MINGULAY BOAT SONG – Sir Hugh S. Roberton (1938). Sung by The Corries, by Gaelic Storm, by Rogues Gallery. SheetMusic(pdf)
Heel ya ho, boys, let her go, boys;
Bring her head round, into the weather,
Heel ya ho, boys, let her go, boys
Sailing homeward to Mingulay
What care we how white the Minch is?
What care we for wind or weather?
Let her go boys, every inch is
Sailing homeward to Mingulay.
Wives are waiting, by the pier head,
Looking seaward, from the heather;
Bring her head round, then we'll anchor
'Ere the sun sets on Mingulay.
Boats return now, heavy laden
Mothers holdin' bairns a-cryin'
They'll return, boys, when the sun sets
They'll return to Mingulay.
The following information is from Ben Buxton. "Mingulay: an Island and Its People". Birlinn, Edinburgh, 1995, p. 47-48. "'Mingulay's most famous song - outside Barra and Vatersay that is - is "The Mingulay Boat Song'. But neither the words nor the melody originate anywhere near Mingulay; it is a romantic invention of the 20th century. It was devised in 1938 by Glasgow-born Sir Hugh Roberton, who was very fond of the melody of 'Creag Ghuanach', a song from Lochaber, which celebrates a crag near Loch Treig. He needed a sea shanty, and so he adapted the music, chose the romantic name Mingulay, and composed the words. It was to be sung in F, slowly and rhythmically. [Roberton Publications, personal information; Derek Cooper. The Road to Mingulay: a View of he Western Isles, London, 1985]… It is ironic that this song should be the only well-known song associated with the island, and, for many, the only reason they have heard the name Mingulay at all."
The remote, barren island of Mingulay lies to the south of Barra in the Western Isles. Sometimes referred to as 'the nearer St Kilda', it was a crofting and fishing community of about 160 people until 1912. Isolation, infertile land, lack of a proper landing place and the absentee landlord problems familiar to the Western Isles and Highlands, resulted in a gradual disintegration of Mingulay's culture. The process of voluntary evacuation began in 1907 with land raids by the impoverished crofters to the neighbouring island of Vatersay, and Mingulay is now completely deserted. the Mudcat Forum