Lyr Add: As the Rose Grows Merry in Time

Subject: Lyr Add: As the Rose Grows Merry in Time
From: Jack Campin
Date: 27 Feb 16 - 07:50 PM

From near the end of Neil Gunn's novel "The Silver Darlings" [1941] about the fisherfolk of north-east Scotland:

"This", said Finn, "is a song I heard from a woman in my native county of Caithness, and the name of it is: As the Rose Grows Merry in Time."

"Say that again," requested Black John, looking at Finn.

"As the rose grows merry in time," repeated Finn, smiling.

Black John savoured the words in sound and meaning. Finn saw that the house was caught by the surprise that the words had first roused in himself. The bright eyes of old Finn-son-of-Angus were on him.

The melody was not much in itself, but it did contrive a persistent, hypnotic effect. And Finn was able to give it full value, because of a quickening deep in his personality, and a nervous radiance above. The last two lines of each verse were repeated:

As I came in over yonder hill,
As the rose grows merry in time,
I met a fair maiden her name it was Nell
Saying, an you will be a true lover of mine.

You must make unto me a cambric shirt,
As the rose grows merry in time,
Without one stitch of your own needlework,
Before you can be a true lover of mine.

You must wash it in yonder well,
As the rose grows merry in time,
Where water ne'er flowed nor dew ever fell,
Before you can be a true lover of mine.

"It's questions three you have put to me,
As the rose grows merry in time,
But twice as many more you must answer to me
Before you can be a true lover of mine.

"An acre of land you must plough to me,
As the rose grows merry in time,
Between the salt waters and sands of the sea,
Before you can be a true lover of mine.

"You must plough it with a wild ram's horn,
As the rose grows merry in time,
And sow it all over with one peck of corn,
Before you can be a true lover of mine.

"You must reap it with a wild-goose feather,
As the rose grows merry in time,
And bind it together with the sting of a nether, (adder)
Before you can be a true lover of mine.

"You must build it on yonder sea,
As the rose grows merry in time,
And bring in the last sheaf dry unto me,
Before you can be a true lover of mine.

"You must thresh it on yon castle wall,
As the rose grows merry in time,
And mind on your life don't let one pickle fall,
Before you can be a true lover of mine.

"And--when you have finished your work,
As the rose grows merry in time,
You may call upon me for your cambric shirt,
Before you can be a true lover of mine."

Is that version known from elsewhere? Is anything like it in the Greig-Duncan?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: As the Rose Grows Merry in Time
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 28 Feb 16 - 09:03 AM

William walker sent a similar version to Greig.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE CAMBRIC SHIRT
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Mar 16 - 12:01 AM

From an article "Various Ballads" edited by G. L. Kittredge in The Journal of American Folk-lore, Vol. 25, No. 98, Oct.-Dec., 1912, page 174:

I. THE CAMBRIC SHIRT

This version of Child, No. 2, was contributed by Miss Adina De Zavala, San Antonio, Tex. It came from Ireland (Dublin or thereabout). Cf. this Journal, vol. xix, p. 130; vol. xxiii, p. 430; Child, I, 19;V, 284.

1. As I roved out through a green bank's side,
—Every rose grows merry in time,—
I met a fair maid and she wore a green gown,
And she said she would be a true lover of mine.

2. I told her to make me a cambric shirt
—Every rose grows merry in time—
Without either seam or needlework,
Before she could be a true lover of mine.

3. I told her to wash it in a spring well
—Every rose grows merry in time—
Where it never sprung nor a drop never run,
Before she could be a true lover of mine.

4. I told her to dry it on a green thorn
—Every rose grows merry in time—
Where it never blossomed since Adam was born,
And then she could be a true lover of mine.

5. "Now, my young man, as you've said so,
—Every rose grows merry in time,—
I hope you will answer me as many more,
Before you can be a true lover of mine."

6. I told him to get me an acre of land
—Every rose grows merry in time—
Between the salt water and the sea sand,
Before you can be a true lover of mine.

7. I told him to plough it with a ram's horn,
—Every rose grows merry in time,—
And sow it all over with pepper and corn (or one pepper corn).
Before you can be a true lover of mine.

8. I told him to thresh it in an egg shell,
—Every rose grows merry in time,—
And sell it in a town where nobody dwells,
Before you can be a true lover of mine.

9. "Then, when you've done and finished your work,
—Every rose grows merry in time,—
Return to me and I'll give you the shirt,
And then you will be a true lover of mine."

Subject: Lyr Add: THE SEA SIDE / THE ELFIN KNIGHT
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Mar 16 - 12:29 AM

From The Singing Tradition of Child's Popular Ballads. (Abridgement) edited by Bertrand Harris Bronson (Princeton University Press, 1976), page 10:

31. "The Sea Side; or, The Elfin Knight"

Broadwood, JFSS, III (1907), p. 12. Sung by Bridget Geary at Camphire Cappoquin, County Waterford, Ireland, August 1906.

a I/M

[A tune is also given.]

1. As I roved out by the sea side
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
I met a little girl and I gave her my hand,
And I says, "Will you be a true lover of mine?

2. "If you are to be a true lover of mine
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
You must make me a shirt without needle or seam,
And it's then you will be a true lover of mine.

3. "You must wash it in a spring well
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
Where the water never ran or the rain never fell,
And it's then you will be a true lover of mine.

4. "You must dry it in a hawthorn tree
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
That never was blossomed since Adam was born,
And then you will be a true lover of mine."

5. "Now, Sir, you have questioned me three times three
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
But I might question as many as thee,
And it's then you will be a true lover of mine.

6. "You must get me a farm of the best land
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
Between the salt water and the sea strand,
And it's then you will be a true lover of mine.

7. "You must plough it with a goat's horn
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
And sow it all over with one grain of corn,
And it's then you will be a true lover of mine.

8. "You must thrash it in a sparrow's nest
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
And shake it all out with a cobbler's awl,
And it's then you will be a true lover of mine.

9. "And when you are done, and finished your work
(Ev'ry rose grows merry in time),
You can come back to me, and I'll give you your shirt,
And it's then you will be a true lover of mine!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: As the Rose Grows Merry in Time
From: leeneia
Date: 01 Mar 16 - 11:06 AM

thanks, Jim. It's a nice tune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: As the Rose Grows Merry in Time
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 01 Mar 16 - 12:50 PM

Jack,
Jim reminded me about Bronson. There are 2 versions in Bronson with similar first verse. No 28 from Ulster and No 46 from Boston, Mass. Both could have easily derived from a Scottish version

28
As I went over Bonny Moor Hill, Every rose grows bonny in time
I met a wee lass and they ca'd her Nell, She was longing to be a sweet lover of mine.

from Coleraine.

46
As I walked out in yonder dell, Let every rose grow merry in time
I met a fair damsel, her name it was Nell, I said 'Will you be a true lover of mine?' 1894 (Boston)

Walker
As I gaed up to yonder hill, Saffron, sage, rue, myrrh and thyme,
I met my mistress, her name it was Nell, And lass gin ye be a true lover of mine?