I'll Give My Love An Apple- Smith (Nova Scotia) 1937; Traditional Songs from Nova Scotia (Toronto 1950)
[From: Traditional Folk Songs from Nova Scotia, 1950. In 1937 Helen Creighton collected the Canadian version from Dennis Smith, a retired sea captain living in Chezzetcook, and included it in Traditional Songs from Nova Scotia (Toronto 1950). Around 1943 she made a Library of Congress recording of Smith and also recorded Nina Bartley Finn's version, an identical set of words with a slightly different melody.
A recording by Charles Jordan and Joyce Sullivan is included in Canadian Folk Songs: A Centennial Collection (9-RCA/RCI CS-100-1/5-ACM 39 CD). Godfrey Ridout arranged the song in his Folk Songs of Eastern Canada (Thompson 1970; recorded by Jon Vickers) and two choral arrangements have been published, one by Christopher Gledhill, under the title of 'I Will Give My Love An Apple' (BMIC 1952), and one by Isaac Han (Harris 1986).
This "apple" variant is rare in the United States, and known in the British Isles. [Listen: I'll Give My Love An Apple- George Webb tenor]
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
I'll Give My Love An Apple- Dennis Smith (NS) 1937
I’ll give my love an apple without e'er a core,
Ill give my love a house without e'er a door,
Ill give my love a palace wherein she might be,
That she might unlock it without e'er a key.
How can there be an apple without e'er a core,
How can there be a house without e'er a door,
How can there be a palace wherein she might be,
That she might unlock it without e'er a key?
My head is an apple without e'er a core,
My mind is the dwelling without e'er a door,
My heart is the palace wherein she might be,
That she may unlock it without e'er a key.
I'll give my love a cherry without e'er a stone,
I'll give my love a chicken without e'er a bone,
*I'll give my love a story that has no end,
I'll give my love a baby and no crying.
How can there be a cherry without e'er a stone,
How can there be a chicken without e'er a bone,
*How can there be a story that has no end,
How can there be a baby and no crying?
When the cherry's in blossom, it has no stone,
When the chicken's in the egg, it has no bone,
*When the story is a-telling it has no end,
When the baby is a-getting there's no cryin'.
* Smith (See Creighton and Bronson texts) doesn't not include this line, but another version of this song does. He sings:
I'll give my love a cherry without e'er a stone,
I'll give my love a chicken without e'er a bone,
I'll give my love a baby and no cryin'.