I Gave My Love A Cherry- Brown Collection 1940
[Brown/Barker's title (most versions with the "Perri Merri" refrain are not titled, The Riddle Song. The correct title according to Barker's pronunciation should be Pere, Mere, Dixi, Domini. Note that the Brown Collection groups these riddle songs with Captain Wedderburn's Courtship (Child 46)] and that Barker is from Virginia outside the jurisdiction of NC. Barker surely knew the standard version (I Gave My Love a Cherry) without the "Perri" refrain too since Barker's melody and some text were adapted by Richard Chase and published in 1954. It's unclear of Barker's source, he may have learned it at a folk festival.
R. Matteson 2014]
12. Captain Wedderburn's Courtship (Child 46)
Of this riddling ballad of courtship nothing is left in our collection but the riddles, and not all of them; the story of the courtship has faded away. The "perri-merri-dictum doniine" refrain that usually goes with this set of riddles but does not belong to 'Captain Wedderburn's Courtship' does not appear in these North Carolina texts.
'The Riddle Song.' Sung by Horton Barker. Taken from a recording of Dr. W. A. Abrams at Boone, September 14, 1941. The variations noted below are from another rendition made for the present editor in June 1952 at Barker's home in Chilhowie, Virginia. Besides the melodic changes, the singer also made changes in the text. In the first recording by Dr. Abrams he changes "Dictum" to "Dixie." In the second rendition he sang "Pere" for "Perri," "Mare" for "Merri," and "Domini" for "Domine." A Kentucky version given in MSHF 12 gives the refrain as "Piri-Miri-Dictum Domine." On this song see also BBM 99, paragraph 2.
For melodic relationship of. **FSONE 268; BSO 25; MSHF 12; *SharpK I 222 and 229, No. 31 B and H, measures 1-2. Scale: Tetratonic, (4,6,7), plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure: ababcb (2,2,2,2,2,2). It is noteworthy that our singer extends the structure by inserting a rather premature "Perry Merry Dixi Domine" (measures 7-8).