Origins: Shady Grove - what verses do you use?

Subject: RE: Shady Grove
From: SINSULL
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 07:53 PM

I went to see my Shady Grove
Standin' by the door.
Shoes and stockings in her hands.
Little bare feet on the floor.

Subject: RE: Shady Grove
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 08:02 PM

It does seem to have a good many words in common with "Cindy".

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: Promotion is the department of a business that is concerned with harrassing and insulting its customers. :||

Subject: RE: Shady Grove
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 05:54 PM

Yep, Joe. Most of the 'travelin verses' are from 'Cindy.' And the Lomax version has a verse or two from, 'Fly Round my Pretty Little Miss.' But I guess that's legal enough- JR

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Shady Grove (new version)
From:
Date: 11 Jun 06 - 10:54 AM

I think this is the song from the    Songcatcher.Looking for words of   the road by the river that flows through raheen. I like old irish songs.   Tom

Subject: RE: Shady Grove
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 07:12 PM

Shady Grove, my little Love
I met her in Berea
Had some lunch at the Boone Hotel
Now she's got indigestion

Subject: RE: Shady Grove
From: frogprince
Date: 03 Jun 08 - 07:36 PM

I'll not marry Shady Grove, and here's the reason why;
she blows her nose on old corn bread, and calls it punkin pie.

Subject: RE: Origins: Shady Grove
From: jack diddly
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 03:31 AM

Shady grove and Maddy Grove have the same melody, so I have always thought that the melody from Shady Grove was lifted from Maddy Groves, since Maddy Groves appears to be an old English Ballad.They used to call that stealing, then someone came along and renamed it "the folk process".I think Woody Guthrie said that.

Subject: RE: Shady Grove
From: LeTenebreux
Date: 28 Mar 12 - 09:58 PM

And Louis McNeice's poem "Bagpipe Music" appears to come from the same primordial folk song soup:

It's no go the merrygoround, it's no go the rickshaw,
All we want is a limousine and a ticket for the peepshow.
Their knickers are made of crêpe-de-chine, their shoes are made of python,
Their halls are lined with tiger rugs and their walls with heads of bison.

John MacDonald found a corpse, put it under the sofa,
Waited till it came to life and hit it with a poker,
Sold its eyes for souvenirs, sold its blood for whiskey,
Kept its bones for dumb-bells to use when he was fifty.

It's no go the Yogi-Man, it's no go Blavatsky,
All we want is a bank balance and a bit of skirt in a taxi.

Annie MacDougall went to milk, caught her foot in the heather,
Woke to hear a dance record playing of Old Vienna.
It's no go your maidenheads, it's no go your culture,
All we want is a Dunlop tyre and the devil mend the puncture.

The Laird o' Phelps spent Hogmanay declaring he was sober,
Counted his feet to prove the fact and found he had one foot over.
Mrs Carmichael had her fifth, looked at the job with repulsion,
Said to the midwife 'Take it away; I'm through with overproduction'.

It's no go the gossip column, it's no go the Ceilidh,
All we want is a mother's help and a sugar-stick for the baby.

Willie Murray cut his thumb, couldn't count the damage,
Took the hide of an Ayrshire cow and used it for a bandage.
His brother caught three hundred cran when the seas were lavish,
Threw the bleeders back in the sea and went upon the parish.

It's no go the Herring Board, it's no go the Bible,
All we want is a packet of fags when our hands are idle.

It's no go the picture palace, it's no go the stadium,
It's no go the country cot with a pot of pink geraniums,
It's no go the Government grants, it's no go the elections,
Sit on your arse for fifty years and hang your hat on a pension.

It's no go my honey love, it's no go my poppet;
Work your hands from day to day, the winds will blow the profit.
The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass will fall for ever,
But if you break the bloody glass you won't hold up the weather.

Subject: RE: Shady Grove
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 29 Mar 12 - 05:49 PM

When I heard it from Rufus Crisp, in 1953, Shady Grove was a place, not a girl.

"Tell me where my true love is,
Tell me if you can...
Down in some shady grove
With another man."

Subject: RE: Shady Grove
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 29 Mar 12 - 06:09 PM

It's a bit crass to plug my own work here, but I was pleased with how this came out:

Shady Grove

Knocked out to see a post from kytrad herself up there. Hope she's keeping well.

Subject: RE: Origins: Shady Grove
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Aug 16 - 12:13 AM

Here is the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:

Shady Grove

DESCRIPTION: The singer talks about courting (in) Shady Grove. There is no particular plot. A typical chorus runs, "Shady Grove my little love, Shady Grove I say, Shady Grove my little love, I'm bound to go away." Shady Grove may be a place or a girl's name
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Cecil Sharp collection); +1893 (JAFL6)
KEYWORDS: courting love nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,SW)
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 57, "Betty Anne" (1 text, 1 tune -- an odd version which seems to have some foreign elements mixed in, and with the tune moved from minor to Mixolydian)
Lomax-FSNA 120, "Shady Grove" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 485, "Shady Grove" (2 texts, neither much like the standard version of this song, but even less like anything else); also 97, "Uncle Joe Cut Off His Toe" (3 texts plus mention of 2 more, but "B" is probably "Shady Grove"; "A" is an incredible mix with verses typical of "Raccoon," "If I Had a Scolding Wife," a "Liza Jane" song, a mule song, and "Shady Grove"); also 111, "Wish I Had a Needle and Thread" (7 text, of which only "E" is really substantial; it is certainly the "Italy" version of "Going Across the Sea." The other fragments contain verses typical of "Shady Grove," "Old Joe Clark," and others); also 286, "Fly Around, My Blue-Eyed Girl" (4 texts; "A"-"C" are "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss," but the "D" text is mostly "Shady Grove")
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 46-47, "Shady Grove" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 37, "Shady Grove" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 358, "Now I Am a Big Boy" (2 texts, both fragments; the "A" text is associated with this ballad, though -- as only a single verse -- it could go anywhere)
SharpAp 88, "Betty Anne" (1 text, 1 tune, with lyrics from "Shady Grove," "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" and "Going Across the Sea")
Rosenbaum, pp. 138-139, "Shady Grove" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 195, "Shady Grove" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 152, "Shady Grove" (1 text)
DT, BETTYANN* SHADYGRV*
Roud #4456
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley & New River Jack Burchett, "Shady Grove" (on Ashley03, WatsonAshley01)
Rufus Crisp, "Shady Grove" (on Crisp01)
Goldie Hamilton, "Shady Grove" (AAFS 2787 A2)
Kentucky Thorobreds, "Shady Grove" (Paramount 3080, 1928; Broadway 8184 [as Old Smokey Twins], n.d.; rec. 1927)
J. M. Mullins, "Shady Grove" (AAFS 1566 A)
J. W. Russell, "Shady Grove" (AAFS 3162 B1)
Kilby Snow, "Shady Grove" (on KSnow1)
Pete Steele, "Shady Grove" (on PSteele01)
The Virginia Dandies [alternate name for Walter "Kid" Smith & The Carolina Buddies], "Shady Grove" (Crown, unissued, 1931)
Vernie Westfall, "Shady Grove" (AAFS 4118 B1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Black-Eyed Susie (Green Corn)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Going Across the Sea" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Kansas Cyclone" (tune)
cf. "Don't Get Trouble in Your Mind" (floating phrase)
cf. "Pig at Home in the Pen" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Mary from Dungloe" (floating verse)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Little Betty Ann
File: SKE57

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2016 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

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...and the Digital Tradition lyrics:
SHADY GROVE (DT Version)

Shady grove my little love
Shady grove I say
Shady grove my little love
Bound for shady grove

Wish I was in shady grove
Sittin in a rockin chair
And if those blues would bother me
I'd rock away from there

Had a banjo made of gold
Every string would shine
The only song that it would play
Wish that girl was mine

When I was in shady grove
Heard them pretty birds sing
The next time I go to shady grove
Take along a diamond ring

When you go to catch a fish
Fish with a hook and line
When you go to court a girl
Never look behind

When I was a little boy
All I wanted was a knife
Now I am a great big boy
I'm lookin for a wife

filename[ SHADYGRV
TUNE FILE: SHADYGRV
CLICK TO PLAY
BL

Any other versions to post?

Subject: Origins: Betty Anne / Shady Grove
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Aug 16 - 12:19 AM

The Traditional Ballad Index ties "Betty Anne" (collected by Sharp) from the Digital Tradition to "Shady Grove." Here are the Digital Tradition lyrics of "Betty Anne":

BETTY ANNE (from DT)

cho:Lor', lor', my little Betty Anne,
Lor', lor', I say,
Lor', lor', my little Betty Anne,
I'm going away to stay.

Cheeks as red as a red, red rose,
Her eyes as a diamond brown,
I'm going to see my pretty little miss
Before the sun goes down.

It's rings on my true love's hands
Shines so bright like gold.
Go and see my pretty little Miss
Before it rains or snows.

When I was up at the field at work,
I sit down and cry,
Studying' bout my blue-eyed boy,
I thought to my God I'd die.

Fly around my pretty little Miss,
Fly around I say,
Fly around, my pretty little Miss,
You'll almost drive me crazy.

Fly around my pretty little Miss,
Fly around my dandy,
Fly around my pretty little Miss,
I don't want no more of your candy.

From English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians, Sharp
Collected from Mrs. Ellie Johnson, NC 1916
note: more commonly known as Shady Grove
@American @banjo
filename[ BETTYANN
TUNE FILE: BETTYANN
CLICK TO PLAY
RG
apr96

Subject: RE: Origins: Shady Grove - what verses do you use?
From: GUEST,Reeniebess
Date: 24 May 17 - 09:01 PM

After all these decades of hearing this song, I am still wondering--why is this guy in love with a Landscape Formation (a Shady Grove!)?

Subject: RE: Origins: Shady Grove - what verses do you use?
From: PHJim
Date: 25 May 17 - 12:38 AM

Sorry, but I didn't read all the posts and I'm sure mine don't differ much, if at all. I'm sure I vary it a bit every time I sing it.


Shady Grove, my little love
Shady Grove I know
Shady Grove, my little love
I'm bound for Shady Grove

Cheeks as red as a blooming rose
And eyes are the prettiest brown
She's the darling of my heart
Stay till the sun goes down

Peaches in the summertime
Apples in the fall
If I can't get little Shady Grove
I don't want none at all

I wish I had a big old horse
And corn to feed him on
Pretty little gal to stay at home
And feed him while I'm gone

Went to see my Shady Grove
She was standing in the door
Her shoes and stockin's in her hand
And her little bare feet on the floor

A kiss from pretty little Shady Grove
Is sweet as sherry wine
Ain't no girl in this whole world
That's prettier than mine.

Subject: RE: Origins: Shady Grove - what verses do you use?
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Apr 18 - 07:22 PM

wow! this thread is almost 20 years long! so Awesome! i love this song and Matty Groves and Little Margaret, and they all seem related to each other in some way or another. I am not a musician, but I am trying to learn to sing them. Any suggestions of other similar songs I can look up? I'd love that! (If anyone is still out there). Oh, and one thing slightly off to the side - anyone know where to get bluegrass/folk exposure around Eugene, OR? You'd think there would be more of it, but I can't find any places or shows or anything? Thanks

Subject: : Shady Grove - meaning
From: GUEST,tuvya
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 01:06 PM

Why "shady grove?" Is "shady a first name? Or is it "Shay Dee" or "Shay D?"
,
Or is in an adjective? If taken literally this guy, or gal, wants some lovin' in a place that's not in broad daylight... hmmmm...

The shady grove in question seems to have morphed over time and the long "a" "e" and "o" vowels bring their own pleasure when sung I think.

Subject: RE: Origins: Shady Grove - what verses do you use?
From: GUEST,Jordan
Date: 04 Sep 19 - 02:24 PM

@GUEST,tuvya

Shady Grove seems to be both where the person lives/was born. And his/her name. It changes frequently throughout the song which one it is referring to.

ie. "... Now I want little Shady Grove to say she'll be my wife" - Using "Shady Grove" as a name.

Subject: RE: Origins: Shady Grove - what verses do you use?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 04 Sep 19 - 03:49 PM

Lovely song. Mary's version is closest to my fave, but I have a different [slightly] one by Doc Watson somewhere.

Subject: Lyr Add: Shady Grove
From: BTMP
Date: 22 Jan 22 - 11:58 PM

I wrote a new verse for ‘Shady Grove’ which I sing quite often in jams. My closest friends say this verse is good, so I am sharing it here in the forum. Feel free to use it, and I’d be interested in any feedback or other thoughts you may have.

Leaving down the mountain side, ne’er to come again.
Shady Grove is lost to me, she’s found another man.
The heart it is a gentle thing, sometimes made of gold.
Mine is broken, ne’er to mend. Forever dark and cold.

Subject: RE: Origins: Shady Grove - what verses do you use?
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Jun 24 - 04:04 PM

Chorus starts:
Shady grove sugar baby Anne