> Folk Music > Songs > Willie Angler / Willie Archer / The Banks of the Bann

Willie Angler / Willie Archer / The Banks of the Bann

[ Roud 3473 ; Henry H614 ; Ballad Index HHH614 ; trad.]

Gale Huntington, Lani Herrmann, John Moulden: Sam Henry’s Songs of the People Seán O Boyle: The Irish Song Tradition

Paddy Tunney sang The Banks of the Bann in 1982 on his Green Linnet album The Stone Fiddle.

A beautiful song of silent and subtle seduction, collected by O’Boyle and Kennedy in the Portadown/Armagh area during their song-collecting forays of ’53. Len Graham sings another version of it he learned in the South Derry region of Ulster. It has different words and another tune altogether. There are two Bann rivers of course, the Upper Bann and the Lower Bann, but in both songs the maiden is seduced. This whole area is rich in song. It is Geordie Hanna and Robert Cinnamond territory, both renowned traditional singers. This song is not published in my book.

Silly Wizard sang Willie Archer in 1986 on their Green Linnet album A Glint of Silver. They noted:

Andy [M. Stewart] got this song from the singing of Antoinette McKenna.

Maureen Jelks sang Willie Archer (The Banks of the Bann) on 1988 on her Dundelk cassette First Time Ever.

Eamon O’Leary sang Willie Angler in 2014 on The Alt’s eponymous first album The Alt. He noted:

Also known as The Banks of the Bann, the melody and some of the verses come from the Sam Henry collection while others are from the version recorded by the Scottish band Silly Wizard.

Lyrics

The Alt sing Willie Angler

As I was a-walking down by yon milltown,
To view the fair valleys they did me surround;
I spy there a fair maid, to me she looked grand,
Viewing fine fishes by the banks of the Bann.

The little time, I remember, was the sweet month of May,
When Flora the goddess clothed the meadows so gay;
The fields were in bloom by nature’s command,
I met with my love by the banks of the Bann.

I stepped up beside her and this I did say,
Since nature has formed us to meet on this day,
Since nature has formed us, will you give me your hand,
And we’ll walk together by the banks of the Bann.

It being a summer’s evening and a fine quiet place,
I saw there the blushes that appeared on her face;
We lay down together there in the warm sand,
And she rolled in my arms by the banks of the Bann.

“Young man, you have wronged me, tell me your name,
When my babe is born I might name it the same.”
“My name is Willie Angler, and you might understand,
My home and my dwelling lie close to the Bann.

“But I cannot marry you, for apprenticed I’m bound,
To the spinning and the weaving in Rathfriland town;
When my time is over, I will give you my hand,
And we’ll walk together by the banks of the Bann.”

Come all you young maidens, take warning by me,
Never go walking at one, two, or three;
Never go walking so late if you can,
Or you’ll meet Willie Angler by the banks of the Bann.