The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #63589   Message #1036495
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
15-Oct-03 - 10:00 PM
Thread Name: 100 Years since Cecil Sharp heard 'Seeds of Love'
Subject: RE: 100 Years since Cecil...
Nice midi here: Seeds of Love

Cecil Sharp collected some 100 songs just in Somerset, I believe. He was one of the great collectors and deserves our greatful thanks. I find it a little odd, however, that so much is made of this particular lyric, which, although deservedly popular, does not seem to have undergone much of a folk process. Most collectors include some lyrics that they know are composed pieces, because the people that they collect from don't know that- and don't care- if they like the song, they sing it. A collector would turn them off if he insisted some song was not worthy of collection.   

George Butterworth (Folk Songs from Sussex, no. 3, Sowing the Seeds of Love) prepared a version, and Ralph Vaughn Williams set it for solo and chorus.

At this web site, are notes from lectures by Peter Kennedy. A version by Bill Squires is noted (recording available?), and it is said that his father sang this song to Sharp (England not mentioned in the notes shown here):
Seeds of Love