The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
"Oh sister, oh sister, let's walk the seashore
Bow, balance to me
"Oh sister, oh sister, let's walk the seashore
And see the ships as they sail in oar"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
While these two sisters were walking the shore
Bow, balance to me
While these two sisters were walking the shore
The oldest pushed the youngest o'er
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
"Oh sister, oh sister, please lend me your hand"
Bow, balance to me
"Oh sister, oh sister, please lend me your hand
And you'll have Willie and all o' his land"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
"I never, I never will lend you my hand"
Bow, balance to me
"I never, I never will lend you my hand
But I'll have Willie and all o' his land"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
Sometimes she sank and sometimes she swam
Bow, balance to me
Sometimes she sank and sometimes she swam
Until she came to the old mill dam
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
A miller, he got his fishing hook
Bow, balance to me
The miller, he got his fishing hook
And fished that maiden out o' the brook
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
"Oh miller, oh miller, here's five gold rings"
Bow, balance to me
"Oh miller, oh miller, here's five gold rings
To push the maiden in again"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
The miller, he received those five gold rings
Bow, balance to me
The miller, he received the five gold rings
And pushed that maiden in again
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
The miller was hung in the old mill gate
Bow, balance to me
The miller was hung in the old mill gate
For drowned the little sister Kate
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
Bow, balance to me
"Oh sister, oh sister, let's walk the seashore
And see the ships as they sail in oar"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
While these two sisters were walking the shore
Bow, balance to me
While these two sisters were walking the shore
The oldest pushed the youngest o'er
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
"Oh sister, oh sister, please lend me your hand"
Bow, balance to me
"Oh sister, oh sister, please lend me your hand
And you'll have Willie and all o' his land"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
"I never, I never will lend you my hand"
Bow, balance to me
"I never, I never will lend you my hand
But I'll have Willie and all o' his land"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
Sometimes she sank and sometimes she swam
Bow, balance to me
Sometimes she sank and sometimes she swam
Until she came to the old mill dam
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
A miller, he got his fishing hook
Bow, balance to me
The miller, he got his fishing hook
And fished that maiden out o' the brook
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
"Oh miller, oh miller, here's five gold rings"
Bow, balance to me
"Oh miller, oh miller, here's five gold rings
To push the maiden in again"
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
The miller, he received those five gold rings
Bow, balance to me
The miller, he received the five gold rings
And pushed that maiden in again
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
The miller was hung in the old mill gate
Bow, balance to me
The miller was hung in the old mill gate
For drowned the little sister Kate
And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me
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Why are some of the lyrics omitted?? That's pretty sad, a girl who would drown her own sister for a man. Pretty bastardly, if you ask me. Guess that's why it's on the Bastards disc.
I accidentally omitted the first few stanzas, and for some reason the edit button is not visible to me. I'll see if I can get admin to fix it for me.....
This must be an old ballad. I hope Waits has missed out the end, as it doesn't seem fair if the miller gets hanged & the wicked sister gets off scot free & marries Willie. Just one thing - if sister Kate is pushed into the sea, how does she end up in the mill-race?
Fixed the lyrics.
morbid morag: For your name to say "morbid", you sure seem shocked by this song. Many old sea chanties and songs of this nature were grisly. Try reading some old fairy tales, you'll understand. The folk tales of past eras sometimes reflect just how grisly things in real life could be. Also, the girl is in a sea - it never specifies an ocean, it could be more like a very large lake - and I guess she comes to a river, where there is presumably a waterwheel or other water-powered mill. The mill dam is just that - a dam in the river, where the miller fishes Kate out.
Not shocked, just my sense of natural justice outraged! I know old ballads & tales are grisly, but mostly the baddies get an equally grisly comeuppance - I'm thinking of Cinderella (is it?), where the wicked stepmother has to dance in red-hot shoes till she dies. I suppose the ending of this seems a bit clipped because we aren't told what happens to the jealous sister - or, indeed, poor Willie, who's presumably a bit hacked off.
I was just looking this up on Wikipedia, and as it is with lots of murder ballads, there were a lot of variations on the lyrics other than the version Tom Waits used. In one of them the miller doesn't enter into it at all, and the jealous sister actually does get punished: Someone makes a harp or fiddle out of the drowned sister's bones and hair, brings it to the family's house as a wedding present for the oldest sister and Willie, and at the wedding the instrument starts playing itself while singing about the murder.
Good! Yes, I can remember a ballad or story about a bone harp. Incidentally, it was the Wicked Queen in Snow White who had to dance in red-hot shoes, I got it wrong about Cinderella.
What do you think the repetition applies to? "Bow, balance to me." and "And I'll be true to my love if my love'll be true to me"
You think that's just Wait's singing the refrain. Or perhaps what Willie is saying, under the false impression of the older sister didn't kill Kate.
Loreena McKennitt did a version of this old ballad called "The Bonny Swans." You should give it a listen.
Loreena McKennitt did a version of this old ballad called "The Bonny Swans." You should give it a listen.