ADD: Apples on the Lilac Tree

Subject: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From:
Date: 02 Dec 99 - 10:09 PM

My wife's mother used to sing her a song before she passed on, but she can only remember bits of it. I'm looking for the song's title and lyrics. It may be a kid's song but someone suggested I try a folk music forum. Here's what I have so far:

There once was a boy, there once was a girl, living in the land of Nod.

He asks her, "can you give me just one kiss?"

She says she will not kiss him until "apples grow on the lilac tree."

He leaves very sad, so she has a change of heart. The next day he sees her "hanging apples on the lilac tree."

I've already confirmed it wasn't R.L. Stevenson. Any help would be appreciated.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: Sarah-HS
Date: 02 Dec 99 - 11:13 PM

Holy mackerel!!! I didn't think anyone else knew this song other than the members of my own family. It's a song my mother taught me when I was a kid ... it's a song she taught to her 13 brothers and sisters!!! I'll be happy to share this with you... by the way, are we related? Where do you live?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: Sarah-HS
Date: 02 Dec 99 - 11:14 PM

Do you know the tune??? If not, how can I get it to you?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: harpgirl
Date: 02 Dec 99 - 11:29 PM

...welcome Sara...it is customary to share the lyrics and tune here on the forum....I would like to see it! harpgirl

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LILAC TREE / PERSPICACITY (G Gartlan)
From: Sarah-HS
Date: 02 Dec 99 - 11:36 PM

I'd be happy to share the words... I don't know how to share the tune though!

THE LILAC TREE / PERSPICACITY
(G Gartlan)

A little boy and a little girl
In an ecstasy of bliss
Said the little boy to the little girl,
"Pray, give me just one kiss.

The girl drew back in great surprise.
"You're a stranger sir," said she,
And I will give you just one kiss
When the apples grow on the lilac tree.

The boy was very sad at heart -
She was 'the only one'
The girl felt quite remorseful
For the terrible wrong she had done

So bright and early on the very next morn
He was quite surprised to see
His little sweetheart ... standing in the garden,
Tying apples on the lilac tree.

(In the version that's been running through our family over almost a century, there's no mention of the land of Nod.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: Sarah-HS (again)
Date: 02 Dec 99 - 11:44 PM

When I typed the lyrics for "Apples on the Lilac Tree", I hit the enter key, thus forming four-line-stanzas... that's not the way it showed up. Is there some trick to do this?

I'll test it here I'll test it here I'll test it here I'll test it here (This should form four lines) Hmmmmm.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: harpgirl
Date: 02 Dec 99 - 11:51 PM

...thank you Sara...one cool way to share the tune is to download Mediaring and send it by voice mail or you could put the chords over the words where the changes are...harpgirl

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Dec 99 - 12:00 AM

Click here for a previous thread on this song. No conclusive evidence about the original source, however.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: Metchosin
Date: 03 Dec 99 - 12:13 AM

According to the sheet music library at Duke University the song was written by George Hugh Gartlan and performed by an Ester Sterling.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Dec 99 - 01:06 AM

Metchosin, you're drivin' me crazy! I searched the sheet music collection at Duke University Libary, and couldn't find the song anywhere. Can you give us a link, or at least paste the URL for the song here? Thanks.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: Metchosin
Date: 03 Dec 99 - 01:42 AM

Sorry Joe, if I can get out of typing an address I do because I usually get them wrong and I don't know how to do the clickety blue thing. Anyways, its on the Front End site not in the search the sheet music site. The location is http://www.lib.duke.edu/music/fendshee.htm I called up the sheet music index and typed in Apples on Lilac Trees and came up with a number of selections. The Songs title is Lilac Tree: Perspicacity

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: Metchosin
Date: 03 Dec 99 - 01:43 AM

didn't mean to drive you crazy, I'm just tired.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: GeorgeH
Date: 03 Dec 99 - 08:48 AM

At the risk of stating the obvious (ok, that's one thing I'm good at) . . the "till [fruit 1] grows on a [fruit 2] tree" is at least as old as Shakespere as a way of saying "never". Often preceded by something to the effect of "A maid again I'll never be . .".

But I love this twist on it; thanks, folks!

G.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: Sarah-HS
Date: 03 Dec 99 - 12:07 PM

Hmmm. I tried going into Duke U's site but can't actually get the sheet music. In my search, I found out that there's a refrain(!!!) and I never heard it! So, now, more than ever, I'm on an all-out search for the complete words-n-music for this song. I'll keep you posted.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: MMario
Date: 03 Dec 99 - 12:17 PM

Duke's site is still primarily an INDEX - but hopefully they will get more of the music scanned and online

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: Sarah-HS
Date: 08 Dec 99 - 12:00 PM

For those seeking the words/music on Lilac Tree, I got the answer by email today:

You may order the sheet music for Lilac Tree by Gartlan from: GEH Music 7755 Woodsmuir Dr. West Palm Beach, Florida, 33412, USA [phone] email: [e-mail] web-site: www.piano-pal.com Specific page for ordering Lilac Tree: www.piano-pal.com/pvl.htm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: bernd
Date: 18 Dec 99 - 11:16 AM

Thanks to all of you (especially Sarah-HS) for getting us the lyrics for The Lilac Tree: Perspicacity. It meant a lot to us!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: toadfrog
Date: 26 Feb 03 - 12:56 AM

My mother always sang that--it's not on Levy. Where can it be from?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 26 Feb 03 - 04:42 AM

Further listing of 'Strange Fruits' from G.K.Chesterton's 'The Donkey':

"When forests walked and fishes flew
And figs grew upon thorn,"

Nigel

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: JedMarum
Date: 26 Feb 03 - 10:03 AM

THIS JUST IN: further research on this song has proven that apples cannot grow on lilac trees, in fact, the research shows, that even lilacs don;t grow on lilac trees; they grow on lilac bushes!

;-)

Sorry, couldn;t help but make that comment!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: Sorcha
Date: 26 Feb 03 - 10:18 AM

Can't believe nobody ever did this; Add for Sarah-HS post of 02 Dec 99 - 11:36 PM this thread.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Mar 03 - 11:47 PM

This page says that "Tying Apples on a Lilac Tree (a.k.a. Perspicacity)" was recorded as a "soundie" by the Four King Sisters with Alvino Rey and His Orchestra, in 1941.

"Soundies were three-minute juke box movies popular during the 1940s. Some were musical numbers extracted from feature films, while others were made expressly for the machines, which were found in restaurants, taverns, and depots. Like music videos, the performers often acted out a story or theme mentioned in the lyrics."

At various web sites, I also see the title given as
LILAC TREE - (PERSPICACITY)
THE LILAC TREE OR PERSPICACITY
LILAC TREE, THE (PERSPICACITY)
THE LILAC TREE (OR PERSPICACITY)
THE LILAC TREE

--which makes it hard to find with search engines

It was published in 1920 or 1921, depending on which source you believe.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: GUEST,Liberty
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 12:11 PM

I know this is an old thread, but I happened across it when I was looking for the same song for my mom. I have also found it on You Tube. Thought I would share it here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1DtsB11fqE

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: GUEST,Liberty
Date: 18 Feb 10 - 12:13 PM

Let me make this a clickable link. Sorry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1DtsB11fqE

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Aug 10 - 08:31 PM

The little boy and the little girl in an ecstacy of bliss
Said the little boy to the little girl "Pray give me just one kiss"
The girl drew back in great surprise "You're a stranger sir" said she
"But I will give you just one kiss, when the apple grows on the lilac tree"

The boy felt very sad at heart, she was the only one
The girl felt quite remorseful, at the terrible wrong she had done
So bright and early on the very next morn, he was quite surprised to see
His little sweetheart standing in the garden
Tying apples on the lilac tree.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: GUEST,Nolly's Daughter
Date: 18 May 11 - 03:24 PM

My Mom sang me this song and I have taught it to my daughters. I have never known anyone else that knew it before. We love it. It may be one of the first ways I learned about irony or perspicacity and understood what expressions like "when hell freezes over," although apples on a lilac tree is much more pleasant to the ear.

Just want to mention that I was as surprised as anyone to learn that there are such things as lilac trees. They are called Japanese Lilac trees, and there is an ancient beautiful one in our town that I know goes back at least three generations because a local grandma climbed it when she was a little girl at her grandpa's farm. I love it so much I went and planted one in my yard for our future generations. It is right next to our apple trees too, who knows what will happen?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: GUEST,RobT
Date: 17 Aug 12 - 08:29 AM

My mother also sang it to me...surprised at the popularity of it!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: gnomad
Date: 17 Aug 12 - 04:24 PM

I remember (just) this being sung by my Grandmother, born 1900, but I have no idea where she got it from. She lived in the UK most of her life, bar a few years in Adelaide just after WW2.

Her version had the last line as "Hanging apples on the lilac tree." a minor variation.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 19 Dec 14 - 01:41 AM

My grandfather in New York used to sing it to me in the early 80's... Brings back memories.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Jul 15 - 07:48 PM

https://www.facebook.com/dzinfridg/videos/vob.1576176977/1721663572851/?type=2&theater


I am sharing my mother singing the song that I think you are talking about.
She couldn't remember the second verse.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: GUEST,Rita L. Fearn Spencer
Date: 27 Jul 15 - 10:54 PM

The words and melody were written by one Ernest Parkinson in the 1930s on my Grandmother's piano. My Mother was present when a few years later, he sold the music and words to a music publisher as he was quite poor. Mom and Grandma heard it on the radio in the early 1940s, credit being given to the people who now owned it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: GUEST,Rita L. Fearn Spencer
Date: 27 Jul 15 - 11:07 PM

Sorry, upon checking, Ernest Parkinson wrote this in the very early 1920s, NOT the 1930s. He sold it still in the very early years/year of that decade.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: GUEST,Rita L. Fearn Spencer
Date: 27 Jul 15 - 11:11 PM

I corroborated these facts with my Mother's older brother, Ernest Ackroyd, who was also present, as recently as 2004.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Dec 17 - 04:07 AM

When I was in first grade (1959) I was asked to recite this poem for the graduating class of of our school. Immaculate Conception in Connellsville,Pa. I can remember myself in a lilac dress standing next to a boy in my class by a lilac tree tying apples on it and at the end he gave me a peck on my cheek. To this day I still remember it but was so glad to hear where it originated from and that it was a song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Feb 18 - 12:51 PM

I sang this little lovely in 1950, dressed in blue with a white fluffy organdy pinafore. I was 10.   It was part of a repertoire which included THE BIRD ON NELLIE'S HAT, IN MY MERRY OLDSMOBILE, I'M LATE, I'M LATE, MR TAP TOE, I'VE GOT RINGS ON MY FINGERS AND BELLS ON MY TOES, YOU CAN'T GET A MAN WITH A GUN, and then some. I had the proper costume for each song. Little did I know that I would end up being one of only 3 women to record with Elvis Presley (1968, THE TROUBLE WITH GIRLS. Terrible song)!

At this writing I am 77, still making movies and appearing at Elvis events in and out of the US. If you happen to be a fan of horror/thrillesr check out BESETMENT on Amazon Prime. I'm the horror!

Life is bust, still!    Marlyn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Apr 24 - 12:01 PM

Wow what a trip reading all these posts. I'm 76 and my mother used to recite this to me more as a poem singing a little melody in the last line..."tying apples on the lilac tree". I am recording some songs on a Tonie box for my great grandchildren and this popped into my head last night. Took me a few minutes to piece all the words together. I wanted to be sure I'd remembered it all so decided to look it up and here you all are! My mom and I both were born in Los Angeles, CA.
I'm still here in Northern CA.
How fun...wishing everyone well!   Gratefully, Pam

Subject: RE: ADD: Apples on the Lilac Tree
From: Long Firm Freddie
Date: 04 Apr 24 - 01:28 PM

Link to sheet music

LFF