Traditional (as sung by Hugh MacDonald)
Heil ya Ho boys,
Let her go boys,
Swing her head round and all together,
Heil ya Ho boys, Let her go boys,
Sailing homeward to Mingulay.
What care we though white
the Minch is,
What care we for wind or weather?
Heil ya Ho boys, and we'll anchor,
As the sun sets on Mingulay.
Heil ya Ho boys,
Let her go boys,
Swing her head round and all together,
Heil ya Ho boys, Let her go boys,
Sailing homeward to Mingulay.
Wives are waiting by the
quayside,
They've been waiting since break o' day boys,
They are waiting for their loved ones,
As the sun sets on Mingulay.
Heil ya Ho boys,
Let her go boys,
Swing her head round and all together,
Heil ya Ho boys, Let her go boys,
Sailing homeward to Mingulay.
Once owned by the MacNeil's of Barra, the
island of Mingulay is the largest of the small group of islands
in the Outer Hebrides known as the Bishop's Isles. There
are 800 feet high cliffs at the southern tip of this island with stacks
mentioned in some references. The island is quite small being 1 mile by
2 miles in extent.
The
island’s population peaked at 150 in 1881, but by 1912 Mingulay was deserted
except for colonies of sea birds (guillemots, kittiwakes and puffins)
nesting on the crags of dramatic sea cliffs.
