The Water Is Wide
"The Water Is Wide" is a British folk song about love that doesn't last. The version sung today was put together by collector Cecil Sharp and published in 1906, from verses that go back to at least 1724.
- Also known as
- O Waly, Waly; Waly, Waly, Gin Love Be Bonny
- Origin
- Britain; verses printed in Scotland by 1724
- Modern form
- Cecil Sharp, Folk Songs from Somerset (1906)
- Related ballad
- "Jamie Douglas" (Child 204, Roud 87)
- Copyright
- Traditional, public domain
Traditional lyrics
The water is wide, I can't cross o'er,
And neither have I wings to fly.
Give me a boat that can carry two,
And both shall row, my love and I.
A ship there is and she sails the sea,
She's loaded deep as deep can be,
But not so deep as the love I'm in;
I know not if I sink or swim.
I leaned my back against an oak,
Thinking it was a trusty tree,
But first it bent and then it broke,
And so did my false love to me.
Oh, love is handsome and love is kind,
Bright as a jewel when first it's new,
But love grows old and waxes cold,
And fades away like morning dew.
History
The song's ancestors are Scottish. "Waly, Waly, Gin Love Be Bonny" appeared in Allan Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany in 1724, and some of the same lines turn up in the ballad "Jamie Douglas," said to be about the unhappy marriage of James Douglas, 2nd Marquess of Douglas. The song as most people know it is English: Cecil Sharp combined verses he collected into one song and printed it in Folk Songs from Somerset in 1906.
The song traces a whole love affair: the longing to reach the loved one, the depth of feeling, the betrayal (the oak that breaks), and the lesson that love "fades away like morning dew."
Recordings
Pete Seeger made it a folk-revival favourite. Benjamin Britten arranged it for voice and piano, and later recordings include Bob Dylan (1996) and PJ Harvey (2014).
Chords in D
D G D
The water is wide, I can't cross o'er,
Bm Em A
And neither have I wings to fly.
D G D Bm
Give me a boat that can carry two,
G A D
And both shall row, my love and I.
It works well in 3/4 or a slow 4/4. Fingerpick it on guitar, or play the melody on dulcimer or tin whistle.
More songs: Barbara Allen · Wayfaring Stranger · all folk songs