This popular ballad is taken from Phil's 1995 concert at the Grand Opera House, Belfast...
Maura O'Connell was born in Ennis, the main town in County Clare, in the west of Ireland in 1958
The ballad was originally entitled 'Waly, Waly', but in the 19th century came to be known as 'The Water is Wide'. It was published under this name in 1724.
However, it is also similar to the Northern Irish song Carrickfergus, which has the lines but the sea is wide/I cannot swim over/And neither have I wings to fly. This song is said to be preceded by an Irish language song whose first line A Bhí Bean Uasal ("It was a noble woman") matches closely the opening line of one known variation of Lord Jamie Douglas: I was a lady of renown.