Scottish Songs

• Jacobite Songs
• Robert Burns Songs
• Border Ballads
• Bothy Ballads
• Scottish Gaelic Songs (Òrain Ghàidhlig)
• Love and Romance
• Places, Emigration and the Sea
• Drinking, Humour and Good Company
• Work, Industry and the Sea
• Historical and Patriotic
• Revival and Modern Folk
• Children's Songs and Lullabies

Jacobite Songs

Songs relating to the Stuart cause, the risings of 1715 and 1745, and Bonnie Prince Charlie.

• "Cam Ye O'er Frae France" – satirical Jacobite song mocking the Hanoverian succession.
• "Charlie Is My Darling" – celebrating Bonnie Prince Charlie's arrival in Scotland, versions by Carolina Oliphant (Lady Nairne) and James Hogg.
• "Come O'er the Stream, Charlie" – invitation to the Young Pretender, by James Hogg.
• "Hey Johnnie Cope" – celebrating the Jacobite victory at the Battle of Prestonpans in 1745, written by Adam Skirving.
• "It Was a' for Our Rightfu' King" – a song of exile after the '45, attributed to Robert Burns from an older Jacobite original.
• "Johnny Cope" – another version of the Prestonpans song, widely recorded.
• "Loch Lomond" – traditionally said to be a lament of a Jacobite prisoner awaiting execution after the '45.
• "My Bonnie Moorhen" – Jacobite allegory attributed to Robert Burns.
• "O'er the Water to Charlie" – traditional Jacobite song, also set by Burns.
• "Skye Boat Song" – about the flight of Bonnie Prince Charlie to the Isle of Skye after Culloden, lyrics by Sir Harold Boulton to a Gaelic rowing song collected by Anne Campbelle MacLeod.
• "Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation" – Burns's fierce lament for the 1707 Act of Union.
• "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond" – the most famous version, recorded by countless artists.
• "The Hundred Pipers" – about the Jacobite advance into England, by Carolina Oliphant.
• "The Piper o' Dundee" – traditional song about the excitement brought by a Jacobite piper.
• "The Skye Boat Song" – popularised by Roger Whittaker, The Corries, and many others.
• "The White Cockade" – a Jacobite symbol song, widely collected.
• "Wae's Me for Prince Charlie" – lament by William Glen (1789–1826).
• "Will Ye No Come Back Again?" – by Carolina Oliphant, a plea to the exiled prince.
• "Mo Ghile Mear" – also claimed by the Irish tradition, originally a lament for Prince Charlie.
• "Bonnie Dundee" – about John Graham of Claverhouse at the 1689 rising, lyrics by Sir Walter Scott.

Robert Burns Songs

Songs written or collected and adapted by Robert Burns (1759–1796), Scotland's national poet.

• "A Man's a Man for A' That" – egalitarian anthem, one of Burns's most celebrated works.
• "A Red, Red Rose" – love song set to various traditional airs.
• "Address to the Unco Guid" – satirical poem sometimes sung.
• "Ae Fond Kiss" – heartbreaking farewell to Agnes "Nancy" McLehose.
• "Auld Lang Syne" – the world's most famous New Year's Eve song.
• "Ca' the Yowes to the Knowes" – pastoral love song, two versions by Burns.
• "Comin' Thro' the Rye" – playful song about kissing in a rye field.
• "Corn Rigs" – song of a harvest-time tryst.
• "Duncan Gray" – comic courtship song.
• "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton" – addressed to the River Afton in Ayrshire.
• "Green Grow the Rashes, O" – celebration of the love of women over money.
• "Is There for Honest Poverty" – see "A Man's a Man for A' That."
• "John Anderson, My Jo" – a tender song of old age and lasting love.
• "John Barleycorn" – allegory of the grain harvest as a death and resurrection, adapted by Burns from older versions.
• "Mary Morrison" – early Burns love song.
• "My Heart's in the Highlands" – song of longing for the Scottish hills.
• "My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose" – see "A Red, Red Rose."
• "O Whistle, and I'll Come to Ye, My Lad" – secret courtship song.
• "Rantin' Rovin' Robin" – Burns's song about his own birth.
• "Scots Wha Hae" – Scotland's unofficial national anthem, invoking Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn.
• "Tam o' Shanter" – narrative poem sometimes performed as a song.
• "The Banks o' Doon" – a song of betrayed love set on the banks of the River Doon.
• "The De'il's Awa Wi' the Exciseman" – comic song about Burns's own profession.
• "The Lea-Rig" – love song set in the fields.
• "The Rigs o' Barley" – see "Corn Rigs."
• "To a Mouse" – famous poem occasionally set to music.
• "Westlin Winds" – love song set against an autumn landscape.
• "Willie Brew'd a Peck o' Maut" – drinking song for three friends.
• "Ye Banks and Braes" – another version of "The Banks o' Doon."

Border Ballads

Ballads from the Scottish-English borderlands, many collected by Sir Walter Scott in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border and by Francis James Child.

• "Barbara Allen" (Child 84) – one of the most widespread ballads in English, a story of rejected love and death.
• "Bonnie George Campbell" – lament for a Highland chief who rode out and never returned.
• "Dowie Dens of Yarrow" (Child 214) – tragic ballad of a young man killed in a duel on the banks of the Yarrow.
• "Get Up and Bar the Door" (Child 275) – comic ballad about a stubborn married couple.
• "Hind Horn" (Child 17) – ancient ballad of a returning lover in disguise.
• "Hughie Graeme" (Child 191) – border reiver ballad about a man hanged for stealing a horse.
• "Jamie Telfer" – border raid ballad collected by Scott.
• "Jock o' Hazeldean" – by Sir Walter Scott, about an elopement.
• "Johnie Armstrong" (Child 169) – about the border reiver betrayed and hanged by James V in 1530.
• "Kinmont Willie" – ballad of the rescue of William Armstrong from Carlisle Castle in 1596.
• "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" (Child 4) – ancient ballad of a woman outwitting a murderous supernatural lover.
• "Lamkin" (Child 93) – gruesome ballad of a stonemason's revenge.
• "Lord Randall" (Child 12) – a young man poisoned, told through a dialogue with his mother.
• "Mary Hamilton" (Child 173) – about one of the "Four Marys" attending Mary Queen of Scots.
• "Sir Patrick Spens" (Child 58) – one of the great Scottish ballads, about a doomed sea voyage.
• "Tam Lin" (Child 39) – supernatural ballad about a woman rescuing her lover from the fairy queen.
• "The Battle of Otterburn" (Child 161) – about the 1388 battle between Douglas and Percy.
• "The Border Widow's Lament" – attributed to the wife of Cockburn of Henderland, hanged by James V.
• "The Braes o' Killiecrankie" – about the 1689 battle, sometimes attributed to Burns.
• "The Dowie Houms of Yarrow" – variant of "Dowie Dens of Yarrow."
• "The Gypsy Laddie" (Child 200) – also known as "Black Jack Davy" or "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies."
• "The Twa Corbies" – dark Scottish counterpart to the English "Three Ravens."
• "The Twa Sisters" (Child 10) – murder ballad about jealousy between sisters.
• "The Unquiet Grave" (Child 78) – a dialogue between a mourner and a dead lover.
• "Thomas the Rhymer" (Child 37) – about True Thomas's journey to Elfland, one of the oldest Scottish ballads.
• "Waly, Waly" – lament of lost love, also known as "The Water Is Wide."

Bothy Ballads

Songs of the farm servants of northeast Scotland, from the communal sleeping quarters (bothies) where they lived.

• "Drumdelgie" – about life on a notoriously hard farm in Aberdeenshire.
• "Guise o' Tough" – a ploughman's complaint about working conditions.
• "Hairst" – harvest-time bothy ballad.
• "Macfarlan o' the Sprotts" – humorous account of a disastrous farm.
• "Muckin' o' Geordie's Byre" – comic song about cleaning out a filthy cowshed, recorded by many artists.
• "Swaggers" – about a farm with terrible conditions.
• "The Ball o' Kirriemuir" – bawdy folk song, widely circulated.
• "The Band o' Shearers" – about a gang of itinerant harvest workers.
• "The Barnyards o' Delgaty" – classic bothy ballad about a bad hiring at a farm near Turriff.
• "The Dying Ploughboy" – sentimental song of a young farmworker's death.
• "The Gadie Rins" – about the River Gadie in Aberdeenshire.
• "The Hash o' Bennagoak" – about conditions at another northeast farm.
• "The Plooman Laddies" – celebrating the ploughmen.
• "The Tarves Rant" – a bothy ballad from the village of Tarves.
• "The Turra Coo" – about a famous incident in 1913 involving the National Insurance Act.
• "Tramps and Hawkers" – song of the travelling people of the northeast, popularised by Jeannie Robertson.

Scottish Gaelic Songs (Òrain Ghàidhlig)

• "Ailein Duinn" (Brown-haired Alan) – lament by Annie Campbell for her drowned lover, one of the most beautiful Gaelic songs.
• "An Ataireachd Àrd" (The Surge of the Sea) – composed by William Livingston (1808–1870), a song of exile and the sea.
• "Brochan Lom" – humorous traditional song about thin porridge.
• "Chi Mi na Mòrbheanna" (The Mist-Covered Mountains) – song of exile by John Cameron, popularised by many Gaelic singers.
• "Crodh Chailein" (Colin's Cattle) – a waulking song.
• "Fear a' Bhàta" (The Boatman) – love song by Sìne NicFhionnlaigh (Jean Finlayson) of Lewis, one of the most popular Gaelic songs.
• "Griogal Cridhe" (Beloved Gregor) – lament by Marion Campbell for her husband Gregor MacGregor, beheaded in 1570.
• "Hi-rì, Hi-rò" – traditional waulking song.
• "Is Truagh nach Tigeadh" – song of longing from the Western Isles.
• "Mo Nighean Donn" (My Brown-Haired Maiden) – traditional love song.
• "Òran do Cheap Breatainn" (Song for Cape Breton) – emigration song.
• "Òran na Cloiche" (Song of the Stone) – about the Stone of Scone.
• "S Fhada Leam an Oidhche Gheamhraidh" (Long Is the Winter Night) – traditional song of loneliness.
• "Tha Mi Sgìth" (I Am Tired) – emigrant's lament.
• Various òrain luaidh (waulking songs) – rhythmic songs sung by women while fulling cloth, including "Hì-rì, Hì-rò," "'S Truagh nach Tigeadh," and dozens of others.

Love and Romance

• "Annie Laurie" – written by William Douglas of Fingland about Annie Laurie of Maxwelton, music by Lady John Scott.
• "Bonnie Strathyre" – traditional song about a highland meeting place.
• "Bonnie Wee Thing" – by Robert Burns.
• "Comin' Thro' the Rye" – by Robert Burns, about encounters in a rye field.
• "Eriskay Love Lilt" – Gaelic love song from the island of Eriskay, collected by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser.
• "Ho Ro My Nut Brown Maiden" – traditional Highland love song.
• "I Love a Lassie" – music hall classic by Harry Lauder.
• "Leezie Lindsay" – traditional ballad about a Highland lord wooing an Edinburgh girl.
• "Lewis Bridal Song" – traditional Gaelic wedding song from the Isle of Lewis.
• "Loch Tay Boat Song" – composed by Harold Boulton.
• "Mary of Argyll" – written by Charles Jefferys, a Victorian drawing-room ballad adopted into the folk tradition.
• "Mairi's Wedding" – composed by Johnny Bannerman with Gaelic words, English words by Hugh S. Roberton.
• "My Ain Folk" – by Wilfrid Mills, popularised by Robert Wilson.
• "My Love She's but a Lassie Yet" – traditional.
• "O Gin I Were Where Gaudie Rins" – traditional Aberdeenshire love song.
• "Rowan Tree" – by Carolina Oliphant, evoking childhood and home.
• "The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie" – about a soldier's love for a girl in Fyvie, widely recorded by The Dubliners and Dick Gaughan.
• "The Dark Island" – written by Iain MacLachlan, popularised by many artists.
• "The Girl I Left Behind Me" – widespread in both Scotland and Ireland.
• "The Lea Rig" – by Robert Burns.
• "The Muckin' o' Geordie's Byre" – also a courtship song in some variants.
• "The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen" – popular song about Aberdeen by Mary Webb.
• "The Road to Dundee" – traditional.
• "The Yellow-Haired Laddie" – traditional, versions by Allan Ramsay.
• "Westering Home" – by Hugh S. Roberton, a song of returning to the Western Isles.
• "Wi' a Hundred Pipers" – see Jacobite songs, also sung as a love/adventure song.

Places, Emigration and the Sea

• "Ae Fond Kiss" – Burns's farewell, often sung as an emigration song.
• "An Eriskay Love Lilt" – see Love and Romance.
• "Caledonia" – written by Dougie MacLean in 1977, now one of Scotland's most popular anthems.
• "Canadian Boat Song" – anonymous, about Highland emigrants to Canada: "From the lone shieling of the misty island..."
• "Farewell to Fiunary" – a Gaelic emigration song from Morvern.
• "Farewell to Nova Scotia" – song of the Scottish diaspora in Canada.
• "Flower of Scotland" – written by Roy Williamson of The Corries in 1967, now Scotland's unofficial national anthem, about the Battle of Bannockburn.
• "Freedom Come-All-Ye" – by Hamish Henderson, an internationalist anthem.
• "I Belong to Glasgow" – music hall song by Will Fyffe.
• "Loch Lomond" – see Jacobite songs; also widely sung as a general Scottish anthem.
• "Mingulay Boat Song" – composed by Hugh S. Roberton, about the island of Mingulay.
• "Mull of Kintyre" – written by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine, one of the best-selling UK singles.
• "My Ain Countrie" – by Mary Carlyle Aitken Demarest.
• "O Flower of Scotland" – see "Flower of Scotland."
• "Over the Sea to Skye" – variant of "The Skye Boat Song."
• "Road to the Isles" – by Kenneth MacLeod, with music arranged by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser.
• "Scotland the Brave" – patriotic march, one of several unofficial Scottish anthems.
• "The Banks of the Clyde" – traditional.
• "The Bluebell Polka" – Scottish dance song.
• "The Braes o' Balquhidder" – by Robert Tannahill.
• "The Flowers of the Forest" – lament for the Scottish dead at the Battle of Flodden (1513), words by Jean Elliot and Alison Cockburn.
• "The Isle of Mull" – traditional.
• "The Massacre of Glencoe" – about the 1692 massacre, popularised by Jim McLean.
• "The Road and the Miles to Dundee" – traditional.
• "The Scottish Emigrant's Farewell" – traditional.
• "The Wee Cooper o' Fife" – traditional humorous ballad.
• "Wild Mountain Thyme" – originally "Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go," written by Francis McPeake, shared with the Irish tradition.

Drinking, Humour and Good Company

• "A Wee Deoch an Doris" – music hall classic by Harry Lauder and Gerald Grafton, meaning "a small drink at the door."
• "Coulter's Candy" – written by Robert Coltart, a Galashiels sweetmaker.
• "Donald, Where's Your Troosers?" – novelty song by Andy Stewart.
• "Frae the Toon o' Dundee" – traditional humorous song.
• "I'm No' Awa Tae Bide Awa" – traditional farewell/drinking song.
• "Killiecrankie" – humorous version of the battle song, popularised by Andy Stewart.
• "Loch Lomond" – also sung in pubs as a rousing closer.
• "Nicky Tams" – bothy ballad about a young ploughman, comic.
• "Stop Yer Ticklin', Jock" – music hall song by Harry Lauder.
• "The Ball o' Kirriemuir" – very bawdy traditional song.
• "The Campbells Are Coming" – triumphant march tune.
• "The Haughs o' Cromdale" – a humorous Jacobite victory song.
• "The Jeely Piece Song" – by Adam McNaughtan, about high-rise living in Glasgow.
• "The Wark o' the Weavers" – celebrating the weaving trade, by David Shaw.
• "Tipsy Sailor" – Scottish variant of "What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor."
• "Wha Saw the Forty-Second" – regimental song, also sung in pubs.
• "Willie Brew'd a Peck o' Maut" – Burns's drinking song for three friends.

Work, Industry and the Sea

• "A Man's a Man for A' That" – Burns, often sung as a workers' anthem.
• "Byker Hill" – also claimed by the English tradition, a coal-mining song from the borders.
• "Dance to Your Daddy" – Northumbrian/Scottish lullaby about a father at sea.
• "Erin-Go-Bragh" – about an Irishman in Scotland, recorded by Dick Gaughan.
• "I Was Born in Kyle" – about Burns's birthplace, sometimes adapted as a working song.
• "Keep Right On to the End of the Road" – Harry Lauder's optimistic march.
• "Lament of the Border Widow" – see Border Ballads.
• "Shoals of Herring" – written by Ewan MacColl (born in England of Scottish parents), about the herring fishermen of Scotland.
• "The Blantyre Explosion" – about the 1877 coal mine disaster that killed over 200 men.
• "The Brewer Lad" – about working in a brewery, collected in the northeast.
• "The Calton Weaver" – about the weavers of Glasgow's Calton district.
• "The Dundee Weaver" – about the jute mills of Dundee.
• "The Fisherrow Fishwives" – about the fishwives of Musselburgh.
• "The Iron Horse" – about the coming of the railways to Scotland.
• "The Jute Mill Song" ("Oh, Dear Me") – by Mary Brooksbank, about women workers in Dundee jute mills.
• "The Kelty Clippie" – about a bus conductress in Fife.
• "The Lothian Hairst" – about harvest work in the Lothians.
• "What Can a Young Lassie Dae Wi' an Auld Man" – Burns, sometimes categorised as a work song.

Historical and Patriotic

• "Both Sides the Tweed" – by Dick Gaughan, an anthem of Anglo-Scottish friendship and Scottish independence.
• "Bruce's Address to His Army at Bannockburn" – see "Scots Wha Hae."
• "Flodden" – various songs about the 1513 disaster.
• "Flower of Scotland" – see Places section.
• "Freedom Come-All-Ye" – Hamish Henderson's great internationalist anthem.
• "Parcel of Rogues" – Burns's Union song (see Jacobite section).
• "Scotland the Brave" – see Places section.
• "The Battle of Harlaw" – about the 1411 battle in Aberdeenshire, one of the oldest surviving Scots ballads.
• "The Bonnie Earl of Moray" (Child 181) – lament for the murder of James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Moray, in 1592.
• "The Bonnie House o' Airlie" (Child 199) – about the burning of Airlie Castle by Argyll in 1640.
• "The De'il's Awa Wi' the Exciseman" – Burns's comic political song.
• "The Flooers o' the Forest" – see Places section.
• "The Gallowa' Hills" – traditional song celebrating the landscape of Galloway.
• "The Highland Division's Farewell to Sicily" – WWII song by Hamish Henderson.
• "The Massacre of Glencoe" – see Places section.
• "The Men of the North" – various patriotic songs.
• "The Peat-Fire Flame" – traditional.

Revival and Modern Folk

Songs from the Scottish folk revival (1950s–present) and modern compositions that have become standards.

• "Caledonia" – by Dougie MacLean, Scotland's modern anthem of longing.
• "Cod Liver Oil and the Orange Juice" – comic song by Hamish Imlach about tenement life.
• "Dirty Old Town" – by Ewan MacColl, also an Irish standard.
• "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" – by Ewan MacColl, written for Peggy Seeger; a worldwide hit for Roberta Flack.
• "Hamish Henderson's Freedom Come-All-Ye" – see Historical.
• "Letter from America" – by The Proclaimers, about Highland Clearances paralleled with modern economic migration.
• "Loch Lomond" – Runrig's rock version reinvigorated this song.
• "My Donald" – modern folk song.
• "Riverdance" – though Irish in origin, widely performed in Scotland.
• "The Ferryman" – recorded by various Scottish folk artists.
• "The Massacre of Glencoe" – Jim McLean's powerful version.
• "The Old Man's Song" – traditional, revived by Silly Wizard.
• "The Queen of Argyll" – by Andy M. Stewart of Silly Wizard.
• "The Recruiting Sergeant" – also an Irish standard, performed in Scotland.
• "The Silkie" – supernatural ballad from Orkney about a selkie (seal-person).
• "The Witch of the Westmerlands" – by Archie Fisher.
• "Turning Away" – by Dougie MacLean.
• "Wild Mountain Thyme" – shared with Ireland, widely recorded in Scotland.
• "Ye Jacobites by Name" – Burns's song, recorded by Dick Gaughan, The Corries, and others.

Children's Songs and Lullabies

• "Ally Bally Bee" – see "Coulter's Candy."
• "Brochan Lom" – Gaelic song about thin porridge.
• "Coulter's Candy" – one of the best-known Scottish children's songs.
• "Dance to Your Daddy" – lullaby about a fisherman father.
• "Katie Bairdie" – traditional children's song.
• "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" – widely known children's/folk song.
• "O Can Ye Sew Cushions" – old Scottish lullaby.
• "The Skye Boat Song" – often sung as a lullaby.
• "Three Craws" – humorous children's counting song.
• "Ye Canny Shove Yer Granny Aff a Bus" – playground song, uniquely Scottish.