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Waly Waly / The Water is Wide
Traditional Scottish

[Verse 1]
             C          F           C   
The water is wide and I can't cross o'er
            Am              G 
And neither have I wings to fly
          Em                  Am
Give me a boat that can carry two
               C       F        C
And both shall row, my love and I


[Verse 2]
            C          F       C   
For love is gentle and love is kind
            Am                    G 
And love is sweet when first it's new
               Em            Am
But love grows old and waxes cold
           C        F       C   
And fades away like morning dew


[Verse 3]
                       F         C   
There is a ship and it sails the sea
             Am                G 
She's loaded deep, as deep can be
           Em                   Am
But not as deep as the love I'm in
           C        F       C
I know not how I'll sink or swim


[Verse 4]
                 C          F           C   
But the water is wide and I can't cross o'er
            Am              G 
And neither have I wings to fly
          Em                  Am
Give me a boat that can carry two
               C       F        C
And both shall row, my love and I
    Am         C       F        C
And both shall row, my love and I


Waly Waly - Older Lyrics

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 wont to gae.
I lean'd my back into an aik (oak),
I thocht it was a trusty tree;
But first it bow'd, and syne (soon) it brak (broke),
Sae my true love did lightly me.

O waly, waly, but love be bonnie (beautiful),
A little time while it is new,
But when 'tis auld (old), it waxeth cauld (cold),
And fades away like the 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 love me mair (more).

Now Arthur Seat shall be my bed,
The sheets shall ne'er be fyl'd by me,
Saint Anton's well shall be my drink,
Since my true love has forsaken me.
Martinmas wind, when wilt thou blaw (blow),
And shake the green leaves off the tree?
O gentle death, when wilt thou come?
For of my life I am weary.

'Tis not the frost, that freezes fell,
Nor blawing snaws (snow) inclemency,
'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 town,
We were a comely sight to see;
My love was clad in the black velvet,
And I my sell in cramasie (crimson).

But had I wist (known), before I kiss'd,
That love had been sae ill to win,
I'd lock my heart in a case of gold,
And pin'd it with a silver pin.
Oh, oh! if my young babe were born,
And set upon the nurse's knee,
And I my sell were dead and gane,
For a maid again I'll never be.


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