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.
The Water is Wide (traditional)
Re: The Water is Wide (traditional)
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Last edited by Minna on Mon Oct 05, 2009 10:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
a new petition for Troy Davis at http://amnestyusa.org/troydavis
Re: The Water is Wide (traditional)
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,
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,
San Juan de la Cruz."something that they are stammering
leaves me dying"
Last edited by mat james on Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Without light or guide, save that which burned in my heart." San Juan de la Cruz.
Re: The Water is Wide (traditional)
Is this song called Carrigfergus 
Re: The Water is Wide (traditional)
yep !
"Without light or guide, save that which burned in my heart." San Juan de la Cruz.
Re: The Water is Wide (traditional)
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
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
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies"~ Groucho Marx
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liverpoolken
- Posts: 3174
- Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 11:25 pm
Re: The Water is Wide (traditional)
......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
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
Solitudine non é essere soli, é amare gli altri inutilmente - Mario Stefani
Re: The Water is Wide (traditional)
"Without light or guide, save that which burned in my heart." San Juan de la Cruz.
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david birkett
- Posts: 302
- Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2004 12:05 am
- Location: HITCHIN, ENGLAND
- Contact:
Re: The Water is Wide (traditional)
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
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
The Ogre does what ogres can,
Deeds quite impossible for Man,
But one prize is beyond his reach:
The Ogre cannot master speech.
Deeds quite impossible for Man,
But one prize is beyond his reach:
The Ogre cannot master speech.
Re: The Water is Wide (traditional)
John Reilly in the Dubliners?
When?
When?
Re: The Water is Wide (traditional)
There's a real guy named John Reilly?
Well, come to think of it there are probably lots of 'em.
Well, come to think of it there are probably lots of 'em.
Re: The Water is Wide (traditional)
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.
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.