Well, my father was a sodger frae the parish o' Bonawe
Would fain have seen me listed in the gallant forty-twa
But there's mair to life than drum or fife for a highland lad tae know
So I took ship at Peterheid, bound for the lowlands low
And I fell in wi' a merchant lad frae the town of Armentieres
Who promised me an honest fee tae help him guard his wares
And if I'd go wi' him tae Danzig and the plains o' Muscovy
There'd be the Baltic and Byzantium tae see
Well I bought and sold wi' Swedes and Poles, frae Rostock tae the Rhine
It was hites for corn and cups o' horn, salt for Spanish wine
And when the armies pa**ed me by, well I always raised my gla**
For there's many a sodger laddie buys a trinket for his la**
And yince I heard the call o' hame in the port o' Amsterdam
When a fiddler laddie played the airs o' Scotia for a dram
But the other call was strong enough tae turn me frae the shore
For the Baltic and Byzantium once more
In Rome they stole my horses, in Prague they stole my cairt
And on the bonny banks o' Istria, well, a la**ie stole my hairt
I bade her teach me twenty words by auld Dubrovnik's wa's
By the time she'd taught me forty, I'd enough tae plead my cause
I asked her if she'd ever dreamed o' different airts tae see
Or tae make a live as honest wife tae a lad o' pairts like me
And when her faither tried to reason her, a richer man tae find
I said the Baltic and Byzantium were mine
And now I sit the winter lang, the bairns aboot my knee
And if ye can, show me the man wi' a better life than me
But there's times I sit and I wonder, and the thoughts that fill my mind
Are tides and trade and bargains made doon roads I've yet tae find
So perhaps I'll rise right early and I'll saddle up my mare
And on her back lay a pedlar's pack wi' the best o' Scotia's wares
And I'll set out wi' a right good will by mountain and by glen
Tae see the Baltic and Byzantium again