From the recording The Australian Sessions
Written by Rich Davies (APRA)
Vocals: Sammy Horner, Kylie Horner, BGV: Brian Baker
Guitar, Bodhran: Sammy Horner
Fiddle, Mandolin, Pipes: Tim Cotterell
Whistle: Kylie Horner
Notes… We went to see Rich Davies and The Low Road last year at the Maldon Folk festival. We loved the show, but when he sang this song, I just couldn’t figure out why I didn’t know it. It sounded like it had been kicking around the Scottish folk scene for a couple of hundred years. Turns out Rich, a young Scotsman living in Australia, had written it. We loved it and decided to ‘folk it up’ if Rich was OK with that…he was, so here it is.
Lyrics
Don’t shed a tear my love, I don’t feel fear, my love
My death is near, my love, in a cell just south of the border
My Jacobite brother, and a damn fine soldier
He’ll be released, to be free in the morning
These four walls, my love, will deny me my last dawning
My friend northward bound, but I’ll be in Scotland before him
‘Cos I’m going home, Im going home
So don’t weep my bonnie lassie
I’m going home, Im going home
So don’t weep now
Never on this earth to ken, the kiss of your lips again
On those bonnie banks, that hallow’d ground of my homeland
This fateful song, my love, will be delivered to you, my love
Defiant and clear my love, from a cell just south of the border
Chorus
The spirit of a lover, your young body murdered
You’re coming home to me, and you will travel on the low road.
So don’t shed a tear my love, I don’t feel fear, my love
As I sing to you my love,
your soul is carried over the border
Chorus