thyme
Thanks to the 20th-century adaptation by Belfast musician Francis McPeake, “Wild Mountain Thyme” has developed a reputation as an Irish folk song, but its origins lie in Scotland. Its lyrics and melody are based on an early 19th-century tune, “The Braes of Balquither” by Scottish poet Robert Tannahil and composer Robert Archibald Smith.
Chì mi na mòrbheanna (The Mist-Covered Mountains of Home)
Written in 1856 by Highlander John Cameron, “Chì mi na mòrbheanna” has been performed at many major ceremonies over the years, not least at the state funerals of John F Kennedy, Winston Churchill and Queen Elizabeth II. Similarly to “Caledonia”, this tune is a longing for home, with a wistful melody and traditional ballad rhythms. “Hail to the blue-green grassy hills; hail to the great peaked hummocky mountains,” the English translation of the Scottish Gaelic lyrics reads. “Hail to the forests, hail to all there, content I would live there forever.”
Skye Boat Song
In another hat tip to the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobite rising of 1745, “Skye Boat Song” describes how the Prince evaded government troops in a small boat, disguised as a serving maid, after he lost the cause, aided by Flora MacDonald. The song is a 19th-century adaptation of an earlier Gaelic song by William Ross, entitled “Cuachag nan Craobh”, which translates as “Cuckoo of the Tree”. The song is set in the style of an “iorram”, a Gaelic rowing song.
Uist Tramping Song
This rousing traditional Scottish folk song invites us to hike and enjoy the glorious sights of Uist, a group of islands in the Outer Hebrides (and home to one of the UK's most dramatic island causeways). “Come along, come along,” it says. “Let us foot it out together”. The specificity of the descriptions of the landscape paint a vivid portrait of these six Uist isles: “It’s the call of sea and shore, it’s the tang of bog and peat, and the scent of brier and myrtle, that puts magic in our feet.”
Caledonia
While “Caledonia” doesn’t date back to the 18th century like many of the other folk ballads here, it speaks to the longstanding Scottish folk tradition and yearns for the landscape of Scotland. Written by Dougie MacLean in 1977, the song is beloved by many Scottish people and is often thought of as one of their unofficial national anthems. He wrote it while sitting on a beach in Brittany in France, feeling homesick for Scotland. “But let me tell you that I love you, that I think about you all the time,” he sings in the chorus. “Caledonia, you’re calling me, and now I’m going home.”
Fear a’ Bhàta (The Boatman)
“Fear a’ Bhàta” captures the intensity of the composer’s courtship with a young fisherman from Uig on the Isle of Lewis. Written in the late-18th century, “The Boatman” was composed by schoolteacher Sìne NicFhionnlaigh from Tong, a village on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. She describes the longing she felt for him while he was out at sea, her heart “broken, bruised” until he returned.
The Banks o’ Doon
Another creation of the masterful Scottish poet Robert Burns, “The Banks o’ Doon” is often known as “Ye Banks and Braes” after its opening line. Burns wrote three versions of the song, all published in 1791 and set to an air known as The Caledonian Hunt’s Delight. The story was inspired by the real-life figure of Margaret (Peggy) Kennedy, who was seduced and then subsequently abandoned by Andrew McDouall, the son of a wealthy family.
More Scottish stories
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- Auld Lang Syne: Everything you need to know about this new year tradition - including the lyrics
- Sutherland Clearances: How brutal and ruthless evictions changed the landscape of the Scottish Highlands forever
Top image: Scenes of Uig in the Isle of Lewis (credit: Getty Images)
