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The Waters of Tyne

[ Roud 1364 ; Ballad Index StoR030 ; trad.]

Isla Cameron sang The Waters of Tyne, on her and Ewan MacColl’s 1958 Riverside album English and Scottish Love Songs and on their 1960 Topic album Still I Love Him. She also sang it as the title track of her and Louis Killen’s 1961 Prestige album The Waters of Tyne. A.L. Lloyd noted on the 1960 album:

The Tyne divides the counties of Durham and Northumberland, and to the lovers facing each other on opposite banks, the river must have seemed very wide. The song seems to be made by a learned hand, though no author is known for it. It was first printed in Bell’s Northern Bards, in 1812.

The Ian Campbell Folk Group sang The Waters of Tyne in 1963 on their Transatlantic album This Is the Ian Campbell Folk Group. A re-issue of this album commented in its sleeve notes:

Lucy Broadwood (among others) collected this charming Northumbrian song and published it in her English County Songs [1893]. The song’s lyrical qualities have endeared it to countless thousands on the folk scene.

Vin Garbutt sang The Waters of Tyne in 1977 on his Topic album Eston California.

The (Tees-side) Fettlers sang The Waters of Tyne in 1980 on their Traditional Sound album Pride of the North.

Ushna sang Water of Tyne in 1998 on their Fellside album of music and song from Northumbria, Twice Brewed, and Bob Fox sang it in 2000 on his Woodworm CD Dreams Never Leave You. Both also refer in their sleeve notes to John Bell’s Rhymes of the Northern Bards of 1812.

Ange Hardy sang Waters of Tyne in 2017 on her CD Bring Back Home.

The Unthanks sang The Waters of Tyne on their 2022 album Sorrows Away. Rachel Unthank noted:

This traditional Northumbrian song is probably the best well known folk song in the North East of England, even beyond folk circles, because it is taught in schools. I have known it all my life and sang it in my school choir in Junior School. It’s easy to undervalue a song that is so commonplace, but it seems less well known outside of the area and perhaps every North East folk singer has to record a version at some point, so here is my offering! It is always on the tip of my tongue. I find myself humming it all the time. I live very close to the Tyne and with so much time at home in the last couple of years, my children and I explored the Tyne’s river banks and found solace, adventure and comfort in its burbling, ever changing waters. In a time when we weren’t allowed far from home it also connected us downstream to my home town, and then onward to dear friends in Newcastle and Gateshead and then to Tynemouth and family at the coast.

Lyrics

The Ian Campbell Folk Group sings The Waters of Tyne

I cannae get to my love if I would dee,
The waters of Tyne run between him and me.
And here I mun stand with a tear in my e’e,
Baith sighing and sickly my sweetheart to see.

Oh where is the boatman, my bonnie hinny?
Where is the boatman? Bring him to me
To ferry me over the Tyne to my hinny,
And I will remember the boatman and thee.

Oh bring me the boatman, I’ll gi’e all my money,
And you for your trouble rewarded shall be.
To ferry me o’er the Tyne to my honey
Or scull him across the rough river to me.

Ange Hardy sings Waters of Tyne

I cannot get to my love if I were to die,
For the waters of Tyne run between her and I.
And here I must stand with a tear in my eye,
Both sighing and sickly my sweetheart to see.

Oh where is the boatman, my bonnie hinny?
Oh where is the boatman? Oh bring him to me
To ferry me o’er the Tyne to my honey,
And I will remember the boatman and thee.

Oh bring me the boatman and I’ll give you money,
And you for your trouble rewarded shall be.
To ferry me over the Tyne to my honey
Or scull her across the rough river to me.

(repeat first verse)