Andy Stewart and the pipes and drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.

“A Scottish soldier” is a Scottish folk song. The lyrics were written by Andy Stewart. He said they came from his heart. The song is about a dying Scottish soldier, wishing to return to the hills of his homeland rather than die in Tyrol. The song was a significant international hit, and one of two US chart entries by Andy Stewart.

The tune, “The Green Hills of Tyrol”, is a well-known melody in the Scottish bagpipe tradition and was written by John MacLeod during the Crimean War, and based on an alpine folk tune used in William Tell.

The lyrics are as follows:

There was a soldier, a Scottish soldier
Who wandered far away and soldiered far away
There was none bolder, with good broad shoulder
He’s fought in many a fray, and fought and won.
He’d seen the glory and told the story
Of battles glorious and deeds victorious
But now he’s sighing, his heart is crying
To leave these green hills of Tyrol.

Because those green hills are not highland hills
Or the island hills, they’re not my land’s hills
And fair as these green foreign hills may be
They are not the hills of home.

And now this soldier, this Scottish soldier
Who wandered far away and soldiered far away
Sees leaves are falling and death is calling
And he will fade away, in that far land.
He called his piper, his trusty piper
And bade him sound a lay… a pibroch sad to play
Upon a hillside, a Scottish hillside
Not on these green hills of Tyrol.

Because those green hills are not highland hills
Or the island hills, they’re not my land’s hills
And fair as these green foreign hills may be
They are not the hills of home.

And so this soldier, this Scottish soldier
Will wander far no more and soldier far no more
And on a hillside, a Scottish hillside
You’ll see a piper play his soldier home.
He’d seen the glory, he’d told his story
Of battles glorious and deeds victorious
The bugles cease now, he is at peace now
Far from those green hills of Tyrol.

Because these green hills are not highland hills
Or the island hills, they’re not my land’s hills
And fair as these green foreign hills may be
They are not the hills of home.