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Clyde's Water

Date 1961
Track ID 37309
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1961.38.A1

Original Tape ID

SA1961.038

Summary

Fragments of the ballad 'Clyde's Water' in which Willie rides out to see Maggie, despite his mother's attempts to dissuade him.

Ina Allanson learned the song from her father.

Item Notes

2 verses; verse 1 has 6 lines, verse 2 has 4 lines. Sung to the original melody of Robert Burns' song 'Auld Lang Syne' (not the commonly known tune, originally taken from the song 'I Fee'd a Lad at Martinmas').

These fragments come from the opening verses; the ballad involves two lovers whose mothers disapprove of their love, and who are both drowned in the River Clyde due to their mothers' curses.

See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 6, pp. 433-441
'Tocher' 40 (1986) pp. 211-214
'Scottish Ballads' (E. Lyle, 1994) pp. 206-210
'The Scottish Ballads' (R. Chambers, 1829) pp. 301-305
'Book of Scottish Ballads' (A. Whitelaw, 1845) pp. 38-39
'Ballads of Scotland' vol. 1 (W. E. Aytoun, 1858) pp. 154-157
'Minstrelsy Ancient & Modern' (W. Motherwell, 1827) pp. 155-160
'Ancient Ballads and Songs' vol. 2 (P. Buchan, 1828) pp. 137-142
'Traditional Ballad Airs' vol. 2 (W. Christie, 1881) pp. 250-251
'Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads' (A. Keith, G. Greig, 1925) pp. 146-150
'Andrew Crawfurd's Collection of Ballads & Songs' vol. 2 (E. Lyle, 1996) pp. 30-32
'Folk-Song of the North-East' (G. Greig, K. Goldstein & A. Argo, 1963 reprint) art. LX

Recording Location

County - Aberdeenshire

Parish - Huntly

Village/Place - Huntly

Item Location

Village/Place - River Clyde

Language

Scots

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R91 GD1231 C216

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Fair