Lyr Req: Willie the Waterboy

Subject: Lost - 1 song!
From: GUEST,Andrew J
Date: 15 Oct 06 - 07:03 AM

Can anyone help? I've just come across a half remembered song which I used to go all gaga at. Can't remember where it's from or what the tune is. It's called (I think) Willie the Water Boy, and starts "As Mary lay sleeping, Willie comes creeping.." The Willie appears to be called Willie Mowll, and is the ghost of a drowned sailor. Any ideas - have searched all the databases!

Subject: Lyr Add: WILLIE THE WATERBOY
From: ragdall
Date: 15 Oct 06 - 07:31 AM

Is this it? The tune is there, as well.
Willie the Waterboy

1. As young Mary lay sleeping, young Willy came creeping
To her bedchamber door did go,
Saying 'Arise and awake, young lovely Mary,
For I am your true love, young William O'

2. Then young Mary arose and put on her clothing,
Straight to her bedchamber door did go,
And there she spied her true young William,
Whom she'd not seen for some time ago.

3. "Seven long years I've been daily writing
All over the Bay of Biscay O
But cruel death sent me no answer,
Sent me no answer from my William O."

4. "Then it's Willy dear, hide o'er those blushes,
Those blushes you wore being long ago?"
"Then Mary dear, the cold clay has worn them,
For I am but the ghost of your William O."

5. "If I had all the gold that was in the West Indies,
Or all that was in King George's throne,
I would freely give it to the Queen of England,
If she would grant it to me my William O."

6. They spent that night in deep discussion
Concerning their courtship being long ago.
They kissed and shook hands with a sorrowful parting,
Just as the cock was a-going to crow.

Subject: RE: Lost - 1 song!
From: Flash Company
Date: 15 Oct 06 - 07:56 AM

Oh, I like that, sort of 'Son of Unquiet Grave' with a slightly less macabre ending.

FC

Subject: RE: Lost - 1 song!
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 15 Oct 06 - 11:22 AM

Note that the text quoted above was noted by Butterworth from Mrs Whiting of Newport, Monmouthshire, in April 1908.

The song was printed as 'Willy-O!' on Irish broadsides in the later part of the 19th century, and seems to have originated there; for several examples, see  Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:

Willy O!

There is some confusion about how it ought to be classified. Some examples are loosely categorised as a member of the night-visiting complex that also includes 'The Grey Cock' ( Child 248 / Roud number 179 ), though the songs are separate and made on similar lines rather than directly related, verses from 'Willy' have at times wandered into examples of 'The Grey Cock', leading people to believe (probably wrongly) that the latter was originally a revenant song that has in most cases lost its supernatural element, rather than a night-visiting song which has occasionally picked up supernatural elements from elsewhere.

The boundaries are frequently blurred: the well-known 'Grey Cock' that Cecilia Costello sang, for example, borrowed three verses from 'Willie-O'.

Other examples are classed under Child 77 / Roud 50: 'Sweet William's Ghost', and it seems likely that the Irish broadside was partly based on that song.

There is a fair bit of related material here in the Forum; see in particular the following, which in turn contain links to more:

Lyr Add: WILLY O!

hughie jones' sweet william's ghost

Help: Bay of Biscay - My Willie Sails

In the DT:

GHOST OF WILLIE-O  (text only; no source named).

Subject: RE: Lost - 1 song!
From: GUEST,JimP
Date: 15 Oct 06 - 12:13 PM

A very nice version of this is on the Victory Sings at Sea CD. Don't know if its still available.