Ripest Apples- Joe Jones (Kent) c.1972 Yates
[From: Musical Traditions anthology of Gypsy songs and music from South-East England, Here's Luck to a Man, 2003. Recorded by Mike Yates whose notes follow.
R. Matteson 2017]
Cecil Sharp linked this fragmentary song with another, titled Twenty, Eighteen, that had been collected by Lucy Broadwood (English County Songs, 1893, p.90), and falls within the Oh, No John family. A version that I recorded from the late Mabs Hall of Sussex includes the Twenty, Eighteen verse (see the Veteran cassette Ripest Apples, VT107), and George Townshend (Sussex) also sings it on [Come, Hand to Me the Glass].
Ripest Apples- sung by Joe Jones of St Mary Cray, Kent between 1972-75. Recorded by Mike Yates.
“Pretty maiden, pretty maiden, I've come to court you,
It's your favour I might gain.
Pretty maiden, pretty maiden, I've come to court you,
But if your answer's Yes or no.”
“Pretty maiden, pretty maiden, I have gold, I've silver.'”
“What cares I for your house and land?
For it's what cares I for the world of pleasure?
But all I wants is an honest young man.'”
Spoken: Listen then …
“For it's apples is ripe, but they soon gets rotten.
A young man's love that soon grows cold.
For it's what cares I for the world of pleasure?
But all I wants is an honest young man.”