Lyr Add: The Three Flowers

Subject: Lyr Add: THE THREE FLOWERS
From: Alice
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 08:39 PM

There is a version in the threads regarding the tune to this song, and there isTHE THREE FLOWERS in the DT identical to one on a Denmark webpage on rebel songs. There is something odd about that version, as it does not follow the imagery of the story the song is trying to tell. It has the girl kissing the first flower at the start of each verse, instead of kissing each of the three flowers in turn with the three names. It just seems as though someone copied it without paying attention to the full meaning of the song and symbolism. Anyway, I have a 1938 recording by Richard Hayward as he sang it, and here it is. It's a much more accurate representation of the song, I believe, than what is in the DT. The version posted to the thread about the tune is also better than the one presently in the DT.

THE THREE FLOWERS
as recorded by Richard Hayward, 1938

One time when walking down a lane
As night was drawing nigh
I met a colleen with three flowers
And she more young than I
"Saint Patrick bless you dear" said I
"If you will kindly tell
The place where you did find these flowers
I seem to know so well."

She took a flower and kissed it once
And softly said to me,
"This flower I found in Thomas Street
In Dublin fair", said she
"Its name is Robert Emmet it's
The youngest flower of all
And I'll keep it fresh beside my breast
Though all the world should fall."

She took and kissed the next flower twice And softly said to me,
"This flower comes from the Antrim hills
outside Belfast", said she
"The name I call it is Wolfe Tone
The bravest flower of all
And I'll keep it fresh beside my breast
Though all the world should fall."

She took and kissed the next flower thrice
And gently said to me,
"This flower comes from the Wicklow hills
Its name is Dwyer", said she
"And Emmet, Tone and Dwyer I'll keep
For I do love them all
And I'll keep them fresh beside my breast
Though all the world should fall."

So Emmet, Tone and Dwyer I'll keep
As I do love them all
And I'll keep them fresh beside my breast
Though all the world should fall.

alice

Subject: RE: The Three Flowers
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 14 Mar 00 - 09:09 PM

The version from the Richard Hayward recording is the same as the one I've got in an old Walton's songbook. Except that the first verse of the relevant verses are "She took a flower and kissed it once...She took a flower and kissed it twice...She took a flower and kissed it thrice." Which would solve the difficulty you raised. In the songbook it is credited to Norman Reddin, so I suspect it's the version as written.

But I think the verses in the DT, especially building uip to Robert Emmet rather than Michael Dwyer, are more emotionally powerful. The folk process has been at work, and improving the text, I reckon, but that's just a matter of personal tastes.

I've heard it with Wolfe Tone, then Michael Dwyer, then Robert Emmet, and that would match the historical sequence better, not that that matters especially.

Subject: RE: The Three Flowers
From: Alice
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 09:38 AM

McGrath, my point is the one in DT keeps saying "she took the FIRST flower... she took the FIRST flower.... she took the FIRST flower...." in all three verses instead of describing that she kissed each of the three flowers. I don't think that's an improvement, I think it misses the imagery of the symbolism of each flower. ... just a minor pickiness on my part maybe, it's just that every image in a song is important to me in describing the story it tells.

alice

Subject: RE: The Three Flowers
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Mar 00 - 03:50 PM

What I meant was that, with the modification to the first line (either to what I suspect are the original words, or to the ones you posted from Richard Hayward's record), which I agree needs to be done, the version in the DT works better for me.

Nothing wrong with being pickiness. I reckon The reason good songs can get better over the generations is a combination of faulty memory providing the variations and of pickiness choosuing which iones to incorporate. (Works for not so good songs as well - not that that is relevant with this one, which is a beauty.)