What is The Skye Boat Song? Lyrics and origin of Doctor Who song

Hot on the tap-dancing heels of last week's The Devil's Chord, the latest episode of Doctor Who featured another musical moment... though the context couldn't be more different.

Boom – written by former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat – sees the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) land the TARDIS on the war-torn planet of Kastarion 3. Hearing a voice cry out, he runs in its direction... only to put his foot in it, quite literally, by stepping on a highly-advanced landmine.

By the time Ruby (Millie Gibson) catches up to him, the Doctor is rooted to the spot, unable to move, and is singing a haunting melody in an effort to calm his nerves, which he identifies to his companion as The Skye Boat Song.

The Skye Boat Song is not an original composition – it's a tune that originated in the late 19th century and it has actually featured in Doctor Who before. Read on to learn more...

What is The Skye Boat Song?

The origins of The Skye Boat Song are rather complicated – the tune began life as a Galiec song composed in 1782 by Scottish writer William Ross, entitled Cuachag nan Craobh ("Cuckoo of the Tree") with lyrics about an unrequited love.

A century later, songwriter Sir Harold Boulton, 2nd Baronet, composed new lyrics to Ross's tune and gave it the new title of "The Skye Boat Song" – Boulton's version was inspired by the journey of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (or "Bonnie Prince Charlie") from Benbecula to the Isle of Skye as he evaded capture by government soldiers after his defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

It is this version of the song that the Doctor performs in Boom, singing the opening chorus and first verse. "That song's about Bonnie Prince Charlie," he tells Ruby. "It’s sweet and it’s sad and it’s about soldiers fighting. But it’s sad like a lullaby – and it’s right, isn’t it? Songs about soldier should be sad, don’t you think?"

There is also a third version of the song, again with different lyrics, which were composed by novelist and poet Robert Louis Stevenson.

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The Skye Boat Song lyrics

Original lyrics – by William Ross

[Chorus:]
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.

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

[Chorus]

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

[Chorus]

3. 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.

[Chorus]

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

Revised lyrics – by Robert Louis Stevenson

[Chorus:]
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.

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

[Chorus]

2. 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!

[Chorus]

3. 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.

Where have I heard the Skye Boat Song before?

Since it was first written around 150 years ago, The Skye Boat Song has become a Scottish folk standard. A version was also recorded by Tom Jones for his 1965 debut album Along Came Jones, while other artists to have performed the song include Rod Stewart and Tori Amos.

It featured on the soundtrack of the 1955 film Above Us The Waves starring John Mills, and in an episode of Sex and the City (in season 3, episode 12 at Charlotte's wedding).

To modern audiences, though, it's perhaps most recognisable as the theme song to Outlander – the popular series starring Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe uses the Stevenson version as its opening theme, albeit with the references to a "lad that is gone" changed to "lass that is gone" to better reflect the show's story of a woman (Balfe's Claire Fraser) displaced in time.

The Skye Boat Song has also appeared in Doctor Who before, and more than once...

In 1968 story The Web of Fear, the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) plays the tune on his recorder, displaying an affinity for the song some 56 years before the broadcast of Boom.

More recently, in 2022's The Power of the Doctor, there's a nod to that earlier scene – with the Master (Sacha Dhawan) retrieving the recorder and playing the song himself after taking over the Doctor's body.

Like the Susan Twist of music, The Skye Boat Song just keeps on cropping up under a new guise...

Doctor Who continues on Saturday 25th May on BBC iPlayer and BBC One. Previous seasons are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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