O waly waly (The water is wide)

sheet music (PDF master score with permission to print or download an authorised number of copies) available via this website: GBP 1.50 per print-out

this work features on the High CD - click for details

• The Water of Tyne [arrangement]
• The Water of Tyne [original setting]

The water is wide, I cannot get o'er,
And neither have I wings to fly,
O, go and get me some little boat,
To carry o'er my true love and I.

A-down in the meadow the other day
A-gathering flowers both fine and gay,
A-gathering flowers both red and blue,
I little thought what love can do.

I put my hand into some soft bush,
Thinking the fairest flower to pluck,
I pricked my finger unto the bone,
And left the fairest flower alone.

I leaned my back up against some oak,
Thinking it was a trusty tree,
But first he bended and then he broke,
So did my love prove false to me.

There is a ship sailing on the sea,
She's loaded deep as deep can be,
But not so deep as in love I am,
I care not whether I sink or swim.

Where love is planted, O, there it grows,
It grows and blossoms like the rose,
It has a sweet and pleasant smell,
No flower on earth can it excel.

Must I be bound, O, and he go free,
Must I love one who cannot love me?
Why must I play such a childish part,
And love a boy that will break my heart?

O, love is handsome and love is fine,
And love is charming when it is true,
As it grows older it groweth colder,
And fades away like the morning dew.

• choral - high voices accompanied