Hooray for the Highlands!

By Dr. Dagny Gasking

Hooray for the Highlands is a song that I composed in 2017 for choir/singing
group.

Mountain and loch
Forest and burn
Something quite special
Each way you turn
Crystal waters
With salmon and trout
Wide purple hillsides
With eagles round about
Hooray for the Highlands!
Where the air is clear
The home of all weathers
It’s a place that we hold dear
Spend those long summer days
With squirrel and deer
Or just run up a mountain
Because it’s there
You’ll love it here
Our long hard winter when the sun is slow to rise
Might seem cause to sympathise
But in fact we look forward
Can’t wait for frosty days
And Hogmanay
'Cos we know that that means
The snow is a-comin’
Get ready
For sledges, skis and snowboards
Makin’ winter sports whoopee
Snow, snow, snow, the snow
When mountains are white
With a new crop of routes
Get set
With ice axe and crampons on the boots
Prime climbing time

Curling on ice
Skiing the hills
Trekking cross-country
Wilderness thrills
World best porridge
To fuel the programme
Back home for Burns, pipes
And haggis with a dram
Hooray for the Highlands!
With their views so fair
No matter the weather
Still the place that we hold dear

If climate outside
Is not to your taste
There’s a warm cèilidh welcome
Locally based
Ideally placed
Waiting for you
A dance or two?
Our long hard winter when the nights are dark and cold
Holds so much for young and old
Nothing beats Highland Scotland
Spring, summer, autumn gold
Or winters cold
And who knows who you’ll meet
Around the next corner
Such folk
Musician, artist, chainsaw carver
Each one quite bespoke
Look, look, look, out there
Was that something
Sticking its head out the water?
A monster?
Scotch mist?
Or perhaps a Highland cow
Who really oughta
Know better
Than to go dipping
And get rumbled
Before the blow dry’s done
But then
This is the North of Scotland
And who says that pigs can’t fly
From ben to glen?
Hooray for the Highlands!

Where the air is clear
The home of all weathers
It’s that place that we hold dear
Hooray for the Highlands!
Ev’ry day of the year
Come on, if you’re honest
Don’t you wish that you were here!

Want to listen to the song? Please click here to listen to Hooray for the Highlands!

We Want to Hear From You!

Share what draws you to your favourite places in the Highlands and Islands

Stories are at the heart of what we do as a project and we are always looking to learn more about what the Highlands and Islands means to people who live, work, and visit here. Does the 'Spirit of the Highlands and Islands' present itself in the landscape for you? If so, how do you feel drawn to your favourite place? Tell us below, we would love to hear from you!

Click here to share your story through our online story portal