Glen Collection of printed music > Printed music > Wood's edition of the songs of Scotland

50
THE SONGS OF SCOTLAND.
: 63
li
3E
-P-
^
^3
WALY, WALY.
8=^
5^fc
lv
i±=±:
:J=z*±=t
O wa - ly,' wa - ly up the bank, And wa - ly, wa - ly
-#-=-*-
fe£^
5E=!=»^ :
1111
tee
?
$=*
down the brae, And wa - ly, wa - ly yon burn-side, Where I and my love wont to gae!
J ».
=*=f\
■J 8 -
-^-bf -
•£jz
its:
1=
I lean'd my back un - to an aik, I thocht it was a trus - ty tree; But
£3E
^
£^f
first it bow'd, an' syne it brak : An' sae did my true love to me.
waly, waly, but love be bonnie
A little time while it is new ;
But when it's auld it waxes cauld,
An' fades away like the mornin' dew.
wherefore should I busk' my heid,
Or wherefore should I kame my hair ?
For my true love has me forsook,
An' says he'll never love me mair.
Now Arthur's Seat shall be my bed,
The sheets shall ne'er be press'd by me,
St. Anton's Well shall be my drink,
Since my true love has forsaken me.
Martinmas wind, when wilt thou blaw,
An' shake the green leaves aff the tree ?
0, gentle death, when wilt thou come ?
For o' my life I am wearie.
1 An exclamation of distress — Alas. 2 Dress, arrange, adorn.
'Tis not the frost that freezes fell,
Nor blawin' snaw's inclemencie ;
'Tis not sic cauld that makes me cry ;
But my love's heart's grown cauld to me.
When we cam' in by Glasgow toun,
We were a comely sicht to see ;
My love was clad in the black velvet,
An' I mysel' in cramasie. 3
But had I wist, before I kiss'd,
That love had been sae ill to win,
I'd lock'd my heart in a case o' gold,
An' pinn'd it wi' a siller pin.
Oh, oh ! if my young babe were born,
An' set upon the nurse's knee,
An' I mysel' were dead an' gane,
An' the green grass growin' over me !
3 Crimson.
" waly, walt." In Mr. Robert Chambers's Scottish Songs, there is a Note upon " Waly, waly," from which we
give the following passage : — " This beautiful old song has hitherto been supposed to refer to some circumstance in
the life of Queen Mary, or at least to some unfortunate love affair which happened at her Court. It is now discovered,
from a copy which has been found as forming part of a ballad in the Pepysian Library at Cambridge, (published in
Motherwell's Minstrelsy, 1827, under the title of ' Lord Jamie Douglas,') to have been occasioned by the affecting
tale of Lady Barbara Erskine, daughter of John ninth Earl of Mar, and wife of James second Marquis of Douglas.
This lady, who was married in 1670, was divorced, or at least expelled from the society of her husband, in consequence
Jf some malignant scandals which a former and disappointed lover, Lowrie of Blackwood, was so base as to insinuate
Ito the ear of the Marquis." Her father took her home, and she never again saw her husband. Her only son died,
Earl of Angus, at the battle of Steinkirk.
The air is beautiful and pathetic. It is undoubtedly ancient, though its date cannot be ascertained. The sim-
plicity of the original has been spoiled by several flourishes introduced into it by tasteless and ignorant collectors.
M'Gibbon, Oswald, Bremner, and others, have much to answer for in the matter of pseudo-embellishment of our finest
old airs. We have removed from " Waly, waly," the absurd trappings hung about its neck by these men.