Traditional Scottish Songs
- Tobermory Bay

Here is a song about an exile in the Lowlands longing to be back in Tobermory Bay on the island of Mull. Tobermory is the largest town on the island and one of the safest harbours in the Hebrides. It was built in the 18th century by the British Fisheries Society. The "gold in Tobermory Bay" referred to in the song is from a Spanish galleon which sank there.


Tobermory Bay

I'm yearning for my Hebridean island,
The mountains there are heather sweet today.
It may be just because my heart is Highland
I long for Mull and Tobermory Bay.

The fishing boats, the nip of Autumn weather.
The spindrift, the excitement of the fray,
The toil of hauling in the nets together,
Then homing back to Tobermory Bay.

Down here I feel I'm not belonging rightly,
The Lowlands are attractive in their way.
But all the same my mind is anchored tightly
To sunrise over Tobermory Bay.

To kindly folk too honest to deceive me,
I'd guarantee their goodness any day.
Their Highland hearts are truer gold believe me,
Than all the gold in Tobermory Bay.

The birds need only lift their wings and wander,
I wish I were as fortunate as they.
If I had wings to spread I'd fly them yonder,
And settle downby Tobermory Bay.

My dream of Mull grows stronger still and stronger,
So strong it is I dare not disobey.
It's home for me, I can indeed no longer
Resist the call of Tobermory Bay.

Return to the Index of Traditional Scottish Songs



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