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Lyr/Chords: I wish my love was a red red rose

08 Sep 98 - 07:12 AM (#37398)
Subject: I wish my love was a red red rose
From: bri

Hi ! I'm looking for the words of I wish my love was a red red rose, in the Clannad version.. does anybody know it?

08 Sep 98 - 11:17 AM (#37419)
Subject: DTADD: I wish my love was a red red rose
From: Maelgwyn

Is this it?

I WISH MY LOVE WAS A RED RED ROSE

I wish my love was a red red rose
Growing in yon garden fair
And I to be the gardener
Of her I would take care
There's not a month throughout the year
That my love I'd renew
I'd garnish her with flowers fine
Sweet William, Thyme, and Rue

I wish I was a butterfly
I'd light on my love's breast
And If I was a blue cuckoo
I'd sing my love to rest
And if I was a nightingale
I'd sing the daylight clear
I'd sit and sing with you Molly
For once I loved you dear

I wish I was in Dublin town
And seated on the grass
In my right hand a jug of punch
And on my knee a lass
I'd call for liquor freely
And I'd pay before I'd go
I'd roll my Molly in my arms
Let the wind blow high or low

08 Sep 98 - 07:43 PM (#37495)
Subject: RE: I wish my love was a red red rose
From: Jerry Bryant

There's a verse to a song called Bold O'Donahue which goes like this:

I wish my love was a red red rose growing on yon garden wall/ And me to be a dew drop and upon her brow I'd fall./ Perhaps then she might think of me as a rather heavy dew,/ And no more she'd love the handsome lad that they call O'Donahue.

Sounds like a parody of the song above, to me.

JB

Messages from multiple threads combined. Messages below are from a new thread.
-Joe Offer-

13 Jan 01 - 02:57 PM (#374020)
Subject: I wish my love was a red red rose
From: GUEST,isng4u

Looking for the cords to I wish my love was a red red rose and just in case....The Voyage.

thanks

13 Jan 01 - 03:33 PM (#374036)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: I wish my love was a red red
From: Alice

Do you mean the song, My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose? click here

14 Jan 01 - 07:02 AM (#374284)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: I wish my love was a red red
From: GUEST,Annegi

This is the first line of one of the verses of Bold O'Donahue. I wish my love was a red red rose, growing on yon garden wall and I would be a dew drop and upon her brow I'd fall etc

14 Jan 01 - 07:11 AM (#374286)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: I wish my love was a red red
From: Tony in Darwin

Annegi
I have a song which starts:
I wish my love was a red red rose, growing in yon garden fair
And for me to be the gardener, of her I would take care,
There's not a month throughout the year but my love I'd renew,
I'd garnish her with flowers fine, Sweet William, Thyme and Rue.

Plus 3 more verses, one mentioning Dublin. I wonder what the rest of the lyric for your song is?

Tony

14 Jan 01 - 07:14 AM (#374288)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: I wish my love was a red red
From: Tony in Darwin

And isng4u (sorry!)

Is either of these the one you were looking for?

Tony

14 Jan 01 - 07:46 AM (#374294)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: I wish my love was a red red
From: SeanM

If it's Bold O'Donahue (in bold... get it? OK, so it's late), then it's here. If not, well... sorry.

M

14 Jan 01 - 12:18 PM (#374365)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: I wish my love was a red red
From: GUEST,Annegi

The lyrics from SeanM are the ones I was referring to.

14 Jan 01 - 03:54 PM (#374473)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: I wish my love was a red red
From: Margaret V

To continue the verses to Tony's version:

I wish I was a butterfly
I'd 'light on my love's breast
Or if I was a blue cuckoo
I'd sing my love to rest
Or if I was the nightingale
I'd sing till daylight clears
I'd sit and sing for you Molly
For once I loved you dear.


I wish I was in Dublin
All seated on the grass
In my right hand a jug of punch
And on my knee a lass
I'd call for liquor freely
And I'd pay before I go
I'd roll my darling in my arms
Let the wind blow high or low.


I learned this from the singing of Mick Hanley first, then heard it by Triona Ni Dhomhnaill. I think the versions are very similar, if not the same. Margaret

14 Jan 01 - 08:31 PM (#374625)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: I wish my love was a red red
From: GUEST,isng4u

Tony, Margaret,

Yes! That is the one I am looking for. I have the lyrics and recording but I'm searching for the chords.

I noticed the third verse of Bold O Donahue has the same lyrics and similar melody but I haven't found the chords for that one either :(

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

14 Jan 01 - 08:33 PM (#374627)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: I wish my love was a red red
From: GUEST,isng4u

oops.....yes it is ' I wish my love was a red red rose' not 'my love is like a red red rose'.

thanks

14 Jan 01 - 10:24 PM (#374670)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: I wish my love was a red red
From: Margaret V

Sorry, didn't notice you said chords, not lyrics. I'm not very talented at making the chords appear over the words in HTML so here's the best I can offer (Triona sings it in this key on the live Bothy Band album; if you need it in a different key just holler):

(C)I wish my (F)love was a (C)red, red rose
(C)Growing (G)in yon (F)garden (C)fair
(C)And me to be the (F)garden- (C)er, of her I would take (G)care
(C)There's not a month through- (F)out the (C)year, but my love I would re- (G)new
(G)I'd (C)garnish her with (G)flowers fine
(G)Sweet William, (F)thyme and (C)rue.

Good luck making out my system... also note that if it's the Mick Hanley version, he does the melody of the first line a bit differently, so the chords are a bit different, to wit
(C)I wish my love was a (G)red, red rose

It's a bit simpler and actually I like his better. Margaret

18 Jan 01 - 04:48 AM (#376796)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: I wish my love was a red red
From: GUEST,isng4u

Thanks a bunch! What about the other song? The Voyage and/or Ships?

-Gil

18 Jan 01 - 05:59 AM (#376821)
Subject: ADD: The Voyage (Christy Moore)
From: Mikey joe

These are the chords to the Voyage taken from the Christy Moore Website @ www.christymoore.net

Mj

THE VOYAGE

[Capo on first fret]  
      
G      D      C               G  
   I am a sailor,you're my first mate  
                D            C           D  
   We signed on together, we coupled our fate  
   C             D          C              G  
   Hauled up our anchor, determined not to fail  
                  D          C             G  
   For the hearts treasure together we set sail.  
      
G               D           C               G  
   With no maps to guide us we steered our own course  
                D               C               D  
   Rode out the storms when the winds were gale force  
   C           D           C            G  
   Sat out the doldrums in patience and hope  
             D         C              G  
   Working together we learned how to cope.  
      
CHORUS  
Bm         C         Bm        C  
      Life is an ocean and love is a boat  
                  Am         C         D  
      In troubled water that keeps us afloat  
              C           D                Bm          C  
      When we started the voyage,there was just me and you  
                               Am        D    G  
      Now gathered round us we have our own crew.  
G        D             C         G  
   Together we're in this relationship  
                    D        C              D  
   We built it with care to last the whole trip  
       C          D           C             G  
   Our true destination's not marked on any charts  
              D            C             G  
   We're navigating to the shores of the heart.


18 Jan 01 - 11:21 AM (#376976)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: I wish my love was a red red
From: GUEST

Thanks Mike!

Ships is a tune I found on MP3.com...I don't know if its original or not but its a great song. The chorus is something like:

Ships are safe in harbor but thats not what ships are for

18 Jan 01 - 07:16 PM (#377335)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: I wish my love was a red red
From: GUEST,GuestS

If you are interested in playing Red Red Rose as it is done by Altan, you'll need to use a capo and retune your guitar. It's a strange tuning where, if I remember right, the 2nd and 3rd strings are in unison (or a half step off?) I learned it several years ago by listening (over and over) to the tape and have forgotten it. It only took a month or so. Have fun!

16 Feb 02 - 04:30 PM (#651692)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: I wish my love was a red red
From: GUEST,jen

the altan version is in the DADGAD tuning - i've got the music written down somewhere - i can scan & e-mail it if anyone wants it?

28 Jun 03 - 03:20 AM (#973730)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: I wish my love was a red red
From: Allan C.

Refresh

28 Jun 03 - 04:27 AM (#973743)
Subject: DTADD: I Wish My Love Was In a Ditch
From: Joe Offer

Mention was made of this song in a related thread. I thought I'd post it here, to bring everybody back to reality.
-Joe Offer-


I WISH MY LOVE WAS IN A DITCH

I wish my love was in a ditch
Without no clothing to her,
With nettles up and down her back,
Because she was not truer.

She kissed me with her red, red lips,
She swore she would be mine O;
But she swore the same to Alan O'Chree,
Who lives way down the line O.

Her belly grew big, her face grew pale,
But it was no fault of mine O;
It must have been that Alan O'Chree
Who lives way down the line O.

She swore the brat was mine alone,
And soon enough we were wed.
But I swear by the light of Kincastle Hill
She shall not share my bed.

from the Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina folklore, volume II

Notes:
    This peculiarly forthright denunciation of an unfaithful mistress is perhaps part of North Carolina's Scottish inheritance. At any rate the song 'I Wish My Love Was in a Mire' in Jamieson's Popular Ballads and Songs (1806) has a like content, though not much verbal resemblance. I have not found it elsewhere. It is not the sort of thing that the ballad press commonly prints.
Hey, there's even an entry on this song in the Traditional Ballad Index:

I Wish My Love Was In a Ditch

DESCRIPTION: "I wish my love was in a ditch, Without no clothing to her, With nettles up and down her back Because she was not truer." She had been involved with the singer and another; he claims her child was fathered by the other, and will not sleep with her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love marriage infidelity pregnancy
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownII 126, "I Wish My Love Was In a Ditch" (1 text)
Notes: The editors of Brown suspect this is Scottish, but can cite no other texts (Jamieson has a piece "I Wish My Love Was In a Mire," but the parallels are thematic rather than verbal). - RBW
File: BrII126

There's also an entry on "Bold O'Donohue," but none on "I Wish My Love Was a Red Red Rose."

Bold O'Donahue

DESCRIPTION: "Well, here I am from Paddy's land... I've broke the hearts of all the girls for miles round Keady town." The singer boasts of his ability to court, wishes his love were a rose so he could rain on her, and speaks of courting Queen Victoria's daughter
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1975 (fragment in the Sam Henry collection from 1924)
KEYWORDS: courting flowers
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H10i, p. 3, "(Old Choir Rhymes -- Additional Verses, text #1)" (1 text)
DT, BOLDODON
Notes: The Sam Henry text (reportedly sung to the tune "Irish") is only a fragment, a dialect version of
I wish my love was a red rose
Beside yon garden wall,
And I myself a drop of dew
Upon that rose to fall.
This (half)-stanza almost certainly floats, but the only song I've met it in is "Bold O'Donahue," so here it files. - RBW
File: HHH010i

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions

The Ballad Index Copyright 2003 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

Malcolm's message in this thread (click) is the best background information I've seen on "I Wish My Love..."

28 Jun 03 - 04:19 PM (#973952)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: I wish my love was a red red rose
From: toadfrog

I think the moral is, "be careful what you wish for." Another, "don't mess with them red, red, roses"!

28 Jun 03 - 04:29 PM (#973956)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: I wish my love was a red red rose
From: toadfrog

Joe, does the "ditch" version have a tune?

28 Jun 03 - 06:37 PM (#974015)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: I wish my love was a red red rose
From: Joe Offer

Well, I haven't found the "ditch' tune yet, but I haven't given up yet. As far as I can see, it's not in Brown (Brown has two lyrics volumes, and two tune volumes).
-Joe Offer-

25 Apr 10 - 09:45 PM (#2894318)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE IRISH GIRL (from P W Joyce)
From: Jim Dixon

From Irish Peasant Songs in the English Language by Patrick Weston Joyce (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1906), page 2:

THE IRISH GIRL.

THIS beautiful air, and the accompanying words, I have known since my childhood; and both are now published for the first time.* I have copies of the song on broadsheets, varying a good deal, and much corrupted. The versions I give here of air and words are from my own memory, as sung by the old people of Limerick when I was a child; but I have thought it necessary to make some few restorations.

The "Red, red rose" is common in Irish peasant songs; and I have one song where it comes in exactly as in this verse of Burns—

"Oh, gin my love were yon red rose
That grows upon the castle wa';
And I mysel a drap o' dew
Into her bonnie breast to fa'!
Oh, there beyond expression blest,
I'd feast on beauty a' the night,
Seal'd on her silk-saft faulds to rest,
Till fley'd awa by Phoebus' light."

The corresponding verse of the Irish peasant song is (I write it from memory):—

I wish my love was yon red, red rose
That grows on the garden wall,
And I to be a drop of dew,
Among its leaves I'd fall—
'Tis in her sacred bosom
All night I'd sport and play,
And pass away the summer night
Until the break of day.

Burns took the idea, and partly the very words, from a Scotch peasant song—as was his custom—and with the magic touch of genius changed it to his own exquisite stanza.

These observations are merely preliminary to the following song:—"The Irish Girl."

1. As I walk'd out one evening
Down by a riverside,
While gazing all around me
An Irish girl I spied;
A rosy red was on her cheeks,
And coal-black was her hair;
And costly were the robes of gold
This Irish girl did wear.

2. The little shoes this maiden wore
Were of a Spanish brown;
The mantle, on her shoulders,
Of silk 'twas wrought all round.
Her modest face, her gentle ways,
Have left my heart in pain,
And I'd range this world all over
My Irish girl to gain.

3. I wish my love was a red, red rose,
To bloom in yon garden fair,
And I to be the gardener,
That rose would be my care.
I'd tend the pretty flowers all round—
Sweet-William, pink, and rue,
Primrose and thyme—but most of all,
Sweet rose, I'd cherish you.

4. I wish I was a butterfly,
I'd light on my love's breast;
I wish I was a nightingale,
To sing my love to rest;
I'd sing at morn, I'd sing at eve,
A love-song sweet and slow;
And year by year I will love my dear,
Let the wind blow high or low.

* More than half a century ago I gave this air to Dr. Petrie: and now I find—after printing the above—that it is included in the Stanford-Petrie collection of Irish Music recently published (No. 657): with my name acknowledged. But the words have never hitherto been published.