Hi,

A number of ballads have been collected from the "I wish" branch. The The Bishoprick Garland (1834) have a number of I Wish stanzas under "The Pitman's Love Song":

I wish my love she was a grey Ewe,
Grazing by yonder river side;
And aw mysel a bonny black Tup,
By that Ewe's side aw always would bide.

Some stanzas have been associated with "Water Is Wide."

A version from A. L. Lloyd was published in Come all ye bold miners: ballads and songs of the coalfields (1978).

Aw wish my lover she was a cherry,
Growing upon yon cherry tree,
And aw mysel a bonny blackbird;
How aw would peck that cherry cherree.

A standard "I Wish" text would be Percy Grainger's collected in 1906 or the following version:

I WISH, I WISH- Sung by Mrs C. Costello, Birmingham (M.S. and P.S.-S.1951) Mrs. Cecilia Costello sang it on Leader LEE 4054.

I wish, I wish, but it's all in vain,
I wish I were a maid again;
But a maid again I never shall be
Till apples grow on an orange tree.

I wish my baby it was born,
And smiling on its papa's knee,
And I to be in yon churchyard,
With long green grass growing over me.

When my apron-strings hung low,
He followed me through frost and snow,
But now my apron's to my chin,
He passes by and says nothing.

Oh grief, oh grief, I'll tell you why -
That girl has more gold than I;
More gold than I and beauty and fame,
But she will come like me again.

Richie