Sing a song of Bonnie Scotland

AKABonnie Scotland
First Published1913

Writer/composerAJ Mills and Bennett Scott or gifford/MellorRoudRN24857

Music Hall PerformersLily Morris
Folk performancesCollected from the singing of:
Green, Charles; England : Yorkshire; 1971
Modern performances
The chorus features in a number of sing-along Scottish medleys
Sing a song of Bonnie Scotland
Written and composed by AJ Mills and Bennett Scott. Sung by Miss Lily Morris
From Sheet Music Published in Weekly Despatch (1913)

Far away on lonely prairie land
As the night-time shadows grow
Sat a rough but merry crowd of men,
Singing all the songs they new,
Till the fiddler stopped his merry tune;
And turning around said he,
To a Hieland laddie standing by,
Just awa' from old Dundee.

Sing us a song of Bonnie Scotland.
Any old song will do.
Round the old camp fire.
A rough and ready choir.
Join in the chorus too.
"You take the High Road and I'll take the Low,
Is a song that we all know.
Twill remind the boys of Bonnie Scotland 
Where the Heather and bluebells grow"

Soon a hush fell on the miners camp
As the rough and ready throng
Waited for that stalward laddie there
To begin that old Scotch song.
But the boy was dreaming, all the while
Of Scotland his native shore
And a Bonnie lassie he loved well
Till the words he heard once more -

"Won't you sing Loch Lomond for the boys?"
Said the fiddler, "and I'll play.
Give us Bonnie Mary of Argyll
Or that sweet song Robin Gray
I can tell your heart is feeling sad
But cheer up and do not pine
For some day luck may come your way,
So tonight for Auld Lang Syne"-

A song in praise of Scotland with words by AJ Mills of Surrey, England. It was performed in the Music Halls and pantomimes by Lily Morris , a particular favourite of Glasgow audiences. It was in 1971 collected by Ian Russell from the singing of Charles Green in Sheffield, Yorkshire.

The chorus is still sung today, usually to hold together a sing-along medley of well-known Scottish songs. Search well-known streaming services if you are interested. Lily Morris doesn’t seem to have recorded it, but here’s a contemporary recording by Stanley Kirby:

Sung by Stanley Kirby (1913) UCSB Cylinder Archive

Sources:

  • VWML entry
  • Kilgarrif Sing Us
  • Lyrics and Sheet Music: Weekly Dispatch (London),  11 May 1913, p16
  • Track downloaded from University of California, Santa Barbara Library, UCSB Cylinder Archive
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