The Water Is Wide (song) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

"The Water Is Wide" is a folk song of Scottish or English origin that has been sung since the 1600s and has seen considerable popularity through to the 21st century. It is related to Child Ballad 204 (Roud number

Roud Folk Song Index

The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...

87), Jamie Douglas, which in turn refers to the ostensibly unhappy first marriage of James Douglas, 2nd Marquess of Douglas

James Douglas, 2nd Marquess of Douglas

James Douglas, 2nd Marquess of Douglas was the son of Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus and 1st Earl of Ormonde, and Lady Anne Stuart....

to Lady Barbara Erskine. Cecil Sharp

Cecil Sharp

Cecil James Sharp was the founding father of the folklore revival in England in the early 20th century, and many of England's traditional dances and music owe their continuing existence to his work in recording and publishing them.-Early life:Sharp was born in Camberwell, London, the eldest son of...

collected this song during his journey to America in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

Themes

The inherent challenges of love are made apparent in the narrator's imagery: "Love is handsome, love is kind" during the novel honeymoon phase of any relationship. However, as time progresses, "love grows old, and waxes cold". Even true love, the narrator admits, can "fade away like morning dew"

Andrew Lang glimpsed an earlier history:
The roots of the song are unclear, with some claiming an English origin and others claiming a Scottish origin, which they support by comparison to the ballad Lord Jamie Douglas. However, it is also similar to the Northern Irish song Carrickfergus

Carrickfergus (song)

"Carrickfergus" is an Irish folk song. The origins of the song are unclear, but it has been traced to an Irish language song, "Do bhí bean uasal" , which is attested to the poet Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna, who died in 1745 in County Clare.The song appears on a ballad sheet in Cork City in the mid...

, which has the lines but the sea is wide/I cannot swim over/And neither have I wings to fly. This song is said to be preceded by an Irish language

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

song whose first line A Bhí Bean Uasal ("It was a noble woman") matches closely the opening line of one known variation of Lord Jamie Douglas: I was a lady of renown. However, the content of the English-language Carrickfergus includes material clearly from the Scots/English songs that is not attested in any known copy of A Bhí Bean Uasal suggesting that there has been considerable interplay between all known traditions.

Waly, Waly, gin Love be bonny

O Waly, waly, (a lament - "woe is me") up the bank,

And waly, waly, doun the brae (hill),

And waly, waly, yon burn-side (riverside),

Where I and my love want to go!

I lean'd my back into an aik (oak),

I thocht it was a trustie tree;

But first it bow'd and syne (soon) it brak (broke)—

Sae my true love did lichtlie (lightly) me.

O waly, waly, gin love be bonnie (beautiful),

A little time while it is new!

But when 'tis auld (old) it waxeth cauld (cold),

And fades awa' like morning dew.

O wherefore should I busk my heid (adorn my head),

Or wherefore should I kame (comb) my hair?

For my true Love has me forsook,

And says he'll never lo'e me mair (more).

Now Arthur's Seat

Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh

Arthur's Seat is the main peak of the group of hills which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design". It is situated in the centre of the city of Edinburgh, about a mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle...

Sall (shall) be my bed (burial place),

The sheets sall ne'er be 'filed by me;

Saint Anton's well

Holyrood Park

Holyrood Park is a royal park in central Edinburgh, Scotland about a mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle. It has an array of hills, lochs, glens, ridges, basalt cliffs, and patches of whin providing a remarkably wild piece of highland landscape within its area...

sall be my drink;

Since my true Love has forsaken me.

Marti'mas wind, when wilt thou blaw (blow),

And shake the green leaves aff the tree?

O gentle Death, when wilt thou come?

For of my life I am wearìe.

'Tis not the frost, that freezes fell,

Nor blawing snaw's (snow) inclemencie,

'Tis not sic cauld (such cold) that makes me cry;

But my Love's heart grown cauld to me.

When we cam in by Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

toun,

We were a comely sicht (sight)to see;

My Love was clad in the black velvèt,

And I mysel in cramasie (crimson).

But had I wist (known), before I kissed,

That love had been sae ill to win,

I had lock'd my heart in a case o' gowd (gold),

And pinn'd it wi' a siller (silver) pin.

And O! if my young babe were born,:

And set upon the nurse's knee;

And I mysel were dead and gane,

And the green grass growing over me!

The Water is Wide

Some popular lyrics for "The Water is Wide" are within the book Folk Songs For Solo Singers, though many versions have been printed and sung.

The water is wide, I can-not cross o'er.

And neither have I the wings to fly.

Build me a boat that can carry two,

And both shall row, my true love and I.

A ship there is and she sails the seas.

She's laden deep, as deep can be;

But not so deep as the love I'm in

And I know not if I sink or swim.

I leaned my back up against a young oak

Thinking he were a trusty tree

but first he bended and then he broke

Thus did my love prove false to me.

O 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 the morning dew.

The Water is Wide (Round)

: The Water is Wide

I Cannot get over

Nor have I Wings

With which to-o-o fly

O-o-h give me a boat

That can carry Two

We both shall Row

My friend and I-i-I

(repeat twice in parts with one part higher than the other and then sing in round with group two beginning to sing at the word 'Nor')

Arrangements

"O Waly, Waly" has been a popular choice for arrangements by classical composers, in particular Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...

, whose arrangement for voice and piano was published in 1948. John Rutter

John Rutter

John Milford Rutter CBE is a British composer, conductor, editor, arranger and record producer, mainly of choral music.-Biography:Born in London, Rutter was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener. He read music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the...

uses it for the Third Movement in his "Suite for Strings" (1973).

The tune is often used for the hymn "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

The hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross", was written by Isaac Watts, and published in Hymns and Spiritual Songs in 1707. It is significant for being an innovative departure from the early English hymn style of only using paraphrased biblical texts, although the first two lines of the second...

" by Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 750 hymns...

. It is also the tune for John Bell

John L. Bell

John Lamberton Bell is a hymn-writer. A Church of Scotland minister, he is a member of the Iona Community, a broadcaster, and former student activist...

's "When God Almighty came to Earth" (1987) and F. Pratt Green

Fred Pratt Green

The Reverend Fred Pratt Green CBE was a British Methodist minister and hymnwriter.Born in Roby, Lancashire, England, he began his ministry in the Filey circuit. He was ordained as a Methodist minister in 1928 and served circuits in the north and south of England until 1969. During his career as a...

's "An Upper Room did our Lord Prepare" (1974). Additionally, Hal H. Hopson

Hal Hopson

Hal H. Hopson is a full-time composer and church musician residing in Dallas, Texas. He has over 1000 published works, which comprise almost every musical form in church music...

used the tune for his work "The Gift of Love". Hopson also wrote Christian lyrics to The Water is Wide, which are often performed by church choirs.

Mack Wilberg

Mack Wilberg

Mack Wilberg is a composer, arranger, conductor, and Choral clinician, as well as the music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir...

has arranged the tune to "Thou Gracious God" by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was an American physician, professor, lecturer, and author. Regarded by his peers as one of the best writers of the 19th century, he is considered a member of the Fireside Poets. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat...

, which is performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...

in the album Peace Like a River

Peace Like a River (album)

Peace Like a River is a religious album released by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The album was originally released in 2004.-Track listing:#Sweet Peace#:Music: English Folk Song#:Text: David Warner#:Arrangement: Mack Wilberg#:2:31#Be Still, My Soul...

Recordings

Classical singers who have recorded "O Waly, Waly" include Sir Thomas Allen (English baritone), Janet Baker

Janet Baker

Dame Janet Abbott Baker, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer.She was particularly closely associated with baroque and early Italian opera and the works of Benjamin Britten...

(English mezzo-soprano), Ian Bostridge

Ian Bostridge

Ian Bostridge CBE is an English tenor, well known for his performances as an opera singer and as a song recitalist.-Early life and education:...

(English tenor), Sarah Brightman

Sarah Brightman

Sarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She is famous for possessing a vocal range of over 3 octaves and singing in the whistle register...

(English soprano), Alfred Deller

Alfred Deller

Alfred George Deller CBE , was an English singer and one of the main figures in popularizing the return of the countertenor voice in Renaissance and Baroque music during the 20th Century....

(English counter-tenor), Anthony Rolfe Johnson

Anthony Rolfe Johnson

Anthony Rolfe Johnson, CBE was an English operatic tenor.-Life and career:Born in Tackley in Oxfordshire, Rolfe Johnson studied with Ellis Keeler and Vera Rosza at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He first appeared in opera in the chorus and in small roles at the Glyndebourne Festival...

(English tenor), Karl Scully (Irish Tenor), Anthony Kearns (Irish tenor), Richard Lewis

Richard Lewis (tenor)

Richard Lewis CBE was a Welsh tenor.Born Thomas Thomas in Manchester to Welsh parents, Lewis began his career as a boy soprano and studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music from 1939 to 1941...

(English tenor), Felicity Lott

Felicity Lott

Dame Felicity Ann Emwhyla Lott, DBE, FRCM is an English soprano.-Education:From her earliest years she was musical, having started studying piano at age 5. She also played violin and began singing lessons at 12. She is an alumna of Royal Holloway, University of London, obtaining a BA in French and...

(English soprano), Benjamin Luxon

Benjamin Luxon

Benjamin Matthew Luxon CBE is a retired British baritone.-Biography:He studied with Walter Grünner at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and established an international reputation as a singer when he won a third prize at the 1961 ARD International Music Competition in Munich...

(English bass-baritone), Derek Lee Ragin

Derek Lee Ragin

Derek Lee Ragin is an American countertenor.Ragin studied as a piano major at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. While at Oberlin he took secondary voice lessons with Richard Anderson. He began his operatic career at Oberlin in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream as Oberon...

(American countertenor), Daniel Taylor

Daniel Taylor (countertenor)

Daniel Taylor is a Canadian countertenor and early music specialist. He completed his undergraduate studies in English, philosophy, and music at the the Faculty of Music of McGill University and his graduate work in religion and music at the Université de Montréal...

(Canadian counter-tenor), Robert Tear

Robert Tear

Robert Tear, CBE was a Welsh tenor and conductor.Tear was born in Barry, Glamorgan, Wales, UK, the son of Thomas and Edith Tear. He attended Barry Boys' Grammar School and during this period sang in the chorus of the first Welsh National Opera's production of 'Cavalleria Rusticana' in April 1946...

(Welsh tenor), Frederica von Stade

Frederica von Stade

Frederica von Stade is an American mezzo-soprano. Born in Somerville, New Jersey, she acquired the nickname "Flicka" in her childhood. Von Stade attended the Mannes College of Music in New York City. She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1970 and in 1971 appeared as Cherubino in The...

(American mezzo-soprano), Carolyn Watkinson

Carolyn Watkinson

The English mezzo-soprano Carolyn Watkinson is a well-known singer of baroque music.Watkinson was born in Preston and studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music and in The Hague. In 1978 she sang Rameau's Phèdre at the English Bach Festival at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden...

(English mezzo-soprano), Scott Weir (American lyric tenor), Edith Wiens (Canadian soprano), Kathleen Ferrier

Kathleen Ferrier

Kathleen Mary Ferrier CBE was an English contralto who achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist, with a repertoire extending from folksong and popular ballads to the classical works of Bach, Brahms, Mahler and Elgar...

(English contralto) and Teddy Tahu Rhodes (New Zealand baritone).

The Library of Congress

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...

audio archives contain a recording of the American composer Samuel Barber

Samuel Barber

Samuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...

singing this tune and accompanying himself on piano in a recital broadcast from the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia on December 26, 1938.

"The Water is Wide" has also been recorded countless times, with popular renditions by Angie Aparo, The Highwaymen

The Highwaymen (folk band)

The Highwaymen were a circa 1960 "collegiate folk" group, which originated at Wesleyan University and had a Billboard number-one hit in 1961 with "Michael" and another Top 20 hit in 1962 with "Cottonfields"...

, The Seekers

The Seekers

The Seekers are an Australian folk-influenced pop music group which were originally formed in 1962. They were the first Australian popular music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States...

, Peter, Paul and Mary (titled "There is a Ship"), The Cowboy Junkies, Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

, Fred Neil, Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger

Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...

, Rangers

Rangers (band)

The Rangers is a Czech pop folk band formed in 1964 by Milan Dufek and Antonín Hájek, playing country music as well. Its classical ensemble consisted of Milan Dufek , Antonín Hájek , Miroslav Řihošek, Jan Vančura , Jiří Veisser, and Radek Tomášek...

, Joan Baez

Joan Baez

Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....

, Enya

Enya

Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...

, Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....

, Karla Bonoff

Karla Bonoff

Karla Bonoff is an American singer-songwriter, primarily known for her songwriting.As a songwriter, Bonoff's songs have been interpreted by other artists such as "Home" by Bonnie Raitt, "Tell Me Why" by Wynonna Judd, and "Isn't It Always Love" by Lynn Anderson...

, James Taylor

James Taylor

James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....

, Laura Wood, John Gorka

John Gorka

John Gorka is a contemporary American folk musician. In 1991, Rolling Stone magazine called him "the preeminent male singer-songwriter of what has been dubbed the New Folk Movement."-Biography:...

, Bob McCarthy, Daniel Rodriguez

Daniel Rodriguez

Daniel Rodríguez is an American operatic tenor from New York City. He became known as "The Singing Policeman" in his former work with the New York City Police Department, due to his role as one of the department's designated National Anthem singers...

, Luka Bloom

Luka Bloom

Luka Bloom is an Irish folk-rock singer-songwriter. He is the younger brother of Irish folk singer Christy Moore.-Early life:...

, Steve Goodman

Steve Goodman

Steve Goodman was an American folk music singer-songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. The writer of "City of New Orleans", made popular by Arlo Guthrie, Goodman won two Grammy Awards.-Personal life:...

, Eva Cassidy

Eva Cassidy

Eva Marie Cassidy was an American vocalist known for her interpretations of jazz, blues, folk, gospel, country and pop classics. In 1992 she released her first album, The Other Side, a set of duets with go-go musician Chuck Brown, followed by a live solo album, Live at Blues Alley in 1996...

, Rory Block

Rory Block

-Festival appearances:*Long Beach Blues Festival - 1993*San Francisco Blues Festival - 1999*Notodden Blues Festival - 2006-See also:*List of blues musicians*List of contemporary blues musicians*List of Austin City Limits performers-External links:****...

and Tom Chapin

Tom Chapin

Tom Chapin is a Grammy Award-winning American musician, entertainer, singer-songwriter and storyteller.-Biography:Chapin attended State University of New York at Plattsburgh and graduated in 1966. From 1971-1976, he hosted a TV show called Make a Wish...

. Axel Schiøtz, tenor with Herman D. Koppel piano acc. recorded it in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

on May 7, 1951. It was released on the 78 rpm record His Master's Voice X 8009.

Mark Knopfler

Mark Knopfler

Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...

recorded an instrumental version of "The Water is Wide" following the death of musician Chet Atkins

Chet Atkins

Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...

, who collaborated with Knopfler in several musical projects.

Fingerstyle guitarist Edward Gerhard recorded "The Water is Wide" for his Virtue Records CDs, "Counting the Ways: A Collection of Love Songs (VRD1922)" and "The Live Album (VRD1924)." A signature piece, "The Water is Wide" is a mainstay of Gerhard's concert performances.
The lyrics vary from period to period and from singer to singer.

The Kingston Trio

The Kingston Trio

The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...

released a version under the title "The River is Wide" in 1961. The New Christy Minstrels recorded this same melody in 1963 with entirely different lyrics, arranged by Randy Sparks

Randy Sparks

Randy Sparks is a musician, singer-songwriter and founder of The New Christy Minstrels and The Back Porch Majority. Prior to that, in the late 1950s he had a solo career and released two albums under the Verve label, a self-titled album in 1958 and Walking the Low Road in 1959...

and retitled "Last Farewell". Maura Shaftoe recorded a version of this song under the title "O Waly Waly" on the 2003 album Some Other Time.

Roger McGuinn

Roger McGuinn

James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...

of the Byrds

The Byrds

The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...

recorded the song on his first solo album (1973).

Sir Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard

Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....

has a version on his 1982 album Now You See Me, Now You Don't.

Neil Young

Neil Young

Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

wrote new, environmentally themed lyrics to the tune, and recorded it as "Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)" on his 1990 album Ragged Glory
Ragged Glory
Ragged Glory is the twentieth studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, his fifth with Crazy Horse, released in 1990.The album revisits the hard rock style previously explored on Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and Zuma...

.

Karla Bonoff

Karla Bonoff

recorded a version that is included on the 1991 soundtrack for the U.S. television program thirtysomething.

French singer Renaud

Renaud

Renaud, born Renaud Séchan, is a French singer, songwriter and actor.Renaud may also refer to:* Renaud , a male French given name* Renaud , a 1783 opera by Antonio Sacchini* Renaud, Quebec, part of Laval, Quebec...

helped make the tune famous among French-speaking countries. He wrote pacifist lyrics to the song "La ballade nord-irlandaise" (the Northern-Irish Ballad) for his 1991 album Marchand de cailloux
Marchand de cailloux
Marchand de cailloux is a studio album from French artist Renaud. It was released in 1991 and seen as a return to form after the less positive reviews for the previous album, Putain de camion.In this album Renaud again takes up socio-political themes...

, evoking the troubles of Northern Ireland.

The American-born Taiwanese artist Leehom Wang included a rendition of this song on his 1995 debut album, Love Rival Beethoven.

Claire Pelletier, a Québécoise singer, sings "Trop loin l'Irlande" on her album "Murmures d'histoire" (1996). Marc Chabot wrote the French lyrics.

In the late 1990s Jewel

Jewel (singer)

Jewel Kilcher , professionally known as Jewel, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actress and poet...

, Sarah McLachlan

Sarah McLachlan

Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. Known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range, as of 2006, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards and four...

, and the Indigo Girls

Indigo Girls

The Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. They met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area...

collaborated on a version of the song in concert on the Lilith Fair

Lilith Fair

Lilith Fair was a concert tour and travelling music festival, founded by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan, Nettwerk Music Group's Dan Fraser and Terry McBride, and New York talent agent Marty Diamond. It took place during the summers of 1997 to 1999, and was revived in the summer of 2010. It...

tour.

American jazz artist Charles Lloyd recorded The Water Is Wide
The Water Is Wide (album)
-Track listing:# "Georgia" - 6:38# "The Water Is Wide" - 5:02# "Black Butterfly" - 4:36# "Ballade and Allegro" - 3:45# "Figure in Blue" - 5:13...

, a CD released in 2000 on ECM Records with Lloyd (tenor saxophone) John Abercrombie

John Abercrombie (guitarist)

John Abercrombie is an American jazz guitarist, whose work often explores jazz fusion and post bop. Abercrombie has played with Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker...

(guitar), Brad Mehldau

Brad Mehldau

Brad Mehldau is an American jazz pianist. Besides leading his own group, the Brad Mehldau Trio, he has performed with many renowned artists, including Pat Metheny, Wayne Shorter, Larry Grenadier, Peter Bernstein, Jeff Ballard, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Michael Brecker, Chris Potter, Kurt...

(piano), Larry Grenadier

Larry Grenadier

Larry Grenadier is an American jazz double bassist.His father, Albert, was a trumpet player, and his two brothers, Phil and Steve, would eventually play trumpet and guitar respectively. Grenadier too began on trumpet when he was 10 years old. His father taught him to read music and gave him his...

(double-bass), and Billy Higgins

Billy Higgins

Billy Higgins was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop.Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, beginning in 1958...

(drums). The Charles Lloyd Quartet released another version of the song on the Mirror CD (2010), with Lloyd (tenor saxophone), Jason Moran

Jason Moran (musician)

Jason Moran is a jazz pianist and composer who debuted as a band leader with the 1999 album Soundtrack to Human Motion. Since then, he has garnered much critical acclaim and won a number of awards for his playing and compositional skills, which combine elements of stride piano, avant-garde jazz,...

(piano), Reuben Rogers

Reuben Rogers

Reuben Renwick Rogers is a American jazz bassist, composer and educator.-Biography:Born November 15, 1974, and raised in the Virgin Islands, Rogers was exposed to varieties of music that included Calypso, Reggae, Gospel and Jazz. In his formative years, Rogers received encouragement from his...

(bass), and Eric Harland

Eric Harland

Eric Harland is an American jazz drummer.Besides leading his own group Harland has performed with many renowned artists, including Wynton Marsalis, McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Joshua Redman, Ravi Coltrane, Kenny Garrett, Dave Holland, Charles Lloyd, Michael Brecker, Terence Blanchard, Walter Smith...

(drums).
The Swedish-Irish American Laura Wood, well known for her 12-string guitar playing, arranged and recorded a Celtic-rock version in the year 2000 on her album South Station Slide after performing earlier versions with Lena Spencer of Caffè Lena (in Saratoga Springs, New York) in the late 1970s.

Charlotte Church

Charlotte Church

Charlotte Maria Church is a Welsh singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter. She rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before branching into pop music in 2005. By 2007, she had sold more than 10 million records worldwide including over 5 million in the United States...

, the Welsh child soprano, recorded a popularized rendition of this song on her 2001 album Enchantment.

Eva Cassidy

Eva Cassidy

's version was released posthumously on her 2003 album American Tune
American Tune (album)
American Tune is an album by American singer Eva Cassidy, released in 2003, seven years after her death in 1996. . It was her third posthumous UK number one album.- Track listing :...

.

Chloë Agnew

Chloë Agnew

Chloë Alexandra Adele Emily Agnew is an Irish singer who is one of the current members of the Celtic music group Celtic Woman as the youngest member. She comes from Knocklyon, County Dublin where she lived with her mother Adele "Twink" King and younger sister Naomi...

, the youngest member of Celtic Woman

Celtic Woman

Celtic Woman is an all-female musical ensemble conceived and assembled by Sharon Browne and David Downes, a former musical director of the Irish stage show Riverdance...

, recorded this song for her album Chloë (2002) with the help of composer David Downes

David Downes (Irish composer)

David Downes is a composer, pianist, producer, and musical director who is best known for being the co-founder and musical director of the all-female Irish ensemble Celtic Woman.-Career:...

.

Runrig

Runrig

Runrig are a Scottish Celtic rock group formed in Skye, in 1973 under the name 'The Run Rig Dance Band'. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included songwriters Rory Macdonald and Calum Macdonald. The current line-up also includes longtime members Malcolm Jones, Iain Bayne, and more...

, the Scottish Gaelic rock band, recorded this song for their first Access All Areas album (2001).

In 2006, Triniti

Trinití

Trinití was a Dublin-based female vocal trio.-History:According to record label PR, Eve O'Donnell, Laura Cunningham and Sharon Moran met in Dublin. They were all blonde and were all in their early twenties. The three girls sang barefoot practising the "Alexander Technique" while singing...

released the song on their self-titled debut album, as did Órla Fallon

Órla Fallon

Órlagh Fallon , professionally known as Órla Fallon, is an Irish soloist, songwriter and former member of the group Celtic Woman and the chamber choir Anúna.- Life and career :...

on the album of the same name.

Hayley Westenra

Hayley Westenra

Hayley Dee Westenra is a New Zealand soprano, classical crossover artist, songwriter and UNICEF Ambassador. Her first internationally released album, Pure, reached No. 1 on the UK classical charts in 2003 and has sold more than two million copies worldwide...

's album Treasure
Treasure (Hayley Westenra album)
Treasure is the third internationally released album by Christchurch, New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra, released in 2007...

, released in 2007, contained another version.

Masaaki Kishibe

Masaaki Kishibe

Masaaki Kishibe , is an acoustic guitarist from Japan.- Biography : Masaaki Kishibe was born in Osaka and began studying piano at a young age, eventually picking up the guitar by the time he was 14...

's 2008 album "My Favorites" includes a vocal-less fingerstyle acoustic guitar rendition, instead incorporating the vocal melodies into the guitar melodies.

In film

Bob Dylan

and Joan Baez

Joan Baez

Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....

rendered a version of the song for Bob Dylan's 1978 film, Renaldo and Clara

Renaldo and Clara

Renaldo and Clara is a surrealist movie, directed by and starring Bob Dylan. Filmed in 1975, during Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour, it was released in 1978...

.

It was performed by Susanna Hoffs

Susanna Hoffs

Susanna Lee Hoffs is an American vocalist, guitarist and actress. She is best known as a member of the all-female pop band The Bangles.-Early life:...

in the film Red Roses and Petrol
Red Roses and Petrol
Red Roses and Petrol is a 2003 drama film based on the stage play of the same name by Joseph O'Connor. The film was directed by Tamar Simon Hoffs, and stars Malcolm McDowell and Max Beesley. Was released in 2008.- Synopsis :...

directed by Tamar Simon Hoffs

Tamar Simon Hoffs

Tamar Simon Hoffs is an award-winning American film director, writer, and producer, best known for directing the indie films Red Roses and Petrol and Pound of Flesh , both starring Malcolm McDowell.-Life and career:...

, as part of the soundtrack.

It was memorably used over the final scenes in Terence Davies' 1988 film Distant Voices, Still Lives
Distant Voices, Still Lives
Distant Voices, Still Lives is a 1988 British film directed and written by Terence Davies. It evokes working-class family life in Liverpool during the 1940s and early 1950s, paying particular attention to the role of popular music, Hollywood cinema, light entertainment, and the public house within...

as the characters disappear into the darkness.

The song was played repeatedly as part of the soundtrack to the film The River Wild
The River Wild
The River Wild is a 1994 thriller film directed by Curtis Hanson and starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, David Strathairn, John C. Reilly, and Joseph Mazzello...

(Universal Pictures, 1994). A version recorded by Cowboy Junkies

Cowboy Junkies

Cowboy Junkies are a Canadian alternative country/blues/folk rock band. The group was formed in Toronto in 1985 by Margo Timmins , Michael Timmins , Peter Timmins and Alan Anton ....

was used during the end credits.

The lyrics of the song are spoken, just before the assassination scene, by Jesse James

Jesse James

Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...

' daughter in the 2007 film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a 2007 American Western drama film. The film is directed by Andrew Dominik, with Brad Pitt portraying Jesse James and Casey Affleck as his killer, Robert Ford.Filming took place in rural Alberta and Winnipeg, Manitoba...

.

It is also the theme song played throughout the 2001 film The Simian Line
The Simian Line
The Simian Line is an American improvisational film, released in NY/LA in 2001. It was filmed over an eleven day period. The ensemble cast includes Harry Connick, Jr., Cindy Crawford, Tyne Daly, William Hurt, Monica Keena, Samantha Mathis, Lynn Redgrave, Jamey Sheridan and Eric Stoltz.-Plot:When...

.

It is also performed by a blind fiddle player in the 1984 film The Bounty
The Bounty
The Bounty is a 1984 British historical film directed by Roger Donaldson, starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins, and produced by Bernard Williams with Dino De Laurentiis as executive producer. It is the fifth film version of the story of the mutiny on the Bounty. The screenplay was by Robert Bolt...

, starring Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...

and Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson

Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...

.

It is performed by Yukawa Shione as part of the festival in the 2005 Japanese film "Linda Linda Linda

Linda Linda Linda

is a 2005 Japanese film. Its name comes from Japanese punk band The Blue Hearts' hit song "Linda Linda". The film was directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita and stars Aki Maeda, Yu Kashii, and Shiori Sekine as the band members, and Bae Doona as a South Korean foreign exchange student...

".

It is also played during end credits of the 1996 TV film Homecoming
Homecoming (TV film)
Homecoming is an American drama television film.On April 14, 1996, the TV film Homecoming was released and aired on the American cable channel, Lifetime. The screenplay was written by Christopher Carlson and was based on Cynthia Voigt's 'Homecoming'. The movie follows the story of four children who...

starring Anne Bancroft

Anne Bancroft

Anne Bancroft was an American actress associated with the Method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg....

.

It is also played during the waning minutes of "We Fight for Freedom" the 18-minute film shown at the theater at Mt. Vernon, VA.

External links

Recording by May Ip (in oggvorbis format) from a session in Wales in 1993, made available in the free downloads of May Ip's personal website.
Sample lyrics and MIDI
Recording of "The Water Is Wide" by the Beers Family at the 1963 Florida Folk Festival (made available for public by the State Archives of Florida)
Lyrics and some information
The Water is Wide (traditional, UK/USA; circa 1724) (video) – about history of the song
Mirror (2010) sample

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