Welcome back to another issue of the music box! This time around we're discussing an old Scottish song called Loch Lomond (also known as The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond). The song came about when the UK had been formed, but the Scots were in disagreement about who should rule the countries - they wanted a Scottish kind, rather than an English kind. An attempt was made to remove King George II, which was unsuccessful.
At the Battle of Culloden Moor, 7000 Highlanders lost the fight and were imprisoned in Carlisle Castle. The song of Loch Lomond is about 2 of those soldiers who were imprisoned together. One of the soldiers, from whose point of view we read this story, is to be executed. There's a Celtic legend that states those who die in a foreign land will travel back home on the low roads. The other soldier is to be set free, who'll be taking the high roads over the mountains.
Many different versions of this song exist, and I wasn't fully able to figure out when it first came about. Ralph Vaughan Williams did an arrangement in 1921, and the Scottish folk-rock band Runrig have closed their concerts with the song for over 25 years. I personally discovered the song through Peter Hollens on YouTube, and have listened to The Hound + The Fox's version of it too who made a version of the song last year. The song's been featured in quite some television shows and movies: from the 1945 Sherlock Holm film to Disney's Lady and the Tramp, and The Simpsons.
There's an Irish version of Loch Lomond, with the same melody but different lyrics, which got popularized by Tommy Makem who is an Irish folk musician. The title is "Red is the Rose", and similarly to Loch Lomond, the original writer is unknown. The earliest recording is tracked back to 1934. This song tells the story of 2 lovers who have to part at the end of the song. The first lines often don't make sense in modern versions of the song, due to the song being handed down and probably misheard. One recording tried to clear this up by telling the story of the girl and her family leaving Ireland, and was done by Josephine Beirne and George Sweatman. Famous versions of this song include Tommy Makem's, as mentioned before, but also The High Kings, Orla Fallon, and Nanci Griffith with the Chieftains.
Thanks for listening to me discuss an old Scottish and Irish song, and I hope you'll be back next month to discover another song's meaning. This was your favourite Fox - Fox