Whoever did write the lyrics, he/she was obviously American. "Bobolink, cuckoo and quail, Tanager and cardinal" areen't visitors to the British bird table in my experience!

Was it really THAT Jimmie Rodgers, The Singing Brakeman, who recorded the most popular version? Whatever, I know Rolf Harris parodied it as follows:

Wet underfoot and the leaves are thick with soot
In an English country garden
Newspapers torn and strewn across the lawn
In an english country garden
Litter, garbage in the yards
Little doggies' calling cards
One scraggy rosebud peering through the weeds
For they've all downed tools
While they do their football pools
In an English country garden
Market, join the Common Market
Market, join the Common Market.

That's William Kimber and Percy Grainger spinning away in their graves then..........