365 + 200: Loch Lomond

   The earliest published version we have of Loch Lomond is 1841, in a collection called Vocal Melodies of Scotland. It certainly predates that date significantly, however, and the tune may well be older than the words.


   To what do the words of "Loch Lomond" refer to?
There are various theories here, though most centre around the invasion of England by Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Jacobite army in 1745, their retreat and eventual defeat at the Battle of Culloden the following April. One of the more popular versions is that the words are spoken by a Jacobite soldier who has been captured after Culloden and, incarcerated in Carlisle prison, is awaiting execution, while the person he addressing is set to be released. The souls of the dead travel quicker along ‘the low road’ than do living people walking along ‘the high road’, hence he will get to Scotland first.