Print This Page#02137 Print This Page
Come away, bonnie lad, 'tis making me sad,
I've loved you these twenty long years;
You're as pure as the heather, my bonnie wee lad,
Come away, 'tis the pipes that I hear.
You're the likeness, my son, of your father who's gone
From the earth and I well do recall,
'Twas a morning like this when he danced for to hear,
The pipes calling out one and all.
If you follow the pipes you will ne'er see again,
The sweet purple heather in bloom;
I once said the same to your father in vain,
As the pipers were playing their tune.
Come away, say the pipes, they're playing our tune,
For the likes of you to be ready;
They are playing the tune I remember so well,
When I last saw your father, dear laddie.
Come away, bonnie lad, it's fearful too sad,
But I hear over yonder blue heather;
'Tis the pipers again calling out for young men,
To die in the fields of endeavour.
Come away, bonnie lad, 'tis making me sad,
I've loved you these twenty long years;
You're as pure as the heather, my bonnie wee lad,
Come away, 'tis the pipes that I hear.
This arrangement recorded by the Sons of Erin, featuring band leader Ralph O'Brien, Johnnie Lynn, "Wee" John Cameron, and Denis Ryan on their self-titled album, Sons Of Erin, ca.1970.
