Return No More

Lyrics

In bonny Strathnaver we had game and plenty Our moorland birds, our mountain deer Clear ran the rivers with trout and salmon Before the gentry forced their game laws here [Chorus] Return no more, the piper's playing The ship must sail and so must we Return no more, my heart is breaking And bitter tears I'll cry for thee For Cheviot sheep and for greed they drove us From our native homes and our rightful land It was Patrick Sellars put this sorrow on us With the fire and the guns of his clearance gangs [Chorus] Return no more, the piper's playing The ship must sail and so must we Return no more, my heart is breaking And bitter tears I'll cry for thee They burned our houses and our belongings They drove us out with what clothes we wore In bitter winter devoid of shelter To where the cruel waves break upon the rocky shore [Chorus] Return no more, the piper's playing The ship must sail and so must we Return no more, my heart is breaking And bitter tears I'll cry for thee No work in Glasgow, no food to travel Among the rocks our cattle died We sold salt herrings, we lived on nettles Till there was little left us but just our pride [Chorus] Return no more, the piper's playing The ship must sail and so must we Return no more, my heart is breaking And bitter tears I'll cry for thee Then by the thousands and the tens of thousands As indentured servants our passage paid With our wedding rings and our father's medals To sail for Canadian shores or Americay [Chorus] Return no more, the piper's playing The ship must sail and so must we Return no more, my heart is breaking And bitter tears I'll cry for thee