He's Growing- Mr. Booker (Sus) 1905 V. Williams
[My title. Fragment with music from: Songs Collected from Sussex by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frank Kidson, Lucy E. Broadwood, Cecil J. Sharp and J. A. Fuller-Maitland; Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 2, No. 8 (1906), pp. 184-209. Published by: English Folk Dance + Song Society. Notes by Williams follow.
Kingsfold is a settlement north of Horsham, West Sussex. The last line should resemble: And that put an end to his growing.
R. Matteson 2016]
Mr. Booker only knew this verse. For the rest of the words and a tune with a similar cadence see Folk-Song Journal, Vol. ii, p. 44. See also the exhaustive notes on this ballad given there. For another tune and notes see also Folk-Song Journal, Vol. i, p. 214.-R. V. W
51. THE TREES THEY DO GROW HIGH- Tune noted R. Vaughan Williams; sung by Mr. Booker Kingsfold, Sussex on Nov. 8th, 1905.
At the age of sixteen he was a married man,
At the age of seventeen he was father of a son,
At the age of eighteen his green grave was growing over him,
For my bonny love is young but he's growing.