Lyr Req: Floating Down the Stream / The Fisher

Subject: Lyr Req: Fisher, if you've stood beside ...
From: DonD
Date: 10 Jun 03 - 05:50 PM

I believe I learned it off a Dyer-Bennet album (12" 78's) a half a century ago or more, but it doesn't come up on the DT or Google. The part I rememebr goes:

Fisher, if you've stood beside
This stream all the day,
Have you seen a maiden fair
Passing up or down this way?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Fisher, if you've stood beside ...
From: DonD
Date: 10 Jun 03 - 06:01 PM

Oops I pushed the wrong button - I remember more than that:

I have stood beside this stream
All day long, the fisher said,
I have seen no maiden here,
Save the lady who is dead -
   Floating down the stream.
   Waily, waily, floating down the stream.

That can ne'er my rue love be,
She is full of life and light;
E'en the lilies on her breast
Cannot yet be faded quite.

She has eyes wide open, clear,
Lips and cheeks of healthy red -
I have seen no lady here
Save the lady who is dead -
    Floating down the stream.
    Waily, waily, floating down the stream.

.....................
Here's where I'm having trouble!
.....................

Then I threw me on the ground,
Oh, the copious tears I shed,
Would that I were in that stream
With the lady who is dead -
   Floating down the stream,
   Waily, waily, floating down the stream.


I* requested it at a small folk club that was run by two American singers in Paris in the Fifties, and they said, "Oh, sure, the Scottish Waily, Waily."

Can anyone help me with the middle part? Thanks.

Don

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Fisher, if you've stood beside ...
From: DonD
Date: 11 Jun 03 - 12:08 PM

refresh

Subject: DTADD: Floating Down the Stream
From: Stewart
Date: 11 Jun 03 - 03:44 PM

I could only find three verses, similar to what you have. The was recorded by Marais and Miranda.

FLOATING DOWN THE STREAM
Sung by Marais and Miranda (lyrics HERE)

1. "Fisher, if beside that stream, thou hast stood since break of day,
Hast thou seen a lady fair, wand'ring up or down this way?"
"I have stood beside this stream all day long," the fisher said.
"I have seen no lady here, save the lady who is dead."

CHORUS: Wae-le wae-le, wae -le wae-le
Floating down the stream

2. "This can ne'er my true love be; she was full of life and light.
E'en the lilies on her breast cannot yet be faded quite.
She hath eyes wide open clear, lips and cheeks of healthy red."
"I have met no lady here, save the lady who is dead."

CHORUS

3. As upon the waves she lies, like a water lily white,
To the wind she softly sighs; sad is now my lover's plight.
Then I flung me on the ground; Oh the passionate tears I shed.
Would that I were in that stream with the lady who is dead.

Also in Levy Sheet Music HERE

Again, only three verses.
slightly different verse:

3. "Oh, red was on her lips, and the light was in her eye,
And the lilies on her breast had not had the time to die."
Then I flung me on the ground; oh, the passionate tears I shed!
Would that I were in that stream with the lady who is dead.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Fisher, if you've stood beside ...
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Jun 03 - 05:42 PM

Hi, Don - looks like Stewart has most of your answer, but I'd sure like to know where your version came from. Click here to get to the search page for Smithsonian-Folkways. They have the entire Dyer-Bennet catalog, but I couldn't find the song you're seeking. Maybe it wasn't Dyer-Bennet you heard. John Jacob Niles had a similarly annoying voice.
The only listing I could find for "Floating Down the Stream" was on the Marais and Miranda album Stewart found, Ballads of Many Lands, on the Decca label.
I have a tattered paperback copy of Folk Song Jamboree, a 1960 songbook published by Josef and Miranda Marais. The lyrics are exactly what Stewart posted, but the chorus seems a bit less affected:

Waly, waly, Waly, waly
Floating down the stream

I'll post a MIDI later.
Note that the sheet music at Levy calls it "The Fisher Ballad," by Hamilton Aide. The sheet music is undated.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Fisher, if you've stood beside ...
From: DonD
Date: 16 Jun 03 - 09:37 PM

Thanks Stewart and Joe!

Of course it was Marais and Miranda -- after fifty years all 78 RPM 10" records look alike in a weak mind's eye. In fact I think I have the album referred to down in my niece's cellar.

My 'almost' lyrics came from that same weak mind, but if I had filled in some suitable mangled version of my own for the missing lines instead of seeking 'authenticity' wouldn't that have been the 'folk process'?

Thanks again.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Fisher, if you've stood beside ...
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 04:06 AM

Hi, Don - there are elements of what you posted that are quite different from the Marais and Miranda lyrics. That makes me think you may have been influenced by another source - that's what has me curious.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Fisher, if you've stood beside this...
From: GUEST,middle part: "As upon the waves she lies, li
Date: 23 Mar 14 - 08:45 PM