[Buy Now] Listen to audio samples of Banks of Green Willow Tracks: 1. Blackwaterside (2:16) 2. The Banks of Green Willow (4:45) 3. Bullgine Run (2:55) 4. Darlin' Corey (4:03) 5. The Rose You Wore For Me (4:45) 6. Bay of Biscay-O (3:03)

Recorded by many, this song comes from the Irish tradition and has a “young girl is made promises that aren’t kept” theme. I like the strength of character this young lass shows, thus, the upbeat arrangement.

One evening fair, I took the air
Down by Blackwaterside
Was gazing all around me
The Irish lad I spied

All through the first part of the night
We lay in sport and play
‘Til this young man arose and gathered his clothes
Saying, "Fare thee well today"

That's not the promise that you made to me
When first you lay on my breast
You could make me believe with your lying tongue
That the sun rose in the west

Go home, go home to your father's garden
You go home and weep your fill
And think upon your own misfortune
That you've brought with your wanton will

There's not a girl in this whole town
As easily led as I
Sure’s the fishes will fly and the seas will run dry
Then it’s married you and I

One evening fair I took the air

Vocal and guitar: Debra Cowan

A Scottish ballad also known as “The Undutiful Daughter” or “Bonnie Annie”, this particular song is #24 in the Collected Ballads of Francis James Child.  This is also known as a “Jonah Ballad” in which someone on board a ship is deemed to be the cause of any misfortune and is marked for death.

It's of a sea captain, lived by the salt sea side O
And he has courted a fair maid till she's proved with child O

Crying, "Oh my love, what shall I do and what will become of me
For my father and mother they will both disown me"

"Go fetch some of your father's gold and some of your mother's money
And you can come a-sailing along with your Johnny"

So she's fetched some of her father's gold and some of her mother's money
And she has gone on board the sailing ship along with her Johnny

They had not been a sailing scarce six weeks nor so many
When she wanted women's help but could not get any

"oh hold your tongue you foolish girl, oh hold your tongue me honey
For we cannot get women's help for love nor for money"

They hadn't been a sailing scarce six miles nor so many
When she was delivered of a beautiful baby

And when they had sailed, the days were so many
The sails were outspread, but miles they made not any

They cast the black bullets, as they lay adrift on the sea O
The black bullet fell to the maiden and her child O

"Sea captain, sea captain, here's fifty pounds for thee
If you will go and fetch me home along with my baby"

"O no," cries the sea captain, "O no that can never be 
For it is better to loose two lives than to loose many"

And he's tied a kerchief round her head, and he's tied it soft and easy
And he has thrown her right overboard, along with her baby

"See how my love do swim, me boys, see how my love do quiver
She will never cease swimming till the banks of green willow"

"My love shall have a coffin of the gold of the finest yellow
And she shall be buried on the banks of green willow"

Vocal: Debra Cowan

This was originally a railroad song, “bullgine” being slang for a steam engine.  It gradually became a capstan sea shanty that was a favourite among the Yankee packets that made the New York to Liverpool runs carrying freight. 

Oh, the sharpest clipper you ever can find
A-hey, a-ho, are you most done?
Is the old Wildcat on the Swallowtail Line
Clear away the track and let the bullgine run!

Chorus:
With me hey rig-a-jig and a low-back car
A-hey, a-ho, are you most done?
With Liza Lea upon my nay
Clear away the track and let the bullgine run!

Oh, the old Wildcat on the Swallowtail Line
A-hey, a-ho, are you most done?
She’s never a day behind her time
Clear away the track and let the bullgine run!

Oh, we’ve loaded our freight in the New York dumps
A-hey, a-ho, are you most done?
And all the whores, they take to the chumps
Clear away the track and let the bullgine run!

When we’ve stowed our freight in the West St. pier
A-hey, a-ho, are you most done?
It’s home to Liverpool then we’ll steer
Clear away the track and let the bullgine run!

When we all gets back to Liverpool town
A-hey, a-ho, are you most done?
I’ll stand ya whiskeys all around
Clear away the track and let the bullgine run!

Oh, heave a pawl and bare a hand
A-hey, a-ho, are you most done?
One more pull and make her stand
A-hey, a-ho, are you most done?

Vocal and guitar: Debra Cowan

I first heard this song when I was about 6 or 7 years old. My Mom had purchased a recording by a singer named June Bugg. I immediately fell in love with the song, but then forgot about it for the next 35 years. Darlin’ Corey is a tune that all banjo players know well and the song is usually performed in a bluegrass style. Pete Seeger gets the credit for bringing the song to the general public and says, “Surely this must have been one of Kentucky's most popular songs fifty or sixty years ago. I can't ever remember meeting a good old time banjo picker who did not know it.” I adapted the song to an unaccompanied blues style, and when Geoff Bartley came along with his Resonator Guitar, the song became complete for me.

Wake up, wake up, Darlin' Corey.
What makes you sleep so sound?
Them revenue officers a'commin'
For to tear your still-house down.

Well the first time I seen Darlin' Corey
She was standin' in the still-house door
With her shoes and stockin's in her han'
An' her feet all over the floor.

The next time I saw Darlin’ Corey
She was standin’ on the banks of the sea
She had forty-fours strapped around her body
And a banjo on her knee

The last time I saw Darlin’ Corey
She had a wine glass in her hand
She’d been drinkin’ that cold hard liquor
With a low down sorry man

Go and dig me a hole in the meadow
A hole in the cold, cold ground
Go and dig me a hole in the meadow
Just to lay Darlin’ Corey down

Vocal: Debra Cowan
National Style-O Resonator guitar: Geoff Bartley

It is a difficult thing to leave the only home you‘ve known to travel toward an unknown future.  Northern California songwriter Danny Carnahan has captured the feelings evoked in a song with vivid images and rich narration

vocal and guitar: Debra Cowan
English concertina: Ron Lister

Jerry Bryant, author of the ballad “Harbo and Samuelson” once mentioned to me that he always loved Maddy Prior’s recordings singing unaccompanied three-part harmony with herself. I decided to try it and realized why Maddy only used this difficult recording arrangement once.  The Bay of Biscay is located in southeastern Europe, bounded by France and Spain. The coastline varies from rocky cliffs to sandy beaches, thus winds and currents make navigation difficult. 
 

My Willie sailed on board a tender
And where he is I do not know
Seven long years I've been constantly waiting
Since he crossed the Bay of Biscay-O

One night as Mary lay a-sleeping
A knock came to her bedroom door
Saying “Arise arise my dearest Mary
For to earn one glance of your Willie-O”

Mary arose put on her clothing
And to her bedroom door did go
And there she saw her Willie standing
His two pale cheeks as white as snow

O Willie dear where are those blushes
Those blushes I knew long years ago
O Mary dear the cold waves lash them
I am the ghost of your Willie-O

But Mary dear the dawn is breaking
I fear it’s time for me to go
I must leave you cold and broken hearted
For to cross the Bay of Biscay-O

If I had gold and I had money
And all the silver in Mexico
I would grant it all to the King of Erin
For to bring me back my Willie-O

Vocals: Debra Cowan

1. Blackwaterside (trad) 2:19 
2. Banks of the Green Willow (trad) 4:48
3. Bullgine Run (trad) 2:56
4. Darlin’ Corey (trad) 4:10
5. The Rose You Wore For Me (Danny Carnahan) 4:48
6. Bay of Biscay-O (trad) 3:06

This recording dedicated to the memory of my mother, Marjorie Strassman. Thanks, Mom!

Produced by Debra Cowan 
Engineered by Steve Friedman
Recorded and mixed at Melville Park Studios, Boston MA
Cover Artwork Debra Sings ceramic sculpture by Betty A. Gerich

To contact Debra Cowan: 
P.O. Box 1335, Westborough, MA 01581