The “Skye Boat Song” is a late 19th-century Scottish song, adapted with newly composed lyrics from an earlier Gaelic song, that recounts the escape of the exiled Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles II, 1720-1788, grandson of the Catholic King James II) from Scotland in 1746 after a failed military campaign to take the monarchy of the United Kingdom from the protestant King George II.
The “Skye Boat Song” quickly became popular in its own time, and it has enjoyed even greater renown since the folk music revival of the 1960s and the rising popularity of Celtic music in the late 20th and 21st centuries.
The music accompanying the song was collected in the 1870s by Anne Campbell MacLeod (1855–1921) and was first published in Songs of the North (1884) by MacLeod and her collaborator, Sir Harold Boulton (1859-1935). In later editions of the songbook, MacLeod’s name was dropped and the melody was ascribed as “Old Highland rowing measure arranged by Malcolm Lawson.” Over time, it has become popularly described as a traditional Scottish melody.
This arrangement of the “Skye Boat Song” for brass quintet and percussion explores the tune in various keys and with various harmonizations. The percussion may be performed by two players — with one player on bodhrán (Celtic drum) and another on triangle and suspended cymbals — or by a single player covering the parts on drum set. (A part for drum set is provided as well as the separate parts for bodhrán and triangle/cymbal.)
Score, parts (Bb tpt. 1, Bb tpt. 2, F horn, tbn, tuba, bodhrán, triangle/susp. cymbal, drum set) — $12.99