| Music File Lesley Nelson |
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| The tune was originally a Gaelic tune from the Hebrides. Henry Whyte - a collector of Gaelic folktunes around the end of the 19th century - translated the lyrics. Whyte's works included The Celtic Lyre. The tune also appeared in Moffat's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Highlands (1907). |
O the fair sailor lad He was handsome and free, And he loved a gentle maid, And his wife she would be: "O my fair sailor lad, Come and bide here wi' me!" But the fair sailor lad Sailed away, 'cross the sea. O the fair sailor lad He was wae and forlorn: "I maun see yon gentle maid From whose side I was torn. Tho' he sailed that very tide Her he saw not again, For that fair sailor lad Sleeps for aye 'neath the main. O the fair sailor lad He was handsome and free, And he loved a gentle maid, And his wife she would be: "O my fair sailor lad, Come and bide here wi'me!" But the fair sailor lad Sleeps alone 'neath the sea. |
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| From
A Treasury of Old Scots Songs See Bibliography for full information. |
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