The Water is Wide (traditional)

[Guest]

The water is wide and 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 and I.

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.

I leaned my back up against an oak
Thinkin' it was a trusty tree
But first it bent and then it broke
Just like my own false love to me.

Oh love is gentle, love is kind
Gay as a jewel when first it's new
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like some morning dew.

The water is wide and 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 and I.

[Minna]

.

[mat james]

Great post "guest"

I particularly love this verse.
...The water is wide and 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 and I.

So melancholy, so heartfelt, so full of longing; and when Van the Man sings it,

"something that they are stammering
leaves me dying"

San Juan de la Cruz.

[lonndubh]

Is this song called Carrigfergus

[mat james]

yep !

[Davido]

Carrickfergus:
I wish I was in Carrickfergus
Only for nights in Ballygrand
I would swim over the deepest ocean
Only for nights in Ballygrand
But the sea is wide and I cannot swim over
And neither have I the wings to fly
If I could find me a handy boatman
To ferry me over my love and I
My childhood days bring back sad reflections
Of happy time there spent so long ago
My boyhood friends and my own relations
Have all passed on now like the melting snow
So I?ll spend my days in this endless roving
Soft is the grass and shore my bed is free
But to be home now in carrickfergus
On the long road down to the salty sea

And in Kilkenny it is reported
On marble stone there as black as ink
With gold and silver I would support her
But I'll sing no more now till I get a drink
For I'm drunk today and I'm seldom sober
The handsome rover from town to town
Ah but I am sick now my days are numbered
Come all me young men and lay me down
Come all me young men and lay me down

[liverpoolken]

......and of course the best ever version of Carrickfergus is surely ex-Dubliner John Reilly's

http://irelandyoutube.blogspot.com/2007 ... eilly.html

and here is Bob Dylan (blessed be his name) with Aunty Joan singing The Water Is Wide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGx6mfw2f4A

Ta Ken

[mat james]

lovedemliverP!
This isn't bad either

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4mjCxUK ... re=related

[david birkett]

Carrickfergus -

Dick Gaughan was in an excellent band called Five Hand Reel, who recorded a version of this song on 'For a' That'. Well worth hunting down.


David

[William]

John Reilly in the Dubliners?
When?

[Manna]

There's a real guy named John Reilly?

Well, come to think of it there are probably lots of 'em.

[Sue]

The Water is Wide is one of my all time favourite songs!! Ken has mentioned Bob Dylan's version with Joan - which is superb, but did you know:

a) there is also a good version by the Kingston Trio
b) Neil Young included the song on his Ragged Glory album but with the title 'Mother Earth' (I love that version too!)


Oh, Mother Earth,
With your fields of green
Once more laid down
by the hungry hand
How long can you
give and not receive
And feed this world
ruled by greed
And feed this world
ruled by greed.

Oh, ball of fire
In the summer sky
Your healing light,
your parade of days
Are they betrayed
by the men of power
Who hold this world
in their changing hands
They hold the world
in their changing hands.

Oh, freedom land
Can you let this go
Down to the streets
where the numbers grow
Respect Mother Earth
and her healing ways
Or trade away
our children's days
Or trade away
our children's days.

Respect Mother Earth
and her healing ways
Or trade away
our children's days.


c) the wonderfullest version - in which I first heard the song as a young girl and it made me weep, despite the posh accent - is as sung by Kathleen Ferrier. I have this on an old EP somewhere but I have never been able to find a digital version. She sings it under the traditional title of 'O Waly, Waly' and she was not posh in actual fact.

[sebmelmoth2003]

Sing for Water 2024 will take place on Sunday 15 September at 2:15pm at the Scoop, by Tower Bridge.

Sing for Water brings together choirs from all over the country to raise money for WaterAid and express their love for rivers through song...

https://thamesfestivaltrust.org/artisti ... d_source=1