lyr/Origin: June Apple

Subject: "June Apple" lyrics?
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 31 Jan 98 - 10:02 PM

Does anyone have the lyrics to this old-time tune? Have been doing this on guitar as an instrumental and just found out there ARE lyrics, but can't make out what Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham are singing on the album "Tommy and Fred."

Subject: Lyr Add: JUNE APPLE^^
From: rich r
Date: 01 Feb 98 - 12:14 AM

The following set of lyrics to "June Apple" appears on the album: Straight Furrows In Uneven Ground by Sue & Andy Kardos and Ann Ragan (Hoehandle Records 001). In the liner notes, they state that it is a dance tune popular in southwestern Virginia and the border area of North Carolina. They add that it has many variants and claim to have heard a French version, "Pomme de Juin."

JUNE APPLE

Wish I was a June apple hanging on a tree.
Every time my true love pass, take a bite of me.
Take a bite of me, my love, take a bite of me,
Every time my true love pass, take a bite of me.

You ride the old gray mare. I'll ride the roan.
You get there before I do, leave my gal alone.
(Repeat)

Train on the island, heard that whistle blow.
Thought I heard my true love say, "Yonder comes my beau."
(Repeat)

rich r

Subject: Lyr Add: JUNE APPLE
From: Barbara
Date: 01 Feb 98 - 01:47 PM

Thanks, Rich! Your second two verses were not on the Tommy and Fred album, so I guess there are lots of variants. Ones I got from T&F include:

JUNE APPLE

Going 'cross the mountain
I'm going in a swing
And when I get to the other side
I'll hear my true love sing.

Don't you hear that banjo sing?
I wish that gal was mine
Can't you hear that banjo sing?
I wish that gal was mine.

Charlie he's a nice young man
Charlie he's a dandy
Charlie he's a nice young man
Feeds the girls on candy.

Goin' down to the river to feed my sheep
Going down to the river Charlie
Going down to the river to feed my sheep
Feed them on barley.
^^
Can't get another verse that has "rain and snow" in it. I guess with all these, I don't need that one! Thanks!

Subject: June Apple
From: GUEST,Gene Kimmel
Date: 12 Apr 00 - 10:50 PM

Would like to find the lyrics to June Apple. Would also like to suggest paying a visit to www.folkcircle.com.

Subject: Lyr Add: TRAIN ON THE ISLAND
From: Chris Seymour
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 10:30 PM

Joe Hickerson recorded some words to the tune of June Apple under the name "Train on the Island." I like many of them and have sort of mushed them into the June Apple words I know and call the resulting song, half jokingly, "Train on the Apple."

Train on the island
Hear the whistle blow
Go and tell my true love
I'm sick and I can't go

Train on the island
Listen to it squeal
Go and tell my truelove
How happy I do feel

Show me the crow that flies so high
Show me the one that falls
If I can't get the gal I love
I don't want none at all

Bring me a glass of water
Bring it in a cup
Me and my love, we fell out
Ain't never gonna make up

The band I play with does that with fiddle, banjo and singing-- sounds great

Subject: version of june apple
From: The Sandman
Date: 19 Sep 12 - 07:17 AM

http://youtu.be/_0PaGwtEyjQ only been playing 3 years

Subject: RE: version of june apple
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 19 Sep 12 - 09:18 AM

Thanks, Schweik! You did a good job, and you've inspired me to try the tune myself.

Subject: RE: version of june apple
From: The Sandman
Date: 19 Sep 12 - 10:52 AM

Thanks, Leenia, I am hoping to improve it gradually.

Subject: RE: version of june apple
From: Crowhugger
Date: 20 Sep 12 - 08:22 AM

Well done, Goody! I enjoyed the other 2 vids you've got there too. Say, for future recordings it'd be great to be able to see your hands too; hopefully you can sit further back or fiddle the camera angle or something. In any case I'm looking forward to more. Thanks for the interlude.

Subject: RE: version of june apple
From: The Sandman
Date: 20 Sep 12 - 09:23 AM

thanks crowhugger,
i was using up picking, my ringfinger was covering 1 string, my middle was covering 2 string, my index was covering 3 and 4, i was using double thumbing and an occasional roll, using 3 fingers and thumb, the roll was generally 3215 or 1235

Subject: RE: version of june apple
From: Crowhugger
Date: 20 Sep 12 - 11:16 PM

Sometimes I play more or less that way too.

Subject: RE: lyr/Origin: June Apple
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Aug 13 - 03:31 PM

According to the Traditional Ballad Index, this is usually called "Train on the Island" when sung (J. Nestor, 1927), and "June Apple" as a fiddle tune/instrumental.

"Train on the Island" is in the DT, but without citation.

The lyrics and note for "June Apple" are copied from www.traditionalmusic.co.uk

Subject: RE: lyr/Origin: June Apple
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 22 Aug 13 - 11:42 AM

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I heard Good Soldier Schweik play this tune on YouTube. He made me realize how interesting it is, so I checked the Fiddler's Fake Book, and there it was.

It is now one of my favorite pieces to play on my old piano. I recommend it to anybody looking for a good new tune to play.

Subject: RE: lyr/Origin: June Apple
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 22 Aug 13 - 11:52 AM

The J P Nestor / Norman Edmonds tune Train on the Island is not the same tune as June Apple although they sometimes share lyrics/floating verses common to many tunes.

Hoot

Subject: RE: lyr/Origin: June Apple
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Aug 13 - 12:30 PM

Obviously comparisons are needed.

Bluegrass Messengers have long discographies of June Apple/Train on the Island; they consider them the same song.

The J. P. Nestor and Edmonds recording 1927 and Crockett Ward and his Boys, also 1927, are given as the first.

Comparison is made to "Shady Grove" and "Mattie Groves."

The Messengers speculate that "Train on the Island" may have been an older tune, now lost.

Youtube has the old Victor recording of Nester and Edmonds 1927. Worth a listen. To me it sounds like several of the recordings of "June Apple" which are on youtube.


www.bluegrassmessengers.com

Subject: RE: lyr/Origin: June Apple
From: Felipa
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 10:43 AM

i mix together June Apple and Train on the Island verses as well

Subject: RE: lyr/Origin: June Apple
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 11:41 AM

I'm not going to read any of the supposed lyrics here for June Apple. Once I hear rhymes, I can't get them out of my head, and I want to enjoy 'June Apple' for its music.

It's a Mixolydian tune, and that gives it a special sound. The A part is mysterious, and the B part seems to be about a sunlit field with daisies growing in it. I have devised a 'Celtic-sounding' ending which I am particuarly fond of, and I don't want to distract from all that by having verses going through my head.

And now Hootenanny says that June Apple and the Train song aren't even the same tune!

Subject: RE: lyr/Origin: June Apple
From: PHJim
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 12:08 PM

Cathy Fink & Duck Donald included a great version of this song as "Train On The Island" on their mid-seventies record "Kissing Is A Crime".

Subject: RE: lyr/Origin: June Apple
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 23 Aug 13 - 12:10 PM

leeneia, words to "June Apple" are floaters, so you have my permission to enjoy it for the music alone.

Subject: RE: lyr/Origin: June Apple
From: GUEST,another Charlie
Date: 06 Nov 19 - 02:53 PM

@Barbara, I played this countless times with Mr. Jarrell. Most of your verses are close. Here are the complete lyrics from that particular recording...

Wish I was a june apple, hanging on that tree
It’s every time my true love passed, take a little bite of me

Goin' across the mountain, I’m goin' in a swing
It’s when I get on the other side, you gonna hear my woman sing

Don’t you hear that banjo say, and I wish that gal was mine
It’s can’t you hear that banjo say, and I wish that gal was mine

Charlie he’s a nice young man, Charlie he’s a dandy
Charlie he’s a nice young man, feeds the gals on candy

Over the river to feed my sheep, over the river Charlie
Over the river to feed my sheep, feed them on barley

Wish I had some sticks and poles to build my chimbly [chimney] higher
It’s every time it rains and snows, it puts out all my fire

Mr. Cockerham liked to have fun with words, and sometimes he would sing that last line as, "every time it rains and snows, it puts my fire out."