When I've done the work of day and I row my boat away
Down the waters of Loch Tay when the evening light is fallin'
Then I look towards Ben Lawers where the afterglories glow
And I dream on two bright eyes with a merry mouth below
SheUs my beauteous nighean ruach nighean ruach = red-haired lass
She's my joy and sorrow too
Though I own she is not true
Ah, but I cannot live without her
For my heart's a boat in tow
And I'd give the world to know
If she means to let me go
As she sings horee horo
Nighean ruach, your lovely hair has more beauty I declare
Than all the tresses fair from Killen to Aberfeldy
Be they lint, white, gold or brown, be they blacker than the sloe
They mean not as much to me as a meltin' flake of snow
And her dance is like the gleam
Of the sunlight on the stream
And the songs the wee folk sing
Ah, they're the songs she sings at milkin'
But my heart is full of woe
For last night she bade me go
And the tears begin to flow
As I sing horee horo