Traditional Scottish Songs
- The Yellow Locks of Charlie



The romance of the Jacobite Uprising of 1745 - led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, on behalf of his father back in France - inspired many Scottish poets and song writers in the following decades. Of course, since in the main these bards were in the main staunch Presbyterians, it is debateable whether the bards would have been so supportive if a Roman Catholic king had regained the throne! Henry Scott Riddell (1798 - 1870), who wrote the song below, was even a preacher in the Church of Scotland in the Scottish Borders.


   The Yellow Locks of Charlie

The gathering clans, 'mong Scotia's glens,
   Wi' martial steps are bounding,
And loud and lang, the wilds amang,
   The war pipe's strains are sounding;
The sky and stream reflect the gleam
   Of broadswords glancing rarely,
To guard till death the hills of heath
   Against the foes o' Charlie.

Then let on high the banners fly,
   And hearts and hands rise prouder,
And wake amain the warlike strain
   Still louder, and still louder;
For we ha'e sworn, ere dawn the morn
   O'er Appin's mountains early,
Auld Scotland's crown shall nod aboon
   The yellow locks o' Charlie.

While banners wave aboon the brave
   Our foemen vainly gather,
And swear to claim, by deeds o' fame,
   Our hills and glens o' heather.
For seas shall swell to wild and fell,
   And crown green Appin fairly,
Ere hearts so steel'd to foemen yield
   The rights o' royal Charlie.

Then wake mair loud the pibroch proud,
   And let the mountains hoary
Re-echo round the warlike sound
   That speaks of Highland glory.
For strains sublime, through future time,
   Shall tell the tale unsparely,
How Scotland's crown was placed aboon
   The yellow locks o' Charlie.

Meaning of unusual words:
aboon =above
pibroch = Highland bagpipe

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