Lyr Add: Over the Garden Wall (A. P. Carter)

Subject: Lyr Add: OVER THE GARDEN WALL (A. P. Carter)
From: Ralph Butts
Date: 10 Aug 98 - 12:02 PM

Thanks, John....

I see your broken heart, and raise you a garden wall...Tiger

OVER THE GARDEN WALL
A. P. Carter

My love stood under a walnut tree,
Over the garden wall.
She whispered and said she'd be true to me,
Over the garden wall.
She has beautiful eyes and beautiful hair,
She's not very tall so she stood in a chair.
Many a time I kissed her there,
Over the garden wall.

CHORUS
Over the garden wall,
The sweetest girl of all.
There never were yet
Such eyes of jet,
And you can bet I'll never forget
The night our lips in kisses met,
Over the garden wall.

There's always a will, there's always a way,
Over the garden wall.
There's always a night, as well as the day,
Over the garden wall.
We hadn't much money, but weddin's were cheap,
So while the old feller was snoring asleep,
With a lad and ladder she managed to creep,
Over the garden wall.

CHORUS

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: OVER THE GARDEN WALL (Hunter, Fox)
From: Artful Codger
Date: 17 Jun 07 - 10:32 AM

Sara Carter said "that was an old ballet given to us by an old lady in Tennessee." The song was written by the minstrel showmen Harry Hunter and George D. Fox in 1879. In the companion book for the Bear Family's set of the complete recordings of the Carter Family, Charles Wolfe wrote that the song was popularized in the 1890s by the vaudeville singer Tony Pastor and then moved into the folk tradition. Judging from the number of publishers who have issued editions of it (see the Library of Congress American Memory site), it must've been quite the hit.

The Carters sang only two verses, the first and fourth, with only slight alterations. Their melody is rather different from Fox's, but still resembles the original closely in spots.

Here are the original lyrics and an unproofed ABC of Fox's melody.


Over the Garden Wall (1879)
words by Harry Hunter
music by G[eorge] D. Fox

1. Oh, my love stood under the walnut tree,
Over the garden wall,
She whispered and said she'd be true to me,
Over the garden wall,
She'd beautiful eyes and beautiful hair,
She was not very tall so she stood in a chair,
And Many a time have I kissed her there,
Over the garden wall.

      CHORUS
      Over the garden wall,
      The sweetest girl of all.
      There never were yet such eyes of jet,
      And you can bet I'll never forget
      The night our lips in kisses met,
      Over the garden wall.

2. But her father stamped and her father raved,
Over the garden wall,
And like an old madman he behaved,
Over the garden wall,
She made a bouquet of roses red,
But immediately I popped up my head,
He gave me a bucket of water instead,
Over the garden wall. CHO.

3. One day I jumped down on the other side,
Over the garden wall,
And she bravely promised to be my bride,
Over the garden wall,
But she screamed in a fright, "Here's father, quick,
I have an impression he's bringing a stick."
But I brought the impression of half a brick,
Over the garden wall. CHO.

4. But where there's a will, there's always a way,
Over the garden wall,
There's always a night as well as the day,
Over the garden wall ;
We hadn't much money, but wedding's are cheap,
So while the old fellow was snoring asleep,
With a lad and ladder, she managed to creep
Over the garden wall. CHO.

ABC:
X: 1
T: Over the Garden Wall
A: Harry Hunter
C: G.D. Fox
S: Melody transcribed from sheet music published in 1880.
Z: Artful Codger
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
Q: "Vivace"
K: C
% Verse
G/G/ | G2E FEA | c2A G2z | ABc G2E | D3-Dz G |
GEF G-GG | ^F2d d2z | EAc B2A | G3-G2G |
FEF d2e | dcB c2c/B/ | A^GA (cB)A | ^Gee e2=G |
ccc cEE | F-FA G3 | ABc E2D | C3-C2z ||
% Chorus
GAB c2^G | A3-Az A | (AB)c ^F2d | G3-Gz G | GAB c2^c | d2A d2 d |
d2d ^c2d | eed B2G | c2c c2E | F2A G3 | ABc E2D | C3-Czz |]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Over The Garden Wall (A.P. Carter)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Jun 07 - 01:02 PM

Its popularity also is attested by its appearances in folk collections, e. g. Randolph, "Ozark Folksongs," where it is mentioned that it also was collected in Indiana.

The Traditional Ballads Index notes that it also occurs in England but mistakenly puts the names of the authors together as 'G. Fox-Hunter.

Roud 3765.

Subject: Lyr Add: OVER THE GARDEN WALL (Gracie Fields)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 Mar 11 - 06:30 PM

I suspect the following song is a parody of one of the above, or some such, but I don't know if the tunes are similar.

You can play or download this song at The Internet Archive. It's song #1 on that page. Here's my transcription:


OVER THE GARDEN WALL
Words and music by Leslie Sarony & Cecil Harrington
As sung by Gracie Fields, 1930.

Talk about the moon. Talk about the sun.
Talk about the stars that shine.
Talk about your lovers' lanes east and west.
There's a little place by far the best.

Many a Jack has met his little Jill
Over the garden wall.
Many a maiden's had a little thrill
Over the garden wall.
On a moonlight night when the moon shines bright,
Or if there isn't any moon at all,
They all cling together like the ivy did
Over the garden wall.

Many a tomcat's learned to purr
Over the garden wall.
Many a she-cat's lost a lot of fur
Over the garden wall.
On a moonlight night when the moon shines bright,
Or if there isn't any moon at all,
There's many an answer to the maiden's prayer
Over the garden wall.

Meat was made to eat. Milk was made to drink.
Chewing gum was made to chew.
Dickey-birds were made to fly up above.
There's a little place just made for love.

Wonderful things are hanging on the line
Over the garden wall.
Things that a young man never could design
Over the garden wall.
Lace all white, there's a girl's, all right,
With mother's as expensive as them all.
The father's are those with the patches on,
Over the garden wall.

There is a workhouse very bright and gay,
Over the garden wall,
Where they have cocktails and a cabaret,
Over the garden wall.
On a Christmas night they were all half tight.
The work-house master said, "I greet you all."
Where did they tell him to put his Christmas pud?
MALE CHORUS: Over the garden wall.


[The last chorus is an allusion to one of the parody versions of CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE WORKHOUSE.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Over the Garden Wall (A. P. Carter)
From: Mo the caller
Date: 22 Mar 11 - 11:38 AM

"Wonderful things are hanging on the line
Over the garden wall.
Things that a young man never could design
Over the garden wall."

Now that brings back memories. My father used to sing those lines, never remember him singing any more of it, but someone always told the story of the Christmas at my Grandmas, back in the days when music came as sheets for piano players and people made their own fun. My mother or one of her sisters were at the piano, someone was standing on a chair kissing someone else over the garden wall (or front room door). Grandma was disgusted, the music was torn up, and probably put on the fire.

I never kew it was a parody.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Over the Garden Wall (A. P. Carter)
From: Artful Codger
Date: 21 Apr 11 - 05:21 PM

I would say it was possibly "inpired by" rather than that it was a parody. The words and tune bear little resemblance to the original song, aside from the repetition of the phrase "over the garden wall." The structure of the two songs is dissimilar, even if there is some metric similarity in the major parts. Sarony's rhyming pattern, in particular, doesn't imitate that of the earlier song, and as Sarony was no slouch at crafting lyrics, I don't think he'd have overlooked that aspect--not only do the penultimate three lines of each verse and chorus rhyme in the Hunter/Fox song, but the second verse and chorus extend that rhyme internally; a clever bit of writing.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Over the Garden Wall (A. P. Carter)
From: GUEST,Co-operite
Date: 11 Mar 14 - 12:01 PM

My father used to sing this song to me - it went

Wonderful things are hanging on the line
Over the garden wall
Things that a young man never could DEFINE
Over the garden wall
Father's are the ones with ?(can't remember) on but
Ma's they beat them all   Oh
Wonderful things are hanging on the line
Over the garden wall