Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 18 hours 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 storyteller, ballad singer and piper Stanley Robertson (1940-2009) of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Stanley was born into a Traveller family in Aberdeen and he was the nephew of famous Scottish traditional singer Jeannie Robertson. Recorded by Ailie Edmunds Munro at the Kinross Festival of Traditional Music and Song on September 8th, 1973. Another recording of the same performance by Ian Sinclair was included on "Scots Songs and Music" (1973) by Springthyme Records but I don't own the record so I can't say how it compares.
The original can be listened to here:
tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/67182?l=en
Note by Kevin W.:
Prof. Child titled this ballad "The Mother's Malison" (Child 216). A malison is a curse. Child's three texts have the mother lay a curse on Willie for visiting his lover against her will. It is implied that the curse causes the tragedy. However the handful of texts from 20th century traditional singers lost the mention of the mother's curse. The bleeding at the nose in the opening verse of John Strachan's text is a bad omen, a sign of bad things about to happen.
'Gin ye winna stay, my son Willie,
This ae bare night wi me,
Gin Clyde's water be deep and fu o flood,
My malisen drown ye!'
A rare traditional Scottish ballad. Stanley learned it from his aunt Margaret (Maggie) Stewart of Banchory, Kincardineshire whom he regarded as his adoptive grandmother.
This is a powerful performance. Perhaps the concert setting with a larger audience inspired Stanley to put more force to it. Sadly the tape ran out at the end, the song is incomplete.
An earlier recording made by Bill Leader in February 1973 can be heard here:
youtu.be/u3Rv7VAB0jI
Margaret Steward can be heard singing it here in a recording by Hamish Henderson from August 1954:
youtu.be/Md3nQPl69yM
Song transcription:
I hae a steed in my stable
Cost me twice twenty pound,
And I'll put trust in his four legs
That he'll carry me safe tae the land.
For he's gaed ower yon high, high hill
And doon yon dowie den,
And the clatterin o the Clyde's waters
Wad fear ten thousand men.
"Spare me, spare me, Clyde water,
Oh spare me as I gang;
Ye can mak me a wreck when I come back,
But spare me as I gang!"
When he got tae his Maggie's bower,
"Oh Maggie, let me in,
For ma boots are full o the Clyde waters
And I'm tremblin tae the chin."
"My loft is fu o hay an corn,
My stable's fu o steed,
An ma bower is fu of gentlemen
And they won't remove tonight."
He turned his horse roond aboot
Wi a salt tear in his ee.
"For it's goodbye, false Maggie," he cries,
"And it's goodbye, Maggie," cries he.
An he's gaed ower yon high, high hill
An doon yon dowie den,
And the clatterin o the Clyde's waters
It would fear ten thousand men.
His first step intae Clyde water
Taen William's hat frae him,
And the clatterin o the Clyde's waters
Taen William's cane fae him.
William bent low ower his horse
Tae catch his hat befores,
An the clatterin o the Clyde's waters
Taen William frae his horse.
William's brither was on the bank,
"Oh William, will ye droon?
For if ye catch haud o yer stallion's heid
He'll learn ye how tae swim."
"How can I catch my stallion's heid
An he learns me tae swim?
For sleep or awake, false Maggie [ dear,
For she widnae let me in."
Noo she's gaed ower yon high, high hill
An doon yon dowie den,
An the deepest pools intae Clyde's waters
She's found her William in.
"William, William, please forgive,
Forgive for no comin doon!
For it's here that we'll get wir stepmother's prayer,
And it's here that we'll baith maun droon." ] *
* Last two verses missing because the tape ran out.
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 storyteller, ballad singer and piper Stanley Robertson (1940-2009) of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Stanley was born into a Traveller family in Aberdeen and he was the nephew of famous Scottish traditional singer Jeannie Robertson. Recorded by Ailie Edmunds Munro at the Kinross Festival of Traditional Music and Song on September 8th, 1973. Another recording of the same performance by Ian Sinclair was included on "Scots Songs and Music" (1973) by Springthyme Records but I don't own the record so I can't say how it compares.
The original can be listened to here:
tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/67182?l=en
Note by Kevin W.:
Prof. Child titled this ballad "The Mother's Malison" (Child 216). A malison is a curse. Child's three texts have the mother lay a curse on Willie for visiting his lover against her will. It is implied that the curse causes the tragedy. However the handful of texts from 20th century traditional singers lost the mention of the mother's curse. The bleeding at the nose in the opening verse of John Strachan's text is a bad omen, a sign of bad things about to happen.
'Gin ye winna stay, my son Willie,
This ae bare night wi me,
Gin Clyde's water be deep and fu o flood,
My malisen drown ye!'
A rare traditional Scottish ballad. Stanley learned it from his aunt Margaret (Maggie) Stewart of Banchory, Kincardineshire whom he regarded as his adoptive grandmother.
This is a powerful performance. Perhaps the concert setting with a larger audience inspired Stanley to put more force to it. Sadly the tape ran out at the end, the song is incomplete.
An earlier recording made by Bill Leader in February 1973 can be heard here:
youtu.be/u3Rv7VAB0jI
Margaret Steward can be heard singing it here in a recording by Hamish Henderson from August 1954:
youtu.be/Md3nQPl69yM
Song transcription:
I hae a steed in my stable
Cost me twice twenty pound,
And I'll put trust in his four legs
That he'll carry me safe tae the land.
For he's gaed ower yon high, high hill
And doon yon dowie den,
And the clatterin o the Clyde's waters
Wad fear ten thousand men.
"Spare me, spare me, Clyde water,
Oh spare me as I gang;
Ye can mak me a wreck when I come back,
But spare me as I gang!"
When he got tae his Maggie's bower,
"Oh Maggie, let me in,
For ma boots are full o the Clyde waters
And I'm tremblin tae the chin."
"My loft is fu o hay an corn,
My stable's fu o steed,
An ma bower is fu of gentlemen
And they won't remove tonight."
He turned his horse roond aboot
Wi a salt tear in his ee.
"For it's goodbye, false Maggie," he cries,
"And it's goodbye, Maggie," cries he.
An he's gaed ower yon high, high hill
An doon yon dowie den,
And the clatterin o the Clyde's waters
It would fear ten thousand men.
His first step intae Clyde water
Taen William's hat frae him,
And the clatterin o the Clyde's waters
Taen William's cane fae him.
William bent low ower his horse
Tae catch his hat befores,
An the clatterin o the Clyde's waters
Taen William frae his horse.
William's brither was on the bank,
"Oh William, will ye droon?
For if ye catch haud o yer stallion's heid
He'll learn ye how tae swim."
"How can I catch my stallion's heid
An he learns me tae swim?
For sleep or awake, false Maggie [ dear,
For she widnae let me in."
Noo she's gaed ower yon high, high hill
An doon yon dowie den,
An the deepest pools intae Clyde's waters
She's found her William in.
"William, William, please forgive,
Forgive for no comin doon!
For it's here that we'll get wir stepmother's prayer,
And it's here that we'll baith maun droon." ] *
* Last two verses missing because the tape ran out.
