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Waly Waly (James Douglas) / Cockleshells

[ Roud 87 ; Child 204 ; Ballad Index C204 , K149 ; VWML CJS2/9/504 ; DT WALYWALY ; Mudcat 77217 ; trad.]

Norman Buchan: 101 Scottish Songs James Kinsley: The Oxford Book of Ballads Ewan MacColl: Folk Songs and Ballads of Scotland James Reeves: The Idiom of the People Stephen Sedley: The Seeds of Love

Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl sang Waly, Waly in 1961 on their Folkways album Two-Way Trip. That album was included in 2013 as part of MacColl’s Real Gone anthology Six Classic Albums Vol. 2. They noted:

The unfortunate heroine of this song is said to have been Lady Barbara Erskine, daughter of the 9^th Earl of Marr, who was deserted by her husband, James Marquis of Douglas, in the time of Charles II. The song is a stock from which many branches have been born, the most familiar being the modern burlesque, There is a Tavern in the Town.

Ref: Chambers, p. 280; Herd, Vol. I, p. 81; JFS, Vol. VII, p. 69-70

Norman Buchan printed Waly, Waly in his 1962 book 101 Scottish Songs. He noted:

This first appears in The Orpheus Caledonius (1725) in the usual ballad form of four-lined verses. The tune was used by Gay a few years afterwards in his opera Polly. Waly, Waly, is part of a ballad called Jamie Douglas, but, contrary to the whole feel of the song form, the ballad is not about the betrayed and forsaken maid, but of a rejected wife. The story itself is the simple one of the local Iago, one Lawrie, the chamberlain of Lord James Douglas, who falsely accused the lady of adultery. In a version appearing in Christie’s Ballad Airs, The Marchioness of Douglas, the story ends with an unlikely reconciliation. For those who would like to set the song in its ballad form it can be found in various versions and fragments in Child’s Ballads, vol. 4.

The Duo Ovaries sang O Waly Waly on the Hullabaloo ABC Television programme broadcast on 4 January 1964.

Related to this song via the chorus and a few lines is Cockleshells as sung by either Glen Tomasetti, Martyn Wyndham-Read or Brian Mooney in 1965 on their Australian LP Will Ye Go Lassie Go?. Martyn Wyndham-Read returned to Cockleshells in 1992 on his Fellside CD Mussels on a Tree and in 2008 on his CD Jackeroo on which he noted:

I believe I learnt this song years ago in Australia from either Glen Tomasetti, or Brian Mooney, or, perhaps, from each or both of the two. No matter, it is one of those songs most definitely not Australian, but one that must have been transported there from the British Isles. It is sometimes known as Waly Waly which explains everything.

Isabel Sutherland sang Waly Waly in 1974 on her EFDSS album Isabel Sutherland. She noted:

I have a particular feeling for this, a bit nostalgic with its strong associations with my childhood. I was born at Meadowbank on the lower slopes of Arthur’s Seat. Arthur’s Seat is a great hill shaped like a lion and rising in the middle of Edinburgh. My father took me up the rocky face of the lion at the age of four, which probably explains my vertigo. It was a place to crawl as an infant and a landmark when away from Edinburgh to Haddington visiting relatives or on holiday at Port Seton or Dunbar and now of course, returning from the South.

I played in Chamber Street where my father had an antique shop across the road from the Dental Hospital here I collected my fear of dentists, the students would prance about like dervishes in gory gear on charities day in what we called the ‘percession’ offering to remove your teeth or anything else they could reach with enormous tools of all descriptions—and next door but two to the large Museum where the attendants had a surprising tolerance of small children sliding on the polished floors. We moved to live above a shop in West Crosscauseway in the South Side when I was five.

Waly Waly also refers to Glasgow and my mother was born near there, near Uddingston and lived in the mining village of Tannochside, where her father and her brothers were miners, until she came to Edinburgh and married. We went over there often to stay with my grandmother.

This was the first song I had the nerve to sing in public. Sometimes I sing it in clubs with the “Waly, Waly up the bank” as a chorus.

June Tabor sang Waly Waly unaccompanied in 1976 on her first solo album, Airs and Graces. (She also sang The Water Is Wide on her 1998 album A Quiet Eye.) She noted:

Child No 204, James Douglas. A combination of two songs, one narrative, one lyrical. James, second marquis of Douglas, married Lady Barbara Erskine, daughter of the Earl of Mar in 1670. They formally separated in 1691. Popular tradition attributes the break-up to the machinations of William Lawrie, Tutor of Blackwood, Douglas’ chamberlain.

Martin Simpson played the tune of Lord Jamie Douglas in 1997 on his instrumental album Cool & Unusual, and he sang Waly Waly in 2013 on his Topic album Vagrant Stanzas. He noted:

I learned Waly Waly or Lord Jamie Douglas from the peerless June Tabor’s performance on her first solo album Airs and Graces on Topic Records. The ballad is remarkable for its blend of tabloid detail with some of the most beautiful, enduring and heart wrenching imagery in all of folk poetry. It is the source of several vagrant stanzas found in various songs in the American South, including Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies, which was sung by both Buell Kazee and Banjo Bill Cornett among many others. It is found in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (Child 204) in which the notes describe the historical and personal background dating back to the late 17^th century.

Bob Blair sang Waly, Waly in 2000 on his Tradition Bearers album Reachin’ for the High, High Lands. He noted:

(Tea-Table Miscellany, Scots Musical Museum)
This song was old when Ramsay published it in 1727 and has been variously assigned to the reigns of Charles I and Mary Queen of Scots. The place-names, Arthur’s Seat and St Anton’s Well, locate it in Edinburgh.

Grace Notes learned Cockleshells from the singing of Martyn Wyndham-Read and recorded it in 2001 on their album Anchored to the Time and again in 2012 on their anniversary CD 20. Lynda Hardcastle noted on the first album:

I first heard the sublime Mr Martyn Wyndham-Read singing this song at Whitby Folk Festival and felt that it cried out for harmonies. Martyn collected it in Melbourne, Australia, from a woman called Glen Tomasetti […] Thanks for such a gem, Martyn.

Mary Humphreys and Anahata sang Waly Waly in 2004 on their WildGoose album Floating Verses. Mary Humphreys noted:

Collected by Cecil Sharp from the delightfully named Mrs Elizabeth Mogg aged 74 of Holford, Somerset, on 30 August 1904 [VWML CJS2/9/504] . Mrs Mogg, according to Sharp, consumed prodigious amounts of snuff. It must have helped her voice to stay clear as the tune has a very large range for a folksong—just three tones less than two octaves—bottom F to top C in this recording. The song is entirely composed of floating verses from a variety of sources and has no actual story-line.

Janet Russell sang Waly Waly up the Bank in 2008 on her Harbourtown CD Love Songs and Fighting Talk. She noted:

This is a shortened version of the one in 101 Scottish Songs selected by Norman Buchan, published by Collins. For Sylvia, who always asks me to sing it. I learnt it whilst living in Edinburgh, so I have a fondness for the Arthur’s Seat reference!

Kate Burke and Ruth Hazleton sang Waly Waly on their 2015 CD Declaration. They noted:

This song is of Scottish origin, and this version is related to Jamie Douglas, a Child Ballad. The song was written, in some form, after the scandalous marriage breakup of James Douglas, the 2^nd Marquis of Douglas, from his wife Barbara Erskine. A man named Lowrie of Blackwood (who may have courted Barbara unsuccessfully) began a rumour that she was adulterous, resulting in her rejection by her husband and her return to her family. In this version of the song, she doesn’t go quietly. We learned this from the singing of June Tabor.

Ellen Mitchell sang Waly Waly live at St Andrew’s in the Square, Glasgow, during Celtic Connections 2018, which was released in the same year on the TMSA DVD 101 Scottish Songs: The Wee Red Book 3

Lyrics

Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl sing Waly, Waly

O waly, waly up the bank
And waly, waly doon the brae,
And waly, waly yon burn-side
Where me and my love wont to gae.

I lean’d my back untill an airk,
I thocht it was a trusty tree.
But first it bow’d and syne it brak,
Sae my true love did lichtly me.

O waly waly, love is bonnie,
A little time while it is new.
But when it’s auld it waxes cauld,
And fades away like morning dew.

O wherefore should I busk my heid,
Or wherefore should I kame my hair?
For my true love’s forsaken me,
And says he’ll never love me mair.

’Tis not the frost that freezes fell,
Nor blawing snaw’s inclemencie;
’Tis not sic cauld that makes me cry:
But my love’s heart’s grown cauld to me.

When we came in my Glasgow toon,
We were a comely sicht to see;
My love was clad in black velvet,
And I mysel’ in cramasie.

But had I wist, before I kissed,
That love had been sae I to win.
I’d lock’d my heart in a case of gold
And pinn’d it wi’ a siller pin.

O if my young babe it were born
And set upon the nurse’s knee,
And I mysel’ a maid again
But a maid again, I’ll never be.

Waly, Waly in 101 Scottish Songs

O waly, waly, up the bank.
And waly, waly doon th« brae.
And waly , waly, yon burnside,
Where I and my love wont to gae.
I lean’d my back unto an aik.
I thocht it was a trusty tree.
But first it bow’d and sync it brak;
And sae did my fause love tae me.

O waly, waly, but love be bonnie
A little time while it is new;
But when it’s auld it waxes cauld,
And fades away like the morning dew.
Oh 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’s Seat shall be my bed,
The sheets shall ne’er be pressed by me,
St. 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?
Oh, gentle death, when wilt thou come?
For of my life I am wearie.

’Tis not the frost that freezes fell,
Nor blawing snaw’s inclemencie;
’Tis not sic cauld that mak’s me cry;
But my love’s heart’s grown cauld tae me.
When we came in by Glasgow toun,
We were a comely sight tae see;
My love was clad in the black velvet,
And I myself in crammasie.

But had I wist before I kissed,
That love had been sae ill tae win.
I’d lock’d my heart in a case of gold.
And pinned it wi’ a siller pin.
O, O if my young babe were born,
And set upon the nurse’s knee,
And I myself were deid and gone,
And the green grass growing over me!

June Tabor sings Waly Waly

O waly, waly up the bank and waly, waly down the brae,
And waly, waly up burnside where I and my love used to go.
I was a lady of high renown that lived in the North country;
I was a lady of high renown when Jamie Douglas courted me.

And when we came to Glasgow town, it was a comely sight to see,
My lord was clad in the velvet green and I myself in cramasie.
And when my eldest son was born and set upon his nurse’s knee,
I was the happiest woman born and my good lord, he loved me.

There came a man into our house and Jamie Lockhart was his name
And it was told unto my lord that I did lie in bed with him.
There came another to our house and he was no good friend to me;
He put Jamie’s shoes beneath my bed and bade my good lord come and see.

O woe be unto thee, Blackwood, and an ill death may you die,
You were the first and the foremost man that parted my good lord and I.
And when my lord came to my room this great falsehood for to see,
He turned him round all with a scowl and not one word would he speak to me.

“Come up, come up, now Jamie Douglas, come up the stair and dine with me,
I’ll set you on a chair of gold and court you kindly on my knee.”
“When cockleshells turn silver bells and fishes fly from tree to tree,
When frost and snow turn fire to burn it’s I’ll come up and dine with thee.”

O woe be unto thee, Blackwood, and an ill death may you die,
You were the first and the foremost man that parted my good lord and I.
And when my father he had word my good lord had forsaken me,
He sent fifty of his brisk dragoons to fetch me home to my own country.

O had I wist when first I kissed that love should been so ill to win,
I’d locked my heart in a cage of gold and pinned it with a silver pin.
You think that I am like yourself and lie with each one that I see,
But I do swear by Heavens high, I never loved a man but thee.

’Tis not the frost that freezes fell, nor blowing snow’s inclemency,
’Tis not such cold that makes me cry, but my love’s heart grown cold to me.
O waly, waly, love is bonnie a little while when first it’s new,
But love grows old and waxes cold and fades away like morning dew.

Martyn Wyndham-Read sings Cockleshells

When cockleshells turn silver bells
And mussels grow on every tree
When blooms the rose in frost and snow
Then will my false love prove true to me.

Chorus (repeated after each verse):
O waly waly our love is bonny
A little while when first it’s new
But loves grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like morning dew.

O had I wist before I’d kissed
That love had been so hard to win
I’d have locked my heart in a box of gold
And tied it up with a silver pin.

Grace Notes sing Cockleshells

When cockleshells turn silver bells,
And mussels grow on ev’ry tree;
When blooms a rose ’mongst frost and snow
Then will my false love prove true to me.

Chorus (repeated after each verse):
O waly, waly, our love is bonnie
A little while when it’s new.
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like the morning dew.

O had I wist, before I kissed
That love had grown so ill to win;
I’d locked my heart in a box of gold
And tied it up with a silver pin.

Janet Russell sings Waly Waly up the Bank

O waly, waly up the bank and waly, waly down the brae,
And waly, waly by yon burn’s side where my true love and I did lie

I leant my back against an oak, thinking it was a trusty tree.
But first it bent and then it broke as did my false true love to me.

I wish my baby it were born and sitting on it’s daddy’s knee,
And I poor girl were dead and gone with the grasses green growin over me.

O Arthur’s Seat shall be my bed, no sheets shall e’er be pressed by me,
St Anton’s Well shall be my drink since my true love’s forsaken me.

(repeat first verse)