Talk about a loser, I was just about to go 
When someone grabbed me by the arm, a man I did not know 
He said he'd been a drover, a member of the clan 
With runrig in his very soul and nowhere left to stand  
Now me I'm just a highland boy and cottar was my trade 
He'd seen me at Kildoanan when the black-face came to stay 
He'd oatcakes and he'd whisky and one foot in the grave 
For us it's over 
Bitter tears began to fall as whisky tore away the years 
From the straths and the braes 
Forever yesterday  
 
The royal George it was that brought the Countess to our door 
She wanted us to leave the hills for crofts upon the moor 
She took our piece of paradise and left us on the shore 
For us it's over 
Bitter tears began to fall as whisky tore away the years 
From the straths and the braes 
Forever yesterday  
 
They cleared the clans from Strathnavar, the heart of Sutherland 
They cleared us from our highland homes by ship to foreign glens 
There's Linton and there's Cheviot and red deer on the bens 
For us it's over, over, over, my friend