The Origin Of "The Skye Boat Song," --- Theme Song Of The Mini Series "Outlander"...

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Speed, bonnie boat,
Like a bird on the wing.
Onward! the sailors cry;
Carry the lad that's born to be King
Over the sea to Skye.

Loud the winds howl, loud the waves roar,
Thunderclaps rend the air;
Baffled, our foes stand by the shore,
Follow they will not dare.



Though the waves leap, soft shall ye sleep,
Ocean's a royal bed.
Rocked in the deep, Flora will keep
Watch by your weary head.



Many's the lad fought on that day,
Well the claymore could wield,
When the night came, silently lay
Dead on Culloden's field.



Burned are their homes, exile and death
Scatter the loyal men;
Yet ere the sword cool in the sheath
Charlie will come again.

Robert Louis Stevenson's 1892 poem, which has been sung to the tune, has the following text:

 Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye.

Mull was astern, Rùm on the port,
Eigg on the starboard bow;
Glory of youth glowed in his soul;
Where is that glory now?



Give me again all that was there,
Give me the sun that shone!
Give me the eyes, give me the soul,
Give me the lad that's gone!



Billow and breeze, islands and seas,
Mountains of rain and sun,
All that was good, all that was fair,
All that was me is gone.

--- The song was originally about Prince Charles, heir to the throne of Scotland, who fled the country after the Scots defeat at the Battle Of Culloden in 1746.  He dressed like a girl and aided by Flora Mac Donald traveled to the Isle Of Skye.