High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! "The Water Is Wide" (also called "O Waly, Waly") is a folk song of Scottish or English origin, based on lyrics which partly date to the 1600s. It has seen considerable popularity through to the 21st century. Cecil Sharp published the song in Folk Songs From Somerset (1906). It is related to Child Ballad 204 (Roud number 87), Jamie Douglas, which in turn refers to the ostensibly unhappy first marriage of James Douglas, 2nd Marquess of Douglas to Lady Barbara Erskine.