| Author | Topic: Add: I will give my love an apple | |
| dmcg | Posted - 29 Jun 03 - 07:02 am | |
I will give my love an Apple I will give my love an apple without e'er a core, I will give my love a house without e'er a door, I will give my love a palace wherein she may be, And she may unlock it without any key. My head is the apple without e'er a core, My mind is the house without e'er a door. My heart is the palace wherein she may be, And she may unlock it without any key. Source: Sharp C and Vaughan Williams, R, A Selection of Collected Folk-Songs, Novello Notes: Collected by H. E. D. Hammond, arranged by R Vaughan Williams. There is clearly related to the widespread 'I will give my love a Cherry': I cannot think of another version offhand that lacks the 'How can there be ..?' verse (though I expect to be corrected!) Database entry is here. | ||
| Mary in Kentucky | Posted - 29 Jun 03 - 05:05 pm | |
I've never heard this version before. It's clearly a forerunner of "I Gave My Love a Cherry." In the 60's we all learned to play a few chords on the guitar so we could sit around and sing "Blowin' in the Wind" and "I Gave My Love a Cherry." The words from Something to Sing About collected and arranged by Milton Okun: THE RIDDLE SONG I gave my love a cherry that had no stone, I gave my love a chicken that had no bone, I told my love a story that had no end, I gave my love a baby with no cryin'. How can there be a cherry that has no stone? How can there be a chicken that has no bone? How can there be a story that has no end? How can there be a baby with no cryin'? A cherry, when it's blooming, it has no stone. A chicken when it's pippin', it has no bone. The story of "Ilove you," it has no end. A baby when it's sleeping, is no cryin'. X:1 T:The Riddle Song M:4/4 L:1/4 Q:96 K:G D/ | D/D/D/D/E/GA/ | GED3/2G/ | w:I gave my love a cher ry that had no stone, I A/A/A/G/B/de/ | dBA3/2A/ | w:gave my love a chick en that had no bone, I A/A/A/A/B/de/ | dBA3/2B/ | w:told my love a sto ry that had no end, I D/D/D/D/E/GA/ | GEHD3/2 || w:gave my love a ba by with no cry in'. | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 29 Jun 03 - 05:26 pm | |
Roud 330 This set was noted by H.E.D. Hammond from Mr J. Burrows at Sherborne Gravel Pits, Dorset, in July 1906. There were four verses, the second two of which are omitted in the Novello book; these are quoted as originally noted in James Reeves, The Everlasting Circle, 1960 161, and in Joan Brocklebank and Biddie Kindersley, A Dorset Book of Folk Songs, 1948 12: I will give my love a cherry without e'er a stone, I will give my love a chick without e'er a bone, I will give my love a ring, not a rent to be seen, I will get my love children without any crying. When the cherry's in blossom there's never no stone, When the chick's in the womb there's never no bone, And when they're rinning running not a rent to be seen, And when they're child-making they're seldom crying. Novello was aiming largely at the parlour and school market, so the texts are often modified. Hammond himself was not above skating around the occasional indelicate detail; when the song was printed in the Journal of the Folk Song Society (III (11) 1907 114-5), the final line appeared as And, when they're [love-making], they're seldom crying. He glossed "they're rinning running" as perhaps "the ring is running". Anne Gilchrist added: "The 'ring' paradox is puzzling. Does it mean a metal ring with the two ends not welded together - the join being invisible when the ring is "running round"? Or should 'ring' be 'gown' or 'riband' - any rent being unseen if only the wearer or the observer is running fast enough? There is an old saying, used to console people when some defect in costume is being pointed out - "A man running for his life would never see it!" " Lucy Broadwood thought Mr Burrows' tune to be of "Celtic" origin, and referred to two similar tunes noted in County Antrim and in Inverness-shire, the latter from a monoglot Gaelic speaker. Versions have been found quite widely, particularly in England, Canada and the USA. It dates back a long way, first appearing in the Sloane MS of the mid-fifteenth century; Child quotes this in his notes to Captain Wedderburn's Courtship (English and Scottish Popular Ballads no. 46, vol.I p.415) into which parts of it have become incorporated. Bronson prints a number of examples as an appendix to Captain Wedderburn. A broadside edition of the late 18th / early 19th century can be seen at Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads: The Riddle. Two prefatory verses are added, the second of which is of the Yarmouth is a Pretty Town variety (featuring Kilkenny on this occasion) which also appears in many sets of The Streams of Lovely Nancy and other songs. | ||