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The Willow Tree

(Folk music and Lyrics)

While researching my article called "In Worship of Tree's", I came across an old folk song called "The Willow Tree".  There are three versions of it:  English, Irish and American.  The first is an English tune with lyrics, and is un-related to the Irish or American versions.  Click the icon to hear the music while reading the lyrics:

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.

The second 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.  Click the hyperlink to hear the music while reading the lyrics:

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.

The third is the American tune with 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.  Click the hyperlink to hear the music while reading the lyrics:

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.

Best Wishes and Blessed Be.