Farewell to the cliffs of Mingulay
And the shores of the Sandray Sound
And the glow of a boat well laden
Steaming north when you're homeward bound
Donald Francis MacNeil is my name
I'm a fisherman through to the bone
I have lived by the creel and the wave
To provide for a family and home
Generations before me have followed
The toil and the call of the seas
But the soul will be torn from our future
And the heart from the Hebrides
Farewell to the cliffs of Mingulay
And the shores of the Sandray Sound
And the glow of a boat well laden
Steaming north when you're homeward bound
♪
I have hauled through the stacks and the arches
And learned from the old in my youth
Ten thousand seabirds my chorus
The sea is my way and my truth
At one with the ocean, with nature
The world above and below
The harvest of harmony's circle
But my life and my living must go
For the fashions of urban ideals
Where the passions of ignorance play
To the lies of political deals
No care for the lives in their way
Farewell to the cliffs of Mingulay
And the shores of the Sandray Sound
And the glow of a boat well laden
Steaming north when you're homeward bound
♪
My people, my language, my Island
And the rights that our forefathers won
To remain on the soil of our homeland
By the sweep of a pen will be gone
A wrecking ball through our existence
Tradition and culture condemned
At the hands of the arrogant stranger
The Clearances over again
Farewell to the cliffs of Mingulay
And the shores of the Sandray Sound
And the glow of a boat well laden
Steaming north when you're homeward bound
But we'll join with the kin of our coastline
From Ness to the Holy Isle
Faceless grey suits from the cities
They will not play games with our lives
My song marks a fight for survival
A Mayday call we cry
We will stand for the rights of our children
We will not let our islands die
Farewell to the cliffs of Mingulay
And the shores of the Sandray Sound
And the glow of a boat well laden
Steaming north when you're homeward bound
Farewell to the cliffs of Mingulay
And the shores of the Sandray Sound
And the glow of a boat well laden
Steaming north when you're homeward bound