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Wee Weaver

[ Roud 3378 ; Ballad Index RcWeeWea ; trad.]

Brigid Tunney of Beleek, Co Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, sang The Wee Weaver to Peter Kennedy and Sean O’Boyle on 20 July 1952 (BBC recording 18527). This recording was included on the Folktrax album of Brigid and Paddy Tunney and Brigid’s brother Mick Gallagher, The Mountain Streams (FTX-163). Ewan MacColl also played it in the BBC Midland Home Service radio programme The Song Carriers No. 9, first broadcast on 1 April 1965. This was MacColl’s introduction to the song:

Here is another example of economy; a love story told in three short verses. The lovers have already met and are courting before the song begins. In the first verse we are told that a weaver, confined to his loom, loves a young woman who is courted by many young men. The weaver is disturbed by this and we are prepared for something momentous to happens The second verse does not, however, develop this situation, but merely serves as an interlude in which we glimpse an idyllic moment of courtship where the weaver and his love walk together in a lover’s world—a shady grove, serenaded by amorous blackbirds and thrushes. In the third and final verse the weaver proposes marriage, is accepted and everything moves with the inevitability of time itself. The song called The Wee Weaver has a wonderfully handsome tune full of all kinds of unexpected turns. It is sung with great skill by Mrs. Brigid Tunney of County Fermanagh,Ireland.

John Doherty of Donegal played the tune The Wee Weaver to Peter Kennedy and Sean O’Boyle in 1952 too. This recording was published on the anthology Jack of All Trades (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 3; Caedmon 1961; Topic 1968). Alan Lomax or Peter Kennedy noted:

John Doherty, strolling pedlar and one of the king fiddlers of Ireland, tells the following story before he plays this haunting tune: “There was once a weaver and he was a very careful kind of a man and he wanted to save up and be very careful. And nearby there was an old cobbler living, and he was a very careful kind of a man, too, and wanted to save everything. So one night he came to the weaver for advice about how to save, and the weaver began to sing this air, and the name he called it was The Wee Weaver. So anyhow, the weaver it seems, he became so sad listening to the air that he had to forsake his loom for that night. He couldn’t go back to his work.” Perhaps the poor little weaver had in mind the Scots Irish song that runs:

I am a wee weaver confined to my loom;
My love she is fairer than the red rose in June;
She is loved by all young men and does grieve me;
My heart’s in the bosom of lovely Mary.

The Exiles played the tune The Wee Weaver in 1967 on their Topic album The Hale and the Hanged. A.L. Lloyd or Gordon McCulloch noted:

[…] Finally, the reel called The Wee Weaver, in the north of Ireland. It is in fact one of the large family of Blackbird tunes, descended from the old Jacobite song air The Royal Blackbird in which the Catholic James II, defeated at the battle of the Boyne and taking refuge in France, was personified as a blackbird flown far from its home and its absence lamented.

Steeleye Span sang Wee Weaver in 1971 on their third album Ten Man Mop or Mr Reservoir Butler Rides Again. A live version recorded during Maddy Prior’s 1994 tour was released on the Park Records sampler Park Taster. Their original album’s sleeve notes commented somewhat cryptically:

A patchwork fragment … Paddy be easy, Brigid be calm … a roll-up, a drink and a conference … Maddy and a shawl—Silas Marner crouched at work.

Paddy Tunney, son of Brigid Tunney, sang The Wee Weaver in 1975 on his Topic album The Mountain Streams Where the Moorcocks Crow. This track was also included in 1998 on the Topic anthology There Is a Man Upon the Farm (The Voice of the People Volume 20). Cathal O’Baóill noted on Tunney’s album:

This is one of many tunes written in Ireland by home weavers. Previous to the home weavers, the main song writers of the people were the hedge-schoolmasters. The song is a simple tale of requited love, and it is this very quality of love story which links it to the pastourelle of the Provencal troubadours who usually ‘rode out’, where Willie and Mary could only ‘roam’. The scene is set close to Lough Erne but could as well have been set in any part of Ireland where the weaver might have worked. The tune is pentatonic and in the lah mode. It was recorded by Brigid Tunney on BBC No. 18527.

Dolores Keane and John Faulkner sang The Wee Weaver in 1983 on their Gael-Linn album Sail Óg Rua.

Sandra and Nancy Kerr sang The Wee Weaver in 1996 on their Fellside CD Neat and Complete. They noted:

A rarity: a happy love song. It’s very gratifying to find that Nancy’s generation is inspired by the singing style of people like Bridgid Tunney (from whom this was collected). For Sandra’s contemporaries, she was one of the great role models.

Kate Burke and Ruth Hazleton sang Wee Weaver on their 1998 album The Bee-Loud Glade. They noted:

This catchy love song was found in a box on a tape at Ruth’s place. On the tape was a version sung by Maddy Prior. It’s good to hear an English weaver so happy.

Hannah James and Sam Sweeney learned Wee Weaver from the singing of Paddy Tunney and recorded it in 2009 for their first duo CD, Catches & Glees.

Maddie Morris learned Wee Weaver from the singing of Sandra and Nancy Kerr and sang it with adapted lyrics on her 2024 CD Skin.

Lyrics

Brigid Tunney sing The Wee Weaver

I am a wee weaver confined to my loom,
My love she’s as fair as the red rose in June.
She is loved by all young men and that does grieve me;
My heart’s in the bosom of lovely Mary.

As me and my Mary roamed by yon shady bower
Where me and my Mary spent many a happy hour,
Where the thrush and the blackbird do concert in chore
The praises of Mary round Lough Erne shore.

As Mary and Willie roamed by yonder loughside
Said Willie to Mary: “Will you be my bride?”
This couple got married and they’ll roam no more,
They’ll have treasures and pleasure round Lough Erne shore.

Steeleye Span sing Wee Weaver

I am a wee weaver confined to my loom;
My love she is fair as the red rose in June.
She is loved by all young men and that does grieve me;
My heart’s in the bosom of lovely Mary.

As Willie and Mary roved by yon shady bower
Where Willie and Mary spent many a happy hour,
Where the thrush and the blackbird do constantly call
The praises of Mary round Lough Erne shore.

As Willie and Mary roved by yon river side
Said Willie to Mary: “Will you be my bride?”
This couple got married and they’ll roam no more,
Their pleasures and treasure’s round Lough Erne shore.

Paddy Tunney sing The Wee Weaver

I am a wee weaver confined to my loom,
My lover she’s as fair as the red rose in June.
She is loved by all lovers which does anger me
My heart’s in the bosom of lovely Mary.

As Mary and Willie roamed by yon shady bower
Where Mary and Willie spent many a happy hour,
Where the thrush and the blackbird they do join in chore
Sing the praises of Mary round Lough Erne shore.

As Mary and Willie roamed by yonder loughside
Said Willie to Mary: “Will you be my bride?”
So this couple got married and they’ll roam no more,
They’ll have treasures and pleasures round Lough Erne shore.

Sandra and Nancy Kerr sing The Wee Weaver

I am a wee weaver confined to my loom;
My love she is fair as the red rose in June.
She is loved by all young men and that does grieve me;
My heart’s in the bosom of lovely Mary.

As Willie and Mary roved by yon shady bower
Where Willie and Mary spent many a happy hour,
The blackbirds and thrushes sang in chorus encore
The praises of Mary and love fair and sure.

As Willie and Mary roved by yon river side
Said Willie to Mary: “Will you be my bride?”
This couple got married and they rove no more,
They have pleasure on pleasure and love fair and sure.

Maddie Morris sings Wee Weaver

I am a wee weaver, confined to my loom,
My love she is fair as the red rose in June,
She is loved by all young men, and that does grieve me,
My heart’s in the bosom of lovely Mary.

As Lily and Mary rove by yon shady bower,
Where Lily and Mary spent many the hour,
The blackbirds and thrushes sung in chorus encore
The praises of Mary and of love fair and sure.

As Lily and Mary rove by yon riverside.
Said Lily to Mary, “Will you be my bride?”
The couple got married and they’re rambling no more,
They have pleasure on pleasure and love fair and sure.

(repeat first verse)