First published in London as part of a collection entitled Songs of the North (1884), The Skye Boat Song recounts the escape of Bonnie Prince Charlie from Uist to the Isle of Skye following his defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. With lyrics written by Sir Harold Boulton to a tune entitled Cuachag nan Craobh, this song is typically sung as a lullaby. Versions of the song by The Corries, Sir James Galway and The Chieftains, Julian Lloyd Webber and other artists, have reinforced its status as one of the best-known songs of Scotland. The television composer Bear McCreary adapted the tune to the text of Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem Sing me a Song of a Lad that is Gone for the TV series Outlander. More recently, a version of this arrangement was commissioned by Nigel Short for his London-based ensemble, Tenebrae.

from notes by Desmond Earley © 2015