download
Bonnie Laddie (lyrics)
Bonnie Laddie, Heilan Laddie
Written by Archie Fisher and Owen Hand, this song was created using atraditional song as the basis. It tells the tale of the whaler. The poignancy of hisreply to her 'Oh I'll be back when I get hame' Versions of this song appear inmany collections including Hogg’s Jacobite Relics.
Whaur hae you been a the day
Bonnie Laddie Heilan Laddie
Whaur hae you been sae far away
Ma Bonnie Heilan Laddie
I've been takin’ fortune's road
There's money at the whalin’
so I've been told
I shipped for the north on a Dundee whaler
Shipped for the north as a whalin’ sailor
When will you come back again
You and a’ the whalin’ men
I'll be back when I get hame
An’ ah'll gie up the whalin game.