A Water Over Stone 

© 1979 Gordon Bok, BMI

 

"Three songs for Ethelwyn."

            My aunt, Ethelwyn, lives on a boat and once married a fellow from the Isle of Man.  One of her favorite quotes was:

 

            For sad I was, and sore I was,

            And lonely to the bone.

            A green a grass, a gray a grass,

            A water over stone.

            Oh, lay a rose upon a rose

            And take away the lone.

 

            It is apparently from an old Irish book that she and her sisters were fond of reading when they were children.  One day she wrote it down for me and said "Here.  Put a tune to this."

            The first tune here happened while I was trying to write the second.  The third tune is a traditional lullaby from the Isle of Man called "Oye Vie" (goodnight.)

 



A Water Over Stone  is recorded on the album A Water Over Stone