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Runrig made No 9 in the UK charts and No 1 in the Scottish ones when they released a version of this song, recorded at Hampden with the Tartan Army singing along, for Children in Need in 2007.
Of the many theories about the meaning of the lyrics the most credible, and widely accepted, is that it is sung by a lover of one of the many captured Jacobite rebels sent to London to be executed after a show trial. The heads of such rebels were placed on pikes and displayed in all the towns between London and Glasgow in a procession along the "High Road" (the most important road) while relatives of the rebels walked back along the "low road", i.e. the road travelled by peasants and commoners.
Cover versions include those by Billy Haley and the Comets, Benny Goodman, The Corries, Paul Robeson, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and many more.
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