Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
The Clattering of the Clyde Waters / The Clattering o' Clyde Waters / Clyde's Water / Clyde's Waters / Willie and May Margaret / The Drowned Lovers / The Mother's Malison (Child No. 216) - Sung by John Strachan of Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Recorded by Alan Lomax and Hamish Henderson on July 16th, 1951. From "Scottish Tradition 5: The Muckle Sangs Classic Scots Ballads" (1975) Tangent Records TNGM 119/D (2 LP, UK, 1975).
Note by Kevin W.:
A "malison" is a curse. And the bleeding at the nose is a bad omen, a sign of bad things about to happen.
Lines Notes by Hamish Henderson:
Child printed only three versions of this noble ballad, which has been carried forward strongly into our own day by oral transmission; all three are of surpassing interest to anyone wishing to survey the influence of 'remaking' of various sorts on our balladry. Child's A [...] is a magnificent example of supple and flexible ballad Scots. His C (Peter Buchan), which is by far the longest (29 verses) [is] in its own way a powerful piece of work. [...] Child's B is from Mrs. Brown of Falkland [...].
Gavin Greig published a version - Peter Buchan nearly word for word - in his column in 'The Buchan Advertiser', and this may well have helped to keep the ballad in circulation in some areas; however, both versions you can hear now depend on family and local tradition going back before Gavin was born.
John Strachan opens with the omen of ill fortune (nose bleeding) which is also to be found in Peter and the 'Buchanie', but his text is markedly different from theirs. It omits the motif of Willie's mother's curse which has provided the name for one of the titles given to the ballad (The Mother's Malison) although it might be argued that the curse is implicit in her strongly expressed disapproval.
Willie Edward's version, a superbly enunciated example of 'auld style' ballad Scots, gives us the second half of the ballad. He starts at the point where Willie appeals to Maggie to let him in, and Maggie's mother (counterfeiting her daughter's voice, like another cruel mother in The Lass of Roch Royal) turns him away. Again, the text is different from both Peter and 'The Buchan Observer' [sic].
Both our versions have the episode of Willie's brother standing on the river bank and telling him to 'turn to his high horse heid' and 'learn how to swim'. This episode, which is in Peter Buchan's text but not in Mrs. Brown's, is dismissed by Child as 'absurd'. However, if we look at the structure of the ballad, we can see that it is not so absurd after all. The opening scene of Clyde's Water is really a variant of a familiar folktale lead-in; Willie is offered his mother's warning (by implication with her blessing) but takes instead his much-prized horse, with her curse. It is therefore wholly in accordance with the techniques of oral composition that Willie, in extremis, should be reminded of his earlier trust in his 'ain horse heels'. And why should it be his brother who gives him this reminder? To an audience of earlier days, the minds of all its members saturated with the elemental folk motifs which link ballads and tales, there would have been no mystery - and no absurdity - about this one either. There are several ballads in which a mother's curse is associated with the death of one brother and the survival of another; [e.g. The Twa Brithers].
Song transcription:
Willie stood at the stable door,
A-leaning ower his steed,
A-looking at his white fingers
Till his nose began tae bleed.
“O bring some corn to my horse,
And gie my young man meat,
And I’ll awa to Maggie’s bower,
I’ll be there afore she sleeps.”
“O Wilie, Wilie, dinna gang,
It’s sair against my wil,
Ye’ve the deepest pot in the Clyde to cross,
And it’s there that ye will droon.”
“The horse that I’m to ride upon
Cost me twice thirty pound.
And I’ll put trust in my ain horse heels,
And he’ll cairry me safe and soun.”
So he rid o’er hills and rid doon dales
And doon yon dowie den,
But the rush that rose in Clyde’s water
Wad have feared a hundred men.
“O Clyde, ye Clyde, ye rollin Clyde,
Yer waves are wondrous strong,
Mak me a wreck as I come back,
But spare me as I gyang.
“O Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, dear.
O rise and lat me in,
For my boots are fu o Clyde’s waters
And I’m shiverin tae the skin.”
“My stables are full o horses,
My sheds are fu o hay,
My beds are fu o gentlemen
That winna leave till day.”
Maggie wakened in the morning
An to her mother she run,
Says, “I dreamed that Willie was here last nicht
An ah widna lat him in.”
So he rid ower hills and he rid doon dales
And doon yon dowie den,
But the rush that rose in Clyde’s water
Took Willie’s cane fae him.
Leanin ower his saiddle bows
Tae catch his cane through force,
The rush that rose in Clyde’s water
Took Willie fae his horse.
Willie’s brother stands on the bank,
“Now, how can Willie droon?
O turn ye to yer high horse heid
And he’ll learn ye how to sweem.”
The Clattering of the Clyde Waters / The Clattering o' Clyde Waters / Clyde's Water / Clyde's Waters / Willie and May Margaret / The Drowned Lovers / The Mother's Malison (Child No. 216) - Sung by John Strachan of Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Recorded by Alan Lomax and Hamish Henderson on July 16th, 1951. From "Scottish Tradition 5: The Muckle Sangs Classic Scots Ballads" (1975) Tangent Records TNGM 119/D (2 LP, UK, 1975).
Note by Kevin W.:
A "malison" is a curse. And the bleeding at the nose is a bad omen, a sign of bad things about to happen.
Lines Notes by Hamish Henderson:
Child printed only three versions of this noble ballad, which has been carried forward strongly into our own day by oral transmission; all three are of surpassing interest to anyone wishing to survey the influence of 'remaking' of various sorts on our balladry. Child's A [...] is a magnificent example of supple and flexible ballad Scots. His C (Peter Buchan), which is by far the longest (29 verses) [is] in its own way a powerful piece of work. [...] Child's B is from Mrs. Brown of Falkland [...].
Gavin Greig published a version - Peter Buchan nearly word for word - in his column in 'The Buchan Advertiser', and this may well have helped to keep the ballad in circulation in some areas; however, both versions you can hear now depend on family and local tradition going back before Gavin was born.
John Strachan opens with the omen of ill fortune (nose bleeding) which is also to be found in Peter and the 'Buchanie', but his text is markedly different from theirs. It omits the motif of Willie's mother's curse which has provided the name for one of the titles given to the ballad (The Mother's Malison) although it might be argued that the curse is implicit in her strongly expressed disapproval.
Willie Edward's version, a superbly enunciated example of 'auld style' ballad Scots, gives us the second half of the ballad. He starts at the point where Willie appeals to Maggie to let him in, and Maggie's mother (counterfeiting her daughter's voice, like another cruel mother in The Lass of Roch Royal) turns him away. Again, the text is different from both Peter and 'The Buchan Observer' [sic].
Both our versions have the episode of Willie's brother standing on the river bank and telling him to 'turn to his high horse heid' and 'learn how to swim'. This episode, which is in Peter Buchan's text but not in Mrs. Brown's, is dismissed by Child as 'absurd'. However, if we look at the structure of the ballad, we can see that it is not so absurd after all. The opening scene of Clyde's Water is really a variant of a familiar folktale lead-in; Willie is offered his mother's warning (by implication with her blessing) but takes instead his much-prized horse, with her curse. It is therefore wholly in accordance with the techniques of oral composition that Willie, in extremis, should be reminded of his earlier trust in his 'ain horse heels'. And why should it be his brother who gives him this reminder? To an audience of earlier days, the minds of all its members saturated with the elemental folk motifs which link ballads and tales, there would have been no mystery - and no absurdity - about this one either. There are several ballads in which a mother's curse is associated with the death of one brother and the survival of another; [e.g. The Twa Brithers].
Song transcription:
Willie stood at the stable door,
A-leaning ower his steed,
A-looking at his white fingers
Till his nose began tae bleed.
“O bring some corn to my horse,
And gie my young man meat,
And I’ll awa to Maggie’s bower,
I’ll be there afore she sleeps.”
“O Wilie, Wilie, dinna gang,
It’s sair against my wil,
Ye’ve the deepest pot in the Clyde to cross,
And it’s there that ye will droon.”
“The horse that I’m to ride upon
Cost me twice thirty pound.
And I’ll put trust in my ain horse heels,
And he’ll cairry me safe and soun.”
So he rid o’er hills and rid doon dales
And doon yon dowie den,
But the rush that rose in Clyde’s water
Wad have feared a hundred men.
“O Clyde, ye Clyde, ye rollin Clyde,
Yer waves are wondrous strong,
Mak me a wreck as I come back,
But spare me as I gyang.
“O Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, dear.
O rise and lat me in,
For my boots are fu o Clyde’s waters
And I’m shiverin tae the skin.”
“My stables are full o horses,
My sheds are fu o hay,
My beds are fu o gentlemen
That winna leave till day.”
Maggie wakened in the morning
An to her mother she run,
Says, “I dreamed that Willie was here last nicht
An ah widna lat him in.”
So he rid ower hills and he rid doon dales
And doon yon dowie den,
But the rush that rose in Clyde’s water
Took Willie’s cane fae him.
Leanin ower his saiddle bows
Tae catch his cane through force,
The rush that rose in Clyde’s water
Took Willie fae his horse.
Willie’s brother stands on the bank,
“Now, how can Willie droon?
O turn ye to yer high horse heid
And he’ll learn ye how to sweem.”
