Uploaded August 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This song first appears in the 14th century in several texts in England and Ireland. It seems to have been a popular folk tune, since we can tell the lyrics changed sometimes as it was passed in oral tradition. It was also probably used as a dancing song.
Scholars argue over what this song could have been about. Some folks like to think that the maiden is a water spirit, or a human performing a water rite called a “well wake”- a type of devotional rite practiced by the pagan Anglo-Saxons and later outlawed. Others think the woman is a metaphor for the Virgin Mary or Mary Magdalene. We do know that during this song’s popularity in the 14th century, some church officials viewed the song as secular and profane- even taking the tune and adding Latin verse to try and transform it into a song about the nativity.
We don’t know the tune for this song, so there are lots of fun interpretations out there! This tune is my own imagining. I’m singing three of the four known verses, in modern English instead of the original Middle English.
This song first appears in the 14th century in several texts in England and Ireland. It seems to have been a popular folk tune, since we can tell the lyrics changed sometimes as it was passed in oral tradition. It was also probably used as a dancing song.
Scholars argue over what this song could have been about. Some folks like to think that the maiden is a water spirit, or a human performing a water rite called a “well wake”- a type of devotional rite practiced by the pagan Anglo-Saxons and later outlawed. Others think the woman is a metaphor for the Virgin Mary or Mary Magdalene. We do know that during this song’s popularity in the 14th century, some church officials viewed the song as secular and profane- even taking the tune and adding Latin verse to try and transform it into a song about the nativity.
We don’t know the tune for this song, so there are lots of fun interpretations out there! This tune is my own imagining. I’m singing three of the four known verses, in modern English instead of the original Middle English.
