I Wish I Wish- Mrs. Belle Anne MacAngus (Ross) 1971
[From School of Scottish Studies; Track ID- 28180; Original Tape ID - SA1971.137. Their notes follow.
Listen: http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/play/28180;jsessionid=8DF2B548F372E2EB2AB1E69FCB21E766
The 1st stanza is the chorus and is a variant Nelly's Constancy which has been adapted also as "I Love You, Jamie" which begins:
I love you Jamie, I love you well
I love you better than tongue can tell, &c
R. Matteson 2017]
Item Notes - 3 verses of 4 lines with a chorus at start and after verses 1 and 3. This is a variant of the song grouping (Roud Folk Song Index no. 60) that includes 'The Butcher Boy', 'Died for Love' and 'I Wish I Wish'. The characteristic chorus in this version is echoed in others found in the North-East of Scotland, such as 'The Foolish Young Girl', also known as 'The Irish Boy' ('Tocher' 43, 1991, pp. 41-42).
Summary - In this tragic song, a young girl has been abandoned by her sweetheart, Billy. When she sees him courting another girl, she instructs her mother to dig her a grave, as she will die of grief.
I Wish, I Wish- sung by Mrs. Belle Anne MacAngus of Ross. Recorded by de Groot in 1971. The informant was born in 1881 and brought up in Hilton. She was a fishwife.
Oh Billie, Billie I love you well
I love you better than tongue can tell
Than tongue can tell and then pen can write
My darling Billie is my heart's delight.
There is a barroom in yonder town,
My love was passing and he went in,
He took a strange girl upon his knee,
And wasn't that a grief to me
Oh Billie Billie I love you well
I love you better than tongue can tell
O tongue can tell and then pen can write
My darling Billie was my heart's delight.
I wish, I wish and I wish in vain
I wish I was a maid again,
A maid again I shall never be,
Till an apple grow on an orange tree.
Oh mother mother please dig my grave
And make it wide and long for me,
And at my head put a turtle dove,
To tell the whole world that I died in love.
Oh Billie, Billie I love you well
I love you better than tongue can tell
Than tongue can tell and then pen can write
My darling Billie was my heart's delight.