The Willow Tree (English version)


O take me in your arms, love
For keen doth the wind blow
O take me in your arms, love
For bitter is my deep woe

She hears me not, she heeds me not
Nor will she listen to me
While here I lie alone
To die beneath the willow tree

My love hath wealth and beauty
Rich suitors attend her door
My love hath wealth and beauty
She slights me because I am poor

The ribbon fair that bound her hair
Is all that is left to me
While here I lie alone
To die beneath the willow tree

I once had gold and silver
I thought them without end
I once had gold and silver
I thought I had a true friend

My wealth is lost, my friend is false
My love hath he stolen from me
While here I lie alone
To die beneath the willow tree.

willow tree

This is an Irish tune with lyrics
and is un-related to the English or American
versions
Sam Henry collected this in Ireland in 1939
in the Cloyfin district from a man who learned
it from his mother who was a native of
Ballymena

The Willow Tree (Irish version)


The night was dark and the hour late
Cold blew the winter air
And as four farmers homeward walked
Down through Lifford Fair
They thought they heard a cry
Both sad and sharp it struck their ear
Although the winds blew high

They climbed the wall and searched the tombs
That thickly filled the ground
And, spreading on a new-made grave
A sorrowful youth they found:
His wild moans filled the chilly air
For he looked pale and wild
His loud cries would have pierced your heart
For he wept like a child

They roused him from the cold wet earth
Inviting him away
He says, Move me not from this sad spot
For here I mean to stay
This is my true-love's grassy bed
And here all night I'll lie
All by the side of my long-lost bride
I will remain and die

In early life we were both joined
In love both fond and true
There's not a care but touched my heart
But touched my Fanny's too
The times were bad and I was poor
It was then I went away
To make a fortune in strange lands
I crossed the roaring sea

Scarce before I went away
In wedlock's bands we joined
It was then I left my tender bride
So lonely, young and fond
For three long years I stayed away
And I won my fortune in strange lands
I crossed the roaring sea

But oh, alas, begins my grief
My woe it then begun
When I came home they had her wed
Unto another one
And with false letters they imposed
All in her heartless ear
And told her I had died abroad
All in a second year

It being on a summer evening
Calm and fragrant was the air
She sat before her father's door
And never looked more fair
I stood before her suddenly
And when I caught her eye
She clasped her hands before her face
And gave a piercing cry

The sudden shock had reached her heart
The story soon was told:
When I came home her father gave
His hands to ancient gold
But all the gold that e'er was shown
Did fail to ease her mind
And like a tender flower crushed
Away she drooped and pined

Mark what followed after this--
I need not stop to tell--
In that day month, sure I could hear
The tolling funeral bell
Now I have done all with this earth
And it has done with me:
My love lies dead in her cold clay bed
Beneath yon willow tree

They stopped, but neither force nor word
Could raise him from the ground
All night he lay on the cold clay
And the next day was found
And when they touched him he was dead
And where he lay he died
They dug his grave and, side by side
They laid him with his bride.

This is the American lyrics and is
un-related to the English or Irish versions
This ballad is an American variant of
"Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" or
"The Outlandish Knight". It is also known as
"The Lonely Willow Tree". The ballad appears
in several collections as May Colvin
the earliest of which is Herd's
"Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs (1776)"
The tune is much older and has been placed
in 17th century America

The Willow Tree (American version)


There was a youth, a cruel youth
Who lived beside the sea
Six little maidens he drowned there
By the lonely willow tree

As he walked o'er with Sally Brown
As he walked o'er with she
And evil thought came to him there
By the lonely willow tree

O turn you back to the water's side
And face the willow tree
Six little maidens I've drowned here
And you the seventh shall be

Take off, take off, your golden crown
Take off your gown, cried he
For though I am going to murder you
I would not spoil your finery

Oh, turn around, you false young man
Oh turn around, cried she
For 'tis not meet that such a youth
A naked woman should you see

He turned around, that false young man
And faced the the willow tree
And seizing him boldly in both her arms
She threw him into the sea

Lie there, lie there, you false young man
Lie there, lie there, cried she
Six little maidens you've drowned here
Now keep them company!

He sank beneath the icy waves
He sank down into the sea
And no living thing wept a tear for him
Save the lonely willow tree