The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond is a traditional Scottish folk song first published in 1841 in Vocal Melodies of Scotland. Its lyrics likely originated from a Jacobite prisoner in Carlisle after the 1745 uprising, who wrote about his impending execution and promised his spirit would return home faster via death than his friend on the high road of life. The song’s chorus contrasts the physical journey on the high road with the spiritual return on the low road. | Walkingbonniescotland