Gilbert was born in New York City, daughter of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Her mother, Sarah, was a dressmaker and trade unionist, and her father, Charles Gilbert, was a factory worker.
Gilbert's singing was characterized as "a crystalline, bold contralto."
The Weavers were an influential folk-singing group that was blacklisted in the early 1950s, during a period of widespread anti-communist feeling, because of the group's left-wing sympathies.
Following the Weavers' dissolution in 1953 due to the blacklist, Gilbert continued her activism on a personal level, traveling to Cuba in 1961 on a trip that brought her back to the United States on the same day that country banned travel to Cuba. She also participated in the Parisian protests of 1968 after traveling to that country to work with British theatrical director Peter Brook. In the 1970s, Gilbert earned an MA in clinical psychology and worked as a therapist for a few years.
Various well-known younger singers honor Ms. Gilbert for the example she set for them, and the influence she had on their careers, particularly Holly Near, with whom Gilbert has released three duet albums: 1983's Lifelines, 1989's Singing With You, and 1997's This Train Still Runs. Near and Gilbert also joined Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger for the 1984 quartet album HARP (an acronym for "Holly, Arlo, Ronnie and Pete"). During that period, Gilbert wrote and appeared in a one-woman show about Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, the American labor organizer, and in a second work based on author Studs Terkel's book Coming of Age. In 1992 she accompanied the Vancouver Men's Chorus on the song Music in My Mother's House from their album Signature.
In 1991, Gilbert recorded "Lincoln and Liberty" and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" for the compilation album, Songs of the Civil War, joining artists such as Kathy Mattea, Judy Collins, John Hartford, Hoyt Axton, and the United States Military Academy Band of West Point.
“ Songs are dangerous, songs are subversive and can change your life. ”
—Ronnie Gilbert, On the effects of hearing Paul Robeson sing when she was 10.
Gilbert continued to tour and appears in plays, folk festivals, and Jewish music festivals well into her 80s. She also continued her protest work, participating in groups such as Women in Black to protest "Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories."[8][9] In 2006, the Weavers received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys. Gilbert and Hellerman accepted the award. Seeger was unable to attend the ceremony, and Hays had died in 1981.
Gilbert was married to Martin Weg from 1950 until 1959, and the couple have one daughter, Lisa (born 1952). Their marriage ended in divorce. In 2004, Gilbert married her partner of almost two decades, Donna Korones, when then-Mayor Gavin Newsom temporarily legalized gay marriage in San Francisco. Gilbert moved to Caspar, California in 2006.
Gilbert died in June 6, 2015 in Mill Valley, California from natural causes, aged 88.
A native New Yorker, Ronnie Gilbert was singing on the radio by age 12. After performing in various choral and vocal groups, Ronnie joined forces with Pete Seeger, Lee Hays and Fred Hellerman to form The Weavers in 1947. The quartet, featuring Ronnie’s soaring contralto, exposed their listeners in the late Forties, Fifties and early Sixties to traditional and newly-written folk songs ranging from early “world” music (“Wimoweh,” “Tzena, Tzena, Tzena,” “Guantanamera”) to classic, comforting standards (“On Top of Old Smokey,” “Goodnight Irene,” “Kisses Sweeter than Wine”) to idealistic social comment (“This Land is Your Land,” “If I Had a Hammer” and "Wasn't That a Time."
Despite the group’s commercial popularity (beginning with “Goodnight Irene,” their hit records sold in the millions of copies), the politically aware Weavers were blacklisted during the anti-Communist hysteria of the McCarthy era. With The Weavers unable to tour, Ronnie moved toward a solo career as singer and actor in the early Sixties, recording albums and appearing in plays off and on Broadway. She subsequently earned an M.A. in clinical psychology and worked as a therapist before returning to the theater.
Drawn out of musical retirement by longtime devotee Holly Near for a series of 1983 concerts (captured on Appleseed Recordings' LIFELINE EXTENDED) Gilbert continued her musical partnership with Near and recorded three albums on Near’s record label (formerly Redwood Records) including a solo release, SPIRIT IS FREE. Ronnie and Holly's historic tour with Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger is preserved on Appleseed's H.A.R.P: A TIME TO SING. Another solo record, LOVE WILL FIND A WAY was released on Abbe Alice Music, a label owned by Ronnie and her partner, Donna Korones.
Ronnie’s 70th birthday tour with Holly in 1996 was celebrated with another Abbe Alice release, THIS TRAIN STILL RUNS. It contains two of her songs from her one-woman theater piece, "Mother Jones," based on the life of the legendary American labor activist. Ronnie also wrote the lyrics and co-authored the musical play "Legacy," inspired by Studs Terkel’s oral history “Coming of Age.”
Currently, Ronnie performs an auto-biographical song/talk called “Ronnie Gilbert: A Radical Life with Songs" for cross-generational communities. She coninues her commitment to feminism and global peace activism through strong participation in the Women In Black network, challenging U.S. policy in the Middle East and around the world. She is at work writing her memoirs.
(Based on a bio from Appleseed Records)
The Water Is Wide
Ronnie Gilbert Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And neither have I wings to fly,
Give me a boat that can carry two,
And both shall row, my love and I.
A ship there was, and she sails the sea,
She's loaded deep as deep can be,
But not so deep as the love I'm in,
I leaned my back up against some young oak,
Thinking he was a trusty tree,
But first he bended and then he broke,
And thus did my false love to me.
I put my hand into some soft bush,
Thinking the sweetest flower to find.
I pricked my finger to the bone,
And left the sweetest flower alone.
Oh, love is handsome, love is fine,
Gay as a jewel, when first it is new,
But love grows old, and waxes cold,
And fades away, like summer dew.
The seagulls wheel, they turn and dive,
The mountain stands beside the sea.
This world we know turns round and round,
And all for them - and you and me.
The song "The Water Is Wide" is a traditional Scottish folk song that has been sung for generations. It's a beautiful song that tells a story of love, loss, and betrayal. The lyrics are simple yet powerful; they convey the emotions of the singer who is yearning for a blissful love that seems unattainable. The first verse starts by describing the vastness of the body of water that the singer cannot cross over, nor does she have wings to fly. She then seeks a boat that can carry two, symbolizing her quest for a companion to journey with her.
The second verse speaks of a ship that sails the sea, but not laden with as much depth as her love, symbolizing how her depth of emotion is unmatched. The next two verses describe her experience with love's falsities. She leans her back against a young oak tree, only to find it bended and then broke, symbolizing how her trust was broken. She then puts her hand in a soft bush, hoping to find the sweetest flower, but instead pricks her finger to the bone, signifying the pain of her unrequited love.
The last verse describes how love can be beautiful at first but can also grow old and fade away like summer dew. The seagulls flying and the mountain standing beside the sea symbolize the unchanging patterns of the world's natural beauty, yet the world keeps turning for those living it. Overall, the song conveys the theme of unrequited love, betrayal, and the inevitability of change.
Line by Line Meaning
The water is wide, I cannot cross over,
I am faced with an obstacle I cannot overcome.
And neither have I wings to fly,
I do not have the means to bypass this obstacle.
Give me a boat that can carry two,
Provide me with a solution that involves teamwork.
And both shall row, my love and I.
Together, we can conquer anything.
A ship there was, and she sails the sea,
In life, there are many opportunities and paths to take.
She's loaded deep as deep can be,
Some paths may be more laden with emotions than others.
But not so deep as the love I'm in,
However, none of those paths can compare to the depth of the love I feel.
And I know not how, I sink or swim.
Sometimes, love can be overwhelming and I am unsure how to handle it.
I leaned my back up against some young oak,
I trusted in someone who seemed reliable.
Thinking he was a trusty tree,
But ultimately, that person let me down.
But first he bended and then he broke,
They showed their weakness when tested.
And thus did my false love to me.
Similar to my untrustworthy partner, my love for them was not as pure as I thought.
I put my hand into some soft bush,
I went looking for something pleasing.
Thinking the sweetest flower to find.
But in that search, I ignored the risk and danger.
I pricked my finger to the bone,
And hurt myself in the process.
And left the sweetest flower alone.
Realizing that the reward may not be worth the pain or cost.
Oh, love is handsome, love is fine,
At the start, love is beautiful and wonderful.
Gay as a jewel, when first it is new,
It shines with excitement and promise.
But love grows old, and waxes cold,
Over time, that love may dim or even fade.
And fades away, like summer dew.
Ultimately leaving behind only memories and wistfulness.
The seagulls wheel, they turn and dive,
Nature has a way of continuing on, regardless of our personal struggles.
The mountain stands beside the sea.
In the grand scheme of things, our problems are small compared to the vast world we exist in.
This world we know turns round and round,
Life, as we know it, will continue to move forward.
And all for them - and you and me.
But it is up to us to persist and find happiness in our own way.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Bob Dylan
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind