Trees They Do Grow High- Harry Richards (Som) 1904 Sharp A
[Folk songs from Somerset by Cecil James Sharp, Charles Latimer Marson - 1904; also Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Volume 2 by Folk-Song Society (Great Britain)- 1905. Sharp's notes follow. Also in Sharp's 1916 book, One Hundred English Folksongs, Boston, Oliver Ditson Co. His 1916 notes follow:
The singer varied his tune, which is in the Dorian mode, in a very remarkable way, a good example of the skill with which folksingers will alter their tune to fit various metrical irregularities in the words (see English Folk Song: Some Conclusions, p. 25). For versions with tunes, see the Journal of the Folk-Song Society (volume i, p. 2 14; volume ii, pp. 44, 9S, 206, and 274); Songs of the West (No. 4, 2d ed.); English Traditional Songs and Carols (p. 56); Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs ("Young Craigston");and Johnson's Scots Musical Museum. volume iv ("Lady Mary Ann").
For some reason or other, Child makes no mention of this ballad. For particulars of the custom of wearing ribands to denote betrothal or marriage, see "Ribands " in Hazlitt's Dictionary of Faiths and Folk-Lore.
This version was covered by Tony Rose.
R. Matteson 2016]
No. 15. THE TREES THEY DO GROW HIGH.
Words and air from Mr. Harry Richards of Curry Rivel.
Versions of this song are published in Songs of the West No. IV, in Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, under the heading "Young Craigston," and in the Journal of the Folk Song Society Vol. 1, p. 214. There is a very full note to the song in Songs of the West.
The tune here given is in the Dorian Mode and is a variant of the one in Songs of the West, and also of that in the Folk Song Journal. It is the tune to which the song is usually sung in the neighbourhood of Curry Rivel. Mrs. Glover, of Huish Episcopi, gave me a different version of the words, and a different tune, though in the same Mode. Mr. Richards varied the last phrase of the tune in each verse in a very interesting manner. To have included these varied endings would have occupied too much space, so the tune to the first verse has alone been given. Mr. Marson has slightly recast the words, in deference to modern susceptibilities.
Mr. Kidson writes :—
"This curious old song is common all over the country: I have noted down a version in Yorkshire. In Scotland it appears to have been always associated with 'Young Craigston.' Apparently, the earliest version is that in Johnson's Scots Musical Museum (1792) Vol. IV, where it is given with an air under the title 'Lady Mary Ann.' Allan Cunningham in his edition of Burns tells us that Burns himself took down the melody given by Johnson and set it to the old ballad 'Craigston's Growing.' Stenhouse in his notes to Johnson's Museum speaks of the ballad 'Craigston's Growing' as being in a MS. collection of 'Ancient Scottish Ballads' in the possession of the Rev. Robert Scott of Glenbucket, together with other old ballads believed to be lost. It would be interesting to know the whereabouts of this MS. collection, if it is still in existence.
"In 1824 Maidment inserted the ballad in his North Countrie Garland; there is also another country version in Motherwell's edition of Burns, Vol. Ill p. 42."
THE TREES THEY DO GROW HIGH - Sung by Mr. Harry Richards, at Curry Rivell, July 28th, 1904. Collected Sharp.
1 The trees they do grow high, and the leaves they do grow green;
But the time is gone and past, my Love, that you and I have seen.
It's a cold winter's night, my Love, when you and I must bide alone,
The bonny lad was young, but a-growing.
2 O father, dear father, I fear you've done me harm,
You've married me to a bonny boy, but I fear he is too young.
O daughter, dearest daughter, but if you stay at home with me[1],
A lady you shall be, while he's growing.
3 We will send him to the college for one year or two,
And then perhaps in time my Love, a man he may grow.
I will buy you white ribbons to tie about his bonny waist,
To let the ladies know that he's married.
4 At the age of sixteen, O he was a married man,
At the age of seventeen, he was the father of a son,
At the age of eighteen, my Love, his grave[2] it was a-growing green,
And so she saw the end of his growing.
5 She made her love a shroud of the holland, O so fine,
And every stitch she put in it, the tears came trinkling down.
O once I had a sweetheart, but now I have got never a one:
So fare you well my own true Love, for ever.
6. The trees they do grow high, and the leaves they do grow green;
But the time is gone and past, my Love, that you and I have seen.
It's a cold winter's night, my love, when you and I must bide alone,
So fare you well my own true love, for ever.
1. The last two lines of the last 5 stanzas are sung to a different melody.
2. originally "O, his grief was growing grief," it was changed in 1905.