Water is Wide, The

4 Comments

• theprayingpiper@yahoo.com

  January 7, 2017 at 6:59 pm

  This tune is AKA “When the Piper Plays”

• Mark

  November 23, 2017 at 8:31 am

  This tune is AKA “Waly, Waly” and “The Gift of Love”. It would help search success if tune aliases were linked to the primary tune.

  • Jim McGillivray

    November 23, 2017 at 10:03 am

    Thanks for this. In truth, I’ve never heard this tune called “The Gift of Love.” It is published elsewhere as “Border Ballad,” and as “The Water is Wide,” and I’ve known it “Waly Waly.” So that’s at least four titles this tune has now! There may be more. It’s quite difficult to keep up on titles for tunes that were originally Gaelic songs.

• allioux@hvc.rr.com

  May 12, 2022 at 5:22 pm

  In France, Bagad de Lann Bihoué, the official band of the French Navy, calls it “Entre Terre et Mer”. Jean Claude is a proud alum of Bagad de Lann Bihoué, playing with the band from 1961-63. They have a beautiful arrangement of the tune, which can be heard in a video of the Elysée palace ceremonies on May 7th – available on their Facebook page.