1. When I've done the work of day
and I rowed my boat away
down the waters of Loch Tay
when the evening light is falling
then I look toward Ben Lawers
where the after glories glow
and I dream of two bright eyes
with a merry mouth below
she's my beauteous nighean ruadh
she's my joy and sorrow too
though I own she is not true
oh 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 I sing hori horo.

2. Nighean ruadh I do declare
there's more beauty in your hair
than all the tresses fair
from Killin to Aberfeldy
be they lint-white gold or brown
be they blacker than the sloe
they mean not as much to me
as a melting flake of snow
and her dance is like the gleam
of the sunlight on the stream
and the songs that we folk sing
oh they're the songs she sings at milking
but my heart is full of woe
for last night she bade me go
and the tears begin to flow
as I sing hori horo.

3.=1.