Lyr Req: The Gardener (from The House Band)

Subject: 'The Gardner'
From:
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 12:19 PM

I'm looking for the lyrics to an olde English ballad "The Gardner" recorded by The House Band. Any idea where to find them? Please respond to

Subject: RE: 'The Gardner'
From:
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 12:34 PM

Gardener Lad is a Child Ballad in DT. Is that the one?

Subject: RE: 'The Gardner'
From: Dobson (inactive)
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 12:49 PM

Or look at Seeds of Love

Subject: RE: 'The Gardner'
From: Bruce O.
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 01:36 PM

I'm pretty certain that "Seeds of Love"/"Sprig of Thyme" were from a predecessor to the "Gardener Lad". See the 17th century version of "The Gardener Lad" in the Scarce Songs 1 file on my website, www.erols.com/olsonw. I think I contributed it to this forum long ago, but haven't looked to see if it's in DT now.

Subject: RE: 'The Gardner'
From: Susan of DT
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 06:59 PM

the Gairdner Child??

Subject: RE: 'The Gardner'
From: Benjamin B
Date: 06 Apr 99 - 07:19 PM

There was a thread on this last year. Try a forum search for "gardener" or "house band".

Actually if this link works click here

Subject: Lyr Add: SEEDS OF LOVE
From: Pete_Fletcher
Date: 07 Apr 99 - 01:46 PM

I've had this version of Seeds of Love for years, I assume we are talking about the same song.

1.
I sowed the seeds of love, I sowed them in the spring,
In April, May and June likewise,
While the small birds did sweetly sing,
While the small birds did sweetly sing.
2.
My garden was planted well, with flowers everywhere,
But I'd not the liberty to choose for myself,
The flower that I loved dear,
The flower that I loved dear.
3.
The gardener was standing by, and I asked him to choose for me,
He chose me the violet, the lily and the pink,
But these I refused all three,
But these I refused all three.
4.
The violet I did not like, because it fades so soon,
The lily and the pink I did overthink,
And vowed I would wait till June,
I vowed I would wait till June.
5.
For in June there's a red rose bud, and that's the flower for me,
And I often plucked at that red rose bud,
Till I found the willow tree,
I found the willow tree.
6.
The gardener was standing by, and he asked me to take great care,
For in the middle of that red rose bush,
There lurks a sharp thorn there,
There lurks a sharp thorn there.
7.
But I told him I'd take no care, until I felt the smart,
And often I plucked at that red rose bush,
Till it pierced me to the heart,
Till it pierced me to the heart.
8.
So a posy of hyssop I'll take, no other flower I'll touch,
That all the world may plainly see,
I loved one flower too much,
I loved one flower too much.

Subject: RE: 'The Gardner'
From:
Date: 07 Apr 99 - 03:23 PM

Is it possible it might be "the Gardener" by Bert Jansch, recorded and written 1966 ???

Helge in Norway

Subject: RE: 'The Gardner'
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 08 Apr 99 - 12:22 PM

G'day,
There seems to be only one version of the Child ballad (#219) in the DT. Click here.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: 'The Gardner'
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 09 Jan 05 - 03:26 AM

There's an excellent version (as 'The Seeds of Love) on 'Monday's Childe', a CD by Suffolk singer John Goodluck (see john.goodluck.btinternet.co.uk). The album can be bought direct from him for £7 inc p&p, at 81 Carlford Close, Martlesham Heath, Ipswich, IP5 3TA.

Subject: RE: 'The Gardner'
From: My guru always said
Date: 09 Jan 05 - 07:52 AM

June Tabor recorded a wonderful song called The Gardner but apart from the words I've never found who wrote it. Anyone know?

Subject: RE: 'The Gardner'
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 09 Jan 05 - 01:30 PM

From the lyric you posted in another thread (it's Gardener, not Gardner), I'd say it's probably an abbreviated anglicisation of the text collated by Ewan MacColl (see below). The tune seems a bit mutant, though (sound sample at Topic Records) and I'm unsure where that came from. No sleeve note details, I suppose?

Since this old thread is returned from the dead, I'll just address a few points.

As Benjamin mentioned nearly 5 years ago, the lyric as recorded by the House Band had already been posted (copied from the cd insert) in an earlier discussion: Lyr Add: THE GARDENER (from the House Band). It appears (at a guess) to be an anglicised form, considerably shortened, of the set recorded by Ewan MacColl, which was a fragment learned from his mother, collated with material collected by Gavin Greig. (Singing Island, 33; Bronson III, 348-351). I don't know what tune the House Band used.

The song is not the well-known Seeds of Love (posted above without attribution, and identically in another thread), nor The Sprig of Thyme though material has often crossed between those songs, and occasionally into The Gardener, leading to inevitable confusion. Child remarked on that confusion when printing the Dead Maid's Land text sent him by Sabine Baring-Gould (ESPB V, Additions and Corrections, 259).

That's not to say that there may not have been a closer connection further back in time. The late Bruce Olson referred several times here to a broadside song of 1698, The Young-Mans Answer to the Maids Garden of Tyme, which he considered the likely ancestor of all three song groups. If that's the case, then they have grown apart and can't in more recent forms be considered more than fairly distant relations.

See also

Proud Maisrie/Bonny Maisrie/Lady Margaret  -includes MacColl's collated text, anglicised lyric from a June Tabor record (mentioned above) and a few relevant links; including one to this thread. Note that the discussion wanders off at times into other, unrelated songs.

There are probably a vast number of old discussions here relating to The Seeds of Love, The Sprig of Thyme et al. The onsite search engine will find them if asked.