Sing Ivy- (York) pre-1906 Moffat and Kidson
[No informant, date but before 1906, from Moffat and Kidson,"Children's Songs of Long ago" p. 48. Tune also in JFSS, II (1906), p. 213. Bronson 54.
Two lines are combined in each stanza after the opening-- usually only one line (repeated) is given for each stanza.
R. Matteson 2018]
Sing Ivy
My father he left me three acres of land,
Sing ivy, sing ivy!
My father he left me three acres of land,
Sing holly, go whistle and ivy.
I ploughed it one morning with a ram's horn,
Sing ivy, sing ivy!
And sowed it all over with one pepper corn,
Sing holly, go whistle and ivy.
I harrowed it next with a bramble bush,
Sing ivy, sing ivy!
And reaped it all with my little penknife,
Sing holly, go whistle and ivy.
The mice for me, carried it into the barn,
Sing ivy, sing ivy,
And there I threshed it with a goose quill,
Sing holly, go whistle and ivy.
The cat she carried it unto the mill,
Sing ivy, sing ivy!
And the miller he said that he'd work with a will,
Sing holly, go whistle and ivy.