— Waly Waly —

2011

Commissioned for Muskego High School, conductor Matthew Wanner

manuscript

from Ramsay's Tea Table Miscellany (1724)

O Waly, waly up the bank,
And waly, waly doun the brae,
And waly, waly, yon burn-side
Where I and my love wont to gae.
I lean'd my back into an aik,
I thocht it was a trusty tree;
But first it bow'd, and syne it brak,
Sae my true love did lightly me.

O waly, waly, but love be bonnie,
A little time while it is new,
But when 'tis auld, it waxeth cauld,
And fades away like the morning dew.
O wherefore should I busk my heid?
Or wherefore should I kame my hair?
For my true love has me forsook,
And says he'll never love me mair.

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,
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 inclemency,
'Tis not sic cauld 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.

But had I wist, 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.

Scottish Origin wiki