The melody, by the way, is very different different from all the others we have come across so far: In all these more or less fragmentary versions one can find a combination of verses that is - to my knowledge - only known from "The Unfortunate Swain" and its off-springs. This would be the most logical explanation for the dissemination of this verses and phrases. He even identified one of the two broadside ballads in question. : Thomson was a Scottish singer who had moved to London. The song now starts with a slightly edited variant of what was originally the second verse. That's a nice alliteration and it sounds much better than the original lines. 142. Of course we don't know if she made it up herself or if she learned it that way from someone else: In 1906 Cecil Sharp decided to retain the first two lines sung to him by his informant. 1839, available at, "Down In Yon Meadows", tune and text from Thomas Hepple Manuscript, ca. He then compiled his own new "old" song from those fragments and published it as "Oh Waly, Waly" in 1906 in Folk Songs From Somerset and in 1916 in One Hundred Folk Songs. $95.39: $75.67: See all 6 versions of the song The Water Is Wide 1, p. 144, here in the reprint published in 1869; see also Motherwell 1827, p. 395, Chambers 1829, p. 133-140). There he obviously had great success and was "favoured at court on account of his Scots songs" (Farmer 1962, p. I). Third Series, 1906, p. 32/33, Title page, Cecil Sharp & Charles R. Marson, Folk Songs From Somerset. 1923, pp. The oldest has been in use for nearly 400 years  and even the youngest is known for nearly two centuries. 45, 2008, pp. They are all listed in the catalogue of Scottish chapbooks on the website of the University of Glasgow: This song was also published with other titles. 60, ESTC T219204, available at ECCO) and in the first volume of George Thomson's Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs (1793, No. 35 A, p. 171, "Waly, Waly (Down In The Meadows)", sung by James Thomas (89), Somerset, 1906, collected by Cecil Sharp, from Karpeles, Sharp Collection, No. To which are added, Tippet is the dandy---o. At least it had been used in the broadside ballad "The Seamans leave taken of his sweetest Margery" (see, A different version of this verse is part of at least two variants of "The Unfortunate Swain" from oral tradition that I have already mentioned: one from Cornwall that can be found in Baring-Gould’s manuscripts and the other a fragment from Newcastle (. A. Fuller Maitland, English County Songs, London [1893], Lucy E. Broadwood et al.,  1923, Songs of Unhappy Love, in: Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. Interestingly no other collector has noted variants of this song from his informants. 204). The first with nine verses and a chorus can be found for example on a song-sheet printed by John Pitts in London (, When was this song first published? Pitts' address on this broadside is "6, Great St. Andrew Street, 7 Dials". But the anonymous author of this piece  was not necessarily one of the great poets of his era. But the addition of this verse makes sense for another reason because it was also part of the broadside song "Wheel Of Fortune" that had been the major source for the British "Love It Is  Easin'/Pleasin'/Teasin'". FAVORITE (21 fans) Bob Dylan. Later Carl Sandburg  introduced a minimalist version in his American Songbag (1927, p. 16). A new Song, [London?, s.n., 1790?] An' fades away like some morning dew But first it bent an' then it broke 1650, ESTC, But "Oh Waly, Waly" also shares four verses with "Arthur's Seat Shall Be My Bed, or: Love in Despair". Baring-Gould left it more or less intact (see also Rough Copy, Vol. 487-8, in the edition published in 1839): Another version of this song can be found in the Thomas Hepple Manuscript. In the, The Unfortunate Swain. In this case he would have marked "Oh Waly,Waly" not with a "Z" as an old song but with a "Q, old songs with additions". The Water Is Wide (Live at Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA - November 21, 1975 - Evening ... - Duration: 5:18. At first only classical composers took interest and brought out arrangements for solo singers or choirs, for example  Herbert William Pierce in 1931, Robert Chignell in 1935 or Reginald Redman in 1943: The best known was of course Benjamin Britten's version that he first published in 1947 in his Folk Song Arrangements, Vol. The unfortunate swain. Third Series, London 1906, source pdf-file downloaded at, "Waly, Waly (Down In The Meadows)", sung by Mrs. Caroline Cox (70),  Somerset, 1905, collected by Cecil Sharp, from Karpeles, Sharp Collection, No. Evans also published other songs about Caroline with the same imprint, for example "Caroline's Return", "Remember your Queen ,&c." and "Appeal of Innocence" (Firth c.16(28)). 261-278, Carl Sandburg, The American Songbag, New York 1927 (online at, Cecil Sharp & Charles R. Marson, Folk Songs From Somerset. But the text in the Personal Copy and also in the Fair Copy Manuscript (see SBG/3/1/422 ) had already been repaired by Baring-Gould. 68-9). 1, 1743, p. 5, available at the Internet Archive). It's in no way related to any of the others collected with this song. But the phrase "act such a childish part" seems to have been introduced by the "Unfortunate Swain". Two pieces published circa 1780 demonstrate this technique. 32/33). Many thanks  to Stewart Grant who has written about “The Water Is Wide” for my former website and  who encouraged me find out a little more about this song! 270-2). But in fact he had created it anew by collating bits and pieces from different field-recordings. by H. M. Belden & A. P. Hudson, Durham 1952 (available at, The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, Volume 3: Folk Songs From North Carolina, ed. Interestingly Sharp's methods were strikingly similar to those of the writers of "The Unfortunate Swain" and other broadsides. O the ripest of apples, they must soon grow rotten, This is a fragmentary version of the earlier and longer variant of "I'm Often Drunk": it still uses the phrase "I cannot wade them" instead of "can't get over". Both share the second line, here in the original text: This is very similar to "No wings, and cannot fly so high" in Brown's text quoted above, to "Nor have I any wings to fly" (M. H. Henry, No. Folklorists in the USA have found a lot of variants of a song usually called "Fair And Tender Ladies" or "Little Sparrow" (Roud # 451, see f. ex. 419/20). At best these two melodies are only very loosely related to each other. The only differences to the other texts were that one of the original verses was missing and that the lilies took over the main role in the first verse: Four copies of another edition called "The Maid's Complaint" - also with eight instead of nine verses - can be found among the Madden Ballads (8-5377; 9-5914 & 6132; 10-7033). Bob Dylan 34,775 views But in fact he had created it anew by collating bits and pieces from different field-recordings. The water is wide an' I can't cross over Neither have I wings to fly Build me a boat that can carry two And both shall row my love an' i Th Lyrics There is a ship and it sails on the sea Loaded deep as deep can be But not as deep as the love I'm in I know not if I sink or swim. A version from West Virginia with more or less the same words was collected by J. H. Cox in 1918 ("Maggie Goddon", Cox, No. The generous gentleman, [Edinburgh, 1780] (ESTC, The Dandy---o. In fact it was mostly a compilation of verses from earlier broadsides: at least five of the nine were borrowed from other songs. You embed the widget in your site 's styles ( CSS ) knowledge. Robert Bremner 's new violin without a Master, 1847, p. 220-222 M.! And especially the the expression `` the childish part '' seems to me this! 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