The Campbells Are Coming

No tune is more associated with the clan than The Campbells Are Coming, the words of which are said to have been composed about the Jacobite uprising of 1715. The Gaelic name of the tune is Baile Ionaraora (the town of Inveraray), and the words in the Gaelic reflect the feelings of the piper-composer who apparently was less than enamored with the hospitality he experienced as the piper at a local wedding:

Bha mi air banais am Baile Ionaraora,
Bha mi air banais am Baile Ionaraora,
Bha mi air banias am Baile IIonaraora,
Banais na bochdainn 's gun oirr' ach am maorach.

I was at a wedding in the town of Inveraray,
I was at a wedding in the town of Inveraray,
I was at a wedding in the town of Inveraray,
Most wretched of weddings, with nothing but shellfish.

However, these are the words normally associated with the tune.

The Campbells are Coming

The Campbells are coming Ho-Ro, Ho-Ro!
The Campbells are coming Ho-Ro, Ho-Ro!
The Campbells are coming to bonnie LochLeven
The Campbells are coming Ho-Ro, Ho-Ro!

Upon the Lomonds I lay, I lay,
Upon the Lomonds I lay, I lay,
I lookit down to bonnie Lochleven
And saw three perches play-hay-hay!

The Great Argyll he goes before,
He makes the cannons and guns to roar,
With sound o'trumpet, pipe and drum,
The Campbells are coming, Ho-Ro, Ho-Ro!

The Campbells they are a' in arms,
Their loyal faith and truth to show,
With banners rattling in the wind,
The Campbells are coming Ho-Ro, Ho-Ro!