Verse 1: Midsummers eve, thirteen fourteen Two armies draw up on the green The stoutest force that e'er was seen Around the Bannock water To crush the Scots was Edward's boast And rule the land from coast to coast Let Scotsmen quail before his host Like lambs before the slaughter
Chorus: Draw the sword at Bannockburn See Scottish dignity return Let the foreign tyrant learn Each man is at his station Join the lion of the north And drive the false invader forth To show the world o' Scotland's worth An independent nation
Verse 2: The Scots outnumbered three-to-one Take up their places on the run The chilterens in the morning sun Defiant as the thistle The English lines of armour bright Present an awesome, fearful sight Behind each mounted southern knight The spears and lances bristle
Verse 3: The mercenary knight De Bohun In armour black from toe to plume Spurs out to change the Bruce's tune And ca' the nacht o' sorrows He thunders at him cross the plain Bruce wields his pony in disdain And drives his axe through skull and brain And ends De Bohun's tomorrows
Verse 4: Then charge the English to the field Towards the hedge of Scottish steel And into mud and carnage wheel In waves of dead and fallen The Etterick archers join the fray And send aloft their deadly spray And countless in their saddles slay Who's death knell now is tollen
Verse 5: The name of Douglas sing with pride MacNeil and Stewart brave beside And all who swelled that gallant tide To stem the south's advancing And here's to Robert Bruce by name Our own true king renowned in fame His flag like red and yellow flame In Scotland's honour dancing
Here's to the Bruce at Bannockburn With pride, each Scottish heart should burn As Edward back to London turns To mourn his fallen glory Hail the lion of the north Send trumpeter and herald forth To tell the world of Scotland's worth And place in freedom's story
Hail the lion of the north Send trumpeter and herald forth To tell the world of Scotland's worth And place in freedom's story