Loch Lomond

"Loch Lomond" was originally included on Runrig's second album 1979's The Highland Connection, and it gradually became the Scottish band's signature track, the last to be performed at their concerts. In 1991 a live version of this featured on the band's EP "Hearthammer," which peaked at #25 in the UK. In 2007 Runrig re-recorded "Loch Lomond (Hampden Remix)" to raise funds for the BBC's annual Children In Need appeal. The recording featured the Tartan Army, a group of Scottish football supporters, including Rod Stewart, who were enlisted to provide backing vocals. ("The Tartan Army" is a nickname given to Scottish football supporters.) It was released a week prior to Scotland's biggest soccer game for many years, a vital qualifier with Italy for the 2008 European Championships, which Scotland lost 2-1. The result for Runrig, however, was the first ever UK Top 10 hit for the veteran band, 34 years after their formation in 1973.

"Loch Lomond" is a traditional Scottish folk song which was first published in Vocal Melodies of Scotland in 1841. It is thought the subject of the song could be a captured Jacobite rebel Highlander, who knows he is unlikely ever to spend time with his true love by the shores of Loch Lomond again.

The setting for this song, Loch Lomond, is the largest freshwater Scottish lake, which is overlooked by the mountain Ben Lomond.