1052. Jamie Douglas (Child 204) - (Traditional Scottish)

This ballad is also known as "Waly Waly." The Roud Folk Song Index lists more than eighty variations, though it has been argued that "The Water is Wide" and "Cockle Shells" are totally different songs. They do appear to belong to the same family, however, and borrow verses from each other. "Jamie Douglas" was published in 1750 in B. Ramsay's "Tea-Table Miscellany", nearly 150 years before Child collected it. The line "Waly Waly, love is bonny" was probably already a commonly used phrase.

The ballad is believed to refer to an incident in 1681, when Marquis James Douglas sent away his first wife, Lady Barbara Erskine, who blamed James Lockart of Blackwood for falsely making her appear to be committing adultery.

This song was requested by scifiwritir.

You can watch a playlist of my renditions of the Child ballads:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=B2D0D5657EA394E4

For lyrics and chords, please see my website: http://www.raymondcrooke.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• folk
• song
• waly
• water
• wide
• deception
• love

[barttheanorak]

Believe it or not, in recent years this tune has been used for When I Survey The Wondrous Cross.

[raymondcrooke]

@barttheanorak  Well, it fits all right. I suppose it would work.

[garibelon]

*G*R*E*A*T* rendition, Raymond!

I liked it much.

All the best

gari ♫

[raymondcrooke]

@garibelon Thanks for watching, Gari.

[mktmic7]

nice job

[raymondcrooke]

@mktmic7 Thank you.

[raymondcrooke]

@scifiwritir I just realised - "Three Little Babes" is a variation on "The Wife of Usher's Well" (Child #79) which I have done here: /watch?v=oB1Q5kSXxlw

[raymondcrooke]

Thank you, Marco.

[marcoacca]

Splendid.

[raymondcrooke]

@davidholness Thanks. Great to see you here, David.