The Mother's Malison
The Mother's Malison or Clyde's Water is Child ballad number 216, Roud 91.
Synopsis
Willie, against his mother's advice, goes to May Margaret's home, where he is not admitted. He drowns in the Clyde. May Margaret wakes and says she dreamed of him. Her mother tells her that he had been there half an hour before. She goes after him and likewise drowns.
See also
- 'The Drowned Lovers', Nic Jones, "Penguin Eggs", 1980
- 'Clyde Water', Nic Jones, "Game Set Match", 2006
- The Hazards of Love, by The Decemberists, 2008 has parts based on this ballad.
Recordings
- sung by John Strachan on Scottish Tradition 5, The Muckle Sangs
- sung by Willie Edward on The Muckle Sangs
- sung by Stanley Robertson on The Voice of the People Vol 3, O'er His Grave the Grass Grew Green
- sung by Anaïs Mitchell and Jefferson Hamer on Child Ballads (album), released in 2013.