Origins: White Coral Bells/White Choral Bells

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST,Sarah
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 02:11 AM

Wow- This thread has been going for 7 years. That's impressive. I was born in 86 (yes, i'm a youngin) and my mother used to sing it to me as a luluby. I forgot about it for a realy long time. Then a few months ago it kind of drifted into my head as I was falling asleep, but I couldnt remember it in the morning. not at all. I drove myself nuts trying to remember how it went. I remembered it today at work while doing dishes. It just snaped back into my head and stayed there all day. I came home, looked it up, and found this thread. I had no idea it went back this far. It must go back even further than any of the writen documents, judging by the way everyone seems to remember it from their mothers and sisters. I'm going to teach it to my children one day. Thank you so much. This made my day.

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Aug 08 - 02:29 AM

I found the song in several Girl Scout songbooks and in several school songbooks - always spelled "White Coral Bells."

Google shows 280 results for "White Choral Bells," admittedly a respectable number - but 8,330 results for "White Coral Bells."

-Joe said, pedantically....-

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Aug 08 - 11:53 PM

I remember this one from elementary-school music class, about 1981 or so. It was specifically taught as a round, to show what rounds were. The word was written as "choral," not "coral," and it was explained to be in reference to bell-like flowers, and to thoughts of how they would sound if they were real bells. Music all but disappeared from the curriculum shortly afterward, here in CA. Such a shame.

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST,Virginia
Date: 01 Jul 08 - 03:35 PM

It's amazing how many people here learned the song at different ages. It just shows you how timeless it really is. I too learned it as a Girl Scout, but in the early 90s. I was just walking around singing it to myself and wondering where it came from and I stumbled upon this site.

Subject: RE: Girl Guide Marching Song
From: GUEST,ex-Guider
Date: 28 May 08 - 04:16 PM

oops--lyrics I posted for the Guide marching song should have said, "song in our heart"--singular, not plural, of 'heart'.

I learned White Choral Bells (a poetic description of lily of the valley), and Make New Friends, and the Guide marching song--all songs mentioned in previous posts by others here--as a Brownie and then a Girl Guide, as far back as 1954-5--and they were already old, then. Also of course Land of the Silver Birch, which I believe is a Canadian song ("home of the beaver"!--and of course we're lush with silver birch and still the mighty moose wanders at will). My mother knew White Choral Bells--I think also from when she was a Guide--and she was English (then). The marching song is most likely English in origin. Girls were still singing these songs in the 60s, when I was a leader. My daughter and granddaughters are still singing them, today(with other Guides).

Subject: Info: The Girl Guide Marching Song
From: GUEST,ex-Guider
Date: 28 May 08 - 04:01 PM

(1) White Choral Bells (regardless of how it may appear in print elsewhere) because "don't you wish that you could hear them ring"--they make music--and besides, white and coral are 2 different colours.
(2) Thanks to Cooper for a 2nd verse to the Girl Guide marching song (in fact, I think it's called "The Girl Guide Marching Song", but I might be wrong about that). It is in my opinion the best Guide song, cheerful, friendly, welcoming, and full of esprit de corps, pride in Guide history, good for hiking to, and not invoking anyone's religion or any tired old army lyrics. The words for the 1st verse, as I remember having sung them (and my memory might be faulty) are only slightly different from those posted by Cooper:

Who are we, marching along the road,
with a pack on our back, a song in our hearts to ease the load?
It's been 40 years or more [today Guides must surely sing "100 years or more", instead!]
since we crowded through the door [refers to Guides crowding into a room where Boy Scouts were first organizing, to demand that they be included in the movement--a feminist action!]
And we're coming along as gay and strong
As ever we came before:
We are Guides, all Guides,
and in unexpected places
You'll meet our friendly faces
And a ready hand, besides--
And there's not much danger
Of finding you're a stranger,
For, Commissioner or Ranger,
we are Guides--all Guides!

I don't know for certain, but I think there no longer is the rank of Commissioner, in Guides. That was a high-ranking district leader.

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST,ex-Guider
Date: 28 May 08 - 03:35 PM

I think it's probably White Choral Bells

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST,Rose
Date: 05 May 08 - 07:46 AM

Reply to "guest' (25th Jan 08) (sorry, I do not know much about these 'threads' but I do have the words of "Cloud Ships"

CLOUD SHIPS

Like snow white sailing boats on a blue sea
High in the heavens are clouds floating free.
If I could fly to one, If I might ride to one
Sailing and sailing what pleasure t'would be.

We should look down from our ship in the sky
On cities, forests and lakes passing by
We should sail faraway and at the close of day
Anchor our cloud to a mountain top high.

Rose

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST,Jeanne
Date: 15 Feb 08 - 07:27 PM

I first learned this song in grade school in the mid 60s. I came across this thread today as I was trying to find additional words. We had not sung it as a round and I was sure there must be more words I just wasn't remembering. It's nice to know I had the whole thing. I have already taught it to my four year old daughter. It's one of her favorites.

Jeanne

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: Melissa
Date: 26 Jan 08 - 06:42 PM

Kathryn and Other Guest..you'll probably have better luck getting info on your songs if you start a new thread.
I hope you do that--they look like neat songs!

Also, CORRECTION: I misread the Girl Reserves thingy. It apparently started in 1918 and began to flourish in the 20s.

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST,kathryn newman
Date: 26 Jan 08 - 07:46 AM

I sang this song in a Michigan public elementary school in the late 50's, early 60's. My mom remembered it, as well. It seems to me that any music that she knew from early elementary school came from ancient piano method books, and personal favorites of the only teacher in a rustic upper-peninsula one room school. This school teacher was also the only piano teacher for miles, and happened to live with my mother's family all through the depression.

The John Thompson books that I learned to play from contained many sailing and sea songs..."Drifting" (Light is thy bark, brother, rest(or bend) on your oars, fair are the winds and the tide..." Perhaps other earlier lesson texts give origins of those two songs.

Which leads me to ask: My sister and I have sung this duet for our whole lives...Does anyone know this song?
we think that it's called "On the Deep"-

On the deep around us,
towering billows rise-
In its fury bounding
to the dark'ning skies.
Leagues of angry ocean
lash to raging foam.
Wildly roar between us
and the light of home.


It would be nice to know anything about its history.
Thank you

Kathryn

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: Melissa
Date: 25 Jan 08 - 07:09 PM

Girl Reserves seems to have been a YWCA program which started in the 1920s. I had never heard of it--thanks Guest!

http://www.ywca.pdx.edu/camping/GirlReserves.htm

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Jan 08 - 06:38 PM

My mother, born in 1921, taught me this song from her childhood, so that puts it in the late '20s, early '30s at least. She probably won't remember now--she has dementia--but I know she was in an organization called Girl Reserves. (What relation, if any, this group had to Girl Scouts I do not know.)

The other song I associate with my mother's youth goes like this: "Like snow-white sailing boats/ On a blue sea' High in the heavens are/ Clouds floating free./ If I could fly to one [them?],/ If I could ride on one [them?],/ Sailing and sailing what/ Pleasure 'twould be."

Any help on that one?

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 07 Aug 07 - 07:06 PM

As a former Girl Scout, Girl Scout leader and Campfire leader I was thrilled to see this discussion of a favorite song. I worked at Camp El Deseo in Cuba, New Mexico in the 60's and we sang it there substituting "White yucca bells" for coral bells and "lilies of the desert" for lilies of the valley.

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST,August Staas
Date: 21 Jul 07 - 11:09 AM

I learned this from my older sisters more than forty years ago. We would sing it as a round during long car trips. They said they learned it at Camp Fire Girls in the 50s. We sang it along with "Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold." I just taught it to my wife and she wanted to know where it came from.

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST,A. Cooper
Date: 03 Jul 07 - 11:57 AM

I very much enjoyed reading about this old folk song that I remember learning as a Brownie in California in the 1950's. I think it was one of the first rounds I learned (along with "Make New Friends"). I found two written sources for the words and they both agreed.

White coral bells upon a slender stalk,
Lilies of the valley deck my garden walk.
Oh, don't you wish that you could hear them ring?
That will happen only when the fairies sing.

One source is a third edition "Sing Together" from 1973 (first edition 1949) that I bought a few years ago. The other source is a very old Camp Manzanita songbook from the late 1950's or early 1960's. This was the Girl Scout camp I attended and was a counselor at in Summer of 1964.

Now, a question - some of you seem to be acquainted with Girl Guides and I'm trying to remember/comfirm the words to a GG marching song I learned about 1963 from a Canadian counselor.

Who are these, swinging along the road
With a pack on their back, a song in their heart to ease the load
It's been 40(?)years or more since they crowded through the door,
But they're coming along as gay and as strong as ever they came before
They are guides all guides and in unexpected places
You'll meet their friendly faces and a willing hand besides,
There's not much danger in finding you're a stranger
For commissioner or ranger they are guides, all guides.

Who are these, living beneath the sky
While the shimmering sun, the pattering rain and the clouds roll by
They will dine beneath the boughs and their leader always vows that they're never afraid of wasps and hardly ever afraid of cows!
They are Guides all guides...etc.

Those are the verses in my head, but how close are these words, does anyone know? Is this a real official Girl guide song? I couldn't find it online.

Thanks, nice to find others who have these songs running through their heads too!

Old camp song leader, Ann Cooper

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: MMario
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 12:28 PM

I think the comment from Shirley back in Nov of '03 is significant:

object made of a curved metal wire with a wooden handle. From the wire were suspended a dozen or so little white beads made of coral, fashioned to look like bell-shaped flowers. It looked just like a lilly-of-the-valley stalk. The label said something like, "Coral Bells: Used in the Colonial Period as a baby's rattle

so the lines

White coral bells, upon a slender stalk,
Lilies-of-the-valley deck the garden walk

rather then describing the colour of the plant 'coral Bells' are comparing the flowers of the lily of the vally to bells made of white coral.

The other item is that 'Coral bells' has traditionally been used more as a foliage plant then a flowering plant AND the pink and red flowering varieties were favored where they were used as flowers.

Then add in that the common name for the plant until recently was "alum root" and I think that evidence that the lines are referring to a single type of plant start to add up.

The age of the lines, however are still unclear. But I doubt if older then late 1700's

Subject: Perhaps it was "choral" not "coral"
From: GUEST,Corinne
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 11:25 AM

I learned this round at girl scout camp 1936-37 in the Adirondack Mts. of NY. However, I never saw a written version, we learned by singing it. I always imagined the word as "choral". We sang:

White choral bells, upon a slender stalk
lillies-of-the-valley, deck my garden walk.
Oh, don't you wish, that you might hear them ring,
that will happen only when the fairies sing.

Meaning: You will hear them ring, but only if you believe in   
          fairies !

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 May 07 - 08:53 PM

Kat, the coral to red coral bells are the Heuchera that V. Troyan is talking about. They belong to the Saxifrage Family.
Heuchera is North American. The species first called coral bells, H. sanguinea, was first found in Mexico, but it is a hardy perennial and may be grown fairly far north. It was introduced to Europe in the 17th c. It has been hybridized with other species, and is found in gardens in southern Alberta, perennial in sheltered spots.
A natural hybrid, Heucherella tierelloides, resembles sanguinea and also is called 'coral bells.'
White coral bells belong to the species H. pubescens or one of the hybrids.

Lily of the Valley is a quite different plant, also a hardy perennial. Convallaria majalis as noted above, is white and belongs to the Liliaceae Family. It was introduced to America from Europe. It tends to 'travel,' and often pops up where it is not wanted, squeezing out more desirable plants (My wife loves it, I hate it). Another species, also from Europe, C. rosea, is pink.

The tune is one of those simple things that are almost impossible to trace back; it is so similar to the melodies of other simple songs. The lyrics, of course, are modern.

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: katlaughing
Date: 10 May 07 - 07:40 PM

Odd that I have never heard this song and all three of my sisters and I were in Girl Scouts. I'll have to ask them about it.

When I was growing up, we had coral bells here in Western Colorado; not white, but I always thought they were named that for their coral colour. Then, in a very carefully planned rock garden, my brother also had Lily of the Valley which survived triple digit hot summers. They seem to have even hardier varieties these days.

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST,Guest: V. Troyan
Date: 10 May 07 - 06:21 PM

I stumbled into this group when trying to research some songs appropriate for Renaissance Faires (for English and Gaelic characters). A perfomer of children's songs told me this would be appropriate for the Renaissance Faires without any historical documentation. I'm very glad to see your group sites sources as much as you can.
I have two cents to add after reading the discussion. I believe that Heuchera are California natives (at least I remember reading of one in a book on California natives written by an author from UC Berkeley). According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Convallaria majalis (lily of the valley) are natives of the North Americas (Eastern) and Eurasia.
So I'm going to make a dangerous assumption-leap that the song possibly stems from the North America's then (maybe??)? Or other places of colder weather (the huechera varieties I've seen in California wilt in the heat (triple digits) w/out a lot of water and shade and lily of the valley shrivel and will not bloom above temps in the 65 degrees farenheit range and hotter). I read someone's post about both being popular flowers since the 1700's though. I guess we really have to get a better date on the song to narrow down the location.
The other thing we have to take into account is that I'm sure there are other flowers known as "coral bells" or confused with coral bells. And I acknowledge that my assumption could be totally wrong since people may just plant them as annuals in certain places and replace them every year in the fall or winter.
Melodically/musically do we have a historical "trace" on the rhythm, pattern of the lines and/or tune? I'm not musically adept, other than I like to sing, so that type research is a bit beyond me.
Keep singing!

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST,LadyRevenge
Date: 04 May 07 - 12:17 PM

My mother taught this song to me when I was a little girl in the 80's. I'm 31 now and we still get silly and sing it together as a round every now and then. My mother was born in 1939 and she remembers learning it as a little girl herself, so the earlier post about being dated back to the 40's seems right to me. The lyrics my mother taught me are as follows:

White coral bells upon a slender stalk
Lily-of-the-Valley deck my garden walk
Oh how I wish that you could hear them ring
That will happen only when the fairies sing

I believe this is different than any other lyrics posted in this thread because of the "that you could hear" instead of "that I could hear" but all in all it's the same song and a very lovely one at that. I will forever treasure this song and will pass it on to my children if I have any in the future. It will always remind me of my mother and will keep her close to my heart forever.

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: fretless
Date: 19 Apr 07 - 01:02 PM

My wife remembers learning it as a round in the early 50s at Camp Artaban on Gambier Island in Howe Sound, just northwest of Vancouver, B.C.

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 19 Apr 07 - 12:00 PM

My cousin Nicki would, I'm sure, be very surprised to know she was among the song's earliest singers (at least as so far noted here). I heard her sing it in the mid to late 1940s. Not sure of her source, likely either school or camp. She didn't sing it as a round, but as a solo.

I always assumed it was a commercially produced song, from the sound of it. Bob

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST,Sarah
Date: 19 Apr 07 - 03:03 AM

I learned this originally from a coloring book, of all places! I think it was a Chipmunks book, and depicted the Chipettes working in a garden; this would have been sometime in the mid 80s. My mother saw the book and remembered the melody from when she was a girl and taught it to my sister and me. Nice to have this thread to show me how long the song has been around!

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 19 May 06 - 06:46 AM

G'day Helen,

(Thanks for the PM ... I hadn't opened this thread.)

I can't recall any appearance of ths song in Australian Scouting circles ... and, comimg from a family of four boys (spread over 16 years!) and no sisters ... and with both parents involved in the Scouting side (Mum was Akela of 1st Bankstown Cubs ... and Dad was Distict Scoutmaster of Lakemba) ... I had no exposure to the Guiding side.

Dad helped put together the first Australian Boy Scout Song Book ... but this song/round would not have been there.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 May 06 - 05:33 PM

I frequently sketch memories of old events- coming across an old sketch is as good as - or better - than a photo of the same thing. And sure enough, I have a sketch of me and my brother riding horses side by side...The words above our heads are: White coral bells... Upon a slender stalk...

My father was a horse trainer, so many of my oldest memories involve horses.

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: Helen
Date: 18 May 06 - 04:41 PM

When I read the lyrics in this thread I thought it was saying white coral bells AND lilies of the valley by using the comma. Like a list, but with only two items in the list. "white coral bells, lilies of the valley"

White coral bells, upon a slender stalk,
Lilies-of-the-valley deck the garden walk.

So there is a flower, then a description, then another flower and another description.

Just me maybe, but looking at it for the first time without a tradition of having heard it sung before or having seen the words. The words aren't in the Sylvia Woods book, I don't think (from memory) because seeing them here was a surprise to me.

Joybell, thanks for asking around in Vic.

I'm interested in the folk process for this song, because rounds like this tend to travel fairly well, especially through the Brownies/Guides/Scouts network but also generally, and through school music, etc. It intrigues me that this one may have escaped the notice of Oz music people.

At the moment, though, I'm only going by my own epxerience and Joybell's info gathering. I'd still be interested to know if other Oz 'Catters have sung this tune at school, or in other contexts.

Intriguing!

Helen

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: Sue the Borderer
Date: 18 May 06 - 11:48 AM

Just been and found my old Girl Guide song book. Although all the songs in it were written up later, I probably first sang it when I was a Brownie, in England, in about 1957.

In my handwritten song book I've got 'Doth', crossed out, replaced by 'Down' but I like 'Deck' much better! Otherwise the same words as Ferrara, 3 or 4 posts ago except that I have 'only happen' not 'happen only'. (I notice the first posting to the thread gives both)

Evokes lots of memories for me too.
Sue

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST,Anand
Date: 18 May 06 - 08:36 AM

Hi,

Nice. Thanks for your memory info. It remembers my school days.

Anand
www.weanakar.com

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 18 May 06 - 08:30 AM

Oops.   "Tw"          Tw

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 18 May 06 - 08:28 AM

Deck, as in "Deck the halls..." maybe? Decorate? We always sang it
"...Oh, don't you wish that you could hear them ring..."

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: Ferrara
Date: 18 May 06 - 06:56 AM

Q, you're right, heuchera is what gardeners now call White Coral Bells. But the song specifically says it is referring to Lilies of the Valley.

I learned it in 2nd or 3rd grade (1947 or 1948). We used to have music assemblies where they taught us what I guess I would call "heritage" songs. Some were folk, some were "old favorites." I'm grateful for those assemblies, they are a happy memory and I still remember some of the songs.

Here are the words I remember (amazing that the folk process can affect even a 4 line round....)

"White coral bells, upon a slender stalk,
Lilies of the valley deck my garden walk.
Oh, how I wish that I could hear them ring --
That will happen only when the fairies sing."

Later, I think I decided that if the flowers were "decking" the walk, you wouldn't be able to walk there, so I started singing it,

"Lilies of the valley line my garden walk."

Somehow I'm glad to know it's supposed to be "deck," just because that is how I learned it first. Silly huh?

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: dulcimer42
Date: 17 May 06 - 07:02 PM

I sang it in elementary school in Flint, Michigan. That would have been in the early 50's. Also sang in in Girl Scout. I can thank Girl Scouting for teaching me so many songs, which I now would call Folk Songs. Back then, I just thought they were "Girl Scout Songs." I love getting out my old girl scout song books and singing those songs. Isn't it wonderful how our brains store music. Hear a song from over 50 years ago, and still be able to sing the words. Might not recall lots of other things, but music... it stays there.

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 May 06 - 04:53 PM

White coral bells are not lily of the valley, but Heuchera micrantha. Several varieties in plant lists. Heuchera sanguinea is the more common coral-red species.

Lily of the Valley is Convallaria. C. majalis. is the commoner white species, C. rosea is pink.

I would not doubt that non-gardeners mentally confuse the two unrelated plants, both in cultivation since the 17th c.

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: open mike
Date: 17 May 06 - 03:11 PM

i had not made the connection that White Coral Bells WERE
lily of the valley.

beware, they are poisonous.

here is some info--the the starts you get are called "pips"

http://www.wiseacre-gardens.com/plants/perennial/lilyvalley.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/C007974/1_1lil.htm
http://www.aspca.org/toxicplants/M01894.htm

i used them in a science fair project once--
and i put them in colored ink and food coloring
to show their circulation systems....the veins
in the petals showed the color

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: Joybell
Date: 16 May 06 - 06:40 PM

I've asked around in Victoria, Helen. Nobody seems to have learned it here. True-love's sister taught it to him in the Midwest in America when they were children. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 16 May 06 - 05:13 PM

I can't remember NOT knowing this round, and I was born in 1943. I would have learned it through my mother or her friends, all active in folk music in the 1930s-40s-50s, and later. I seem to remember it being seminal in my "aha" moment of the basic nature of a "round". I don't remember ever seeing it in a book.      Tw

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: Helen
Date: 15 May 06 - 05:13 PM

In Oz I had never heard it. The only way I knew about it was in the mid-80's when I bought the Sylvia Woods Teach Yourself to Play the Folk Harp book and video.

It may have migrated out here, maybe even with Scouts & Guides, but I have never heard it sung or heard of it here.

I'd be interested to know if any other Oz 'Catters have heard it sung in Oz.

Helen

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: open mike
Date: 15 May 06 - 03:40 PM

I once sang it at a folk estival
and was happily surprised when
a few in the audience struck up
with the round.

Girls Scouts, no doubt!

What a great contribution
scouting has made to the
body of music that exists
in many of our minds!~!

makes me want to revive the
camp songs music thread...
or at least visit the
mudcat campfire thread..

rise up oh, flame......

Subject: RE: Origins: White Coral Bells
From: GUEST
Date: 15 May 06 - 01:53 PM

Hi...we sang it a Huntington Camp in Traverse City , Michigan in the late 40's early 50's as a 3 way round...LOVED IT!! and have a huge plot of lily of the valley still today. Barbara

Subject: RE: White Coral Bells: date? provenance?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 25 Jan 05 - 08:57 PM

"The Ditty Bag," 1946, is still the earliest printed reference found so far.
It seems to have appeared in both the Burdett and Follett series of school song books in the mid 50s.
In the Follett series "Together We Sing," it is in the 1956 edition, but not in my 1952 edition.

Subject: RE: White Coral Bells: date? provenance?
From: GUEST,mike
Date: 25 Jan 05 - 08:02 PM

I learned it in music class in elementary school in northern Minnesota in the late 50s.

Subject: RE: White Coral Bells: date? provenance?
From:
Date: 21 Nov 03 - 07:45 AM

About "White Coral Bells"---I learned it at Camp Fire Girls Camp in Texas in about 1954. Many years later, I was visiting historic Williamsburg and in one of the restored houses, I saw an object made of a curved metal wire with a wooden handle. From the wire were suspended a dozen or so little white beads made of coral, fashioned to look like bell-shaped flowers. It looked just like a lilly-of-the-valley stalk. The label said something like, "Coral Bells: Used in the Colonial Period as a baby's rattle." Suddenly I could hear "White Coral Bells" in my mind, and the words made sense for the first time.

Shirley

Subject: RE: White Coral Bells: date? provenance?
From: open mike
Date: 05 Oct 03 - 03:46 PM

Bells of Ireland have a wonderful spicy/peppery fragrance and the seeds like to be frozen to encourage them to sprout..

Subject: RE: White Coral Bells: date? provenance?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Oct 03 - 02:30 PM

Should have spelled it Moluccella. See picture at: Bells of Ireland

Subject: RE: White Coral Bells: date? provenance?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Oct 03 - 02:22 PM

Bells-of-Ireland usually called Green Shell Flower here (western Canada). Our season is a little short, but this annual will grow here with a little protection.
I guess it got its name from the color, but it is an eastern Mediterranean plant, imported into Ireland (Molucella laevis).

Subject: RE: White Coral Bells: date? provenance?
From: open mike
Date: 05 Oct 03 - 01:23 PM

I always think of the chorus of Rosalie Sorrels' song about Bells of Ireland when I hear WCB. It goes:

These are the bells of Ireland
That in my garden grow
My great grandmother brought the seeds
From Ireland long ago
Their music it is sweet and sad
Like orphan angels sing
If you listen in your heart you'll
Hear those Bells of Ireland ring.

Subject: RE: White Coral Bells: date? provenance?
From:
Date: 05 Oct 03 - 12:01 PM

I was born in '58... learned WCB from my mother, who learned it when *she* was a girl scout (i.e. in the late 30s-early 40s).

Cheers,

Vikki Appleton Fielden

Subject: RE: White Coral Bells: date? provenance?
From: GUEST,Allan S.
Date: 15 Aug 03 - 07:01 PM

We sang it in a church youth group in 1943