From this message, I gather that the melody is "English Country Garden."

Thread #1006   Message #3075
Posted By: Dick Wisan
13-Mar-97 - 10:29 PM
Thread Name: Origins: English Country Garden
Subject: RE: English Country Garden Lyrics

Are you thinking of the tune Percy Grainger made out of "The Vicar of Bray"? Used to be played, along with the Shepherd's Hay (Hey?) by pit musicians between the acts on Broadway theatres (in the days when there were pit musicians at non-musicals).

If so, we sang it in school. Let's see how much of it I can remember.

Fiddlers a-tuning, timing it clean
While the morris dancers tread the green
(bis) Blossoms of the pear tree
Deck anew the bare tree
Spring is a-bringing leaf and flow'r
Now it's toe, now it's heel
Now all together wheel
While the old folks test
Who dances best

That's _not_ all of it, and I've probably left out bits in the middle, but it's not bad after not thinking of it for the last thirty years or so.