Lyr Req: The Cambric Shirt (Ritchie & Brand)

Subject: Lyr Add: THE CAMBRIC SHIRT (from Brand & Ritchie)
From: Roberto
Date: 08 Dec 03 - 03:55 AM

Please, help. I can't understand a word in the last stanza in this recording of Child #2. Could somebody check? Thank you. Roberto


THE CAMBRIC SHIRT
Oscar Brand & Jean Ritchie, Riddle Me This, Riverside

Can you make me a cambric shirt?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Without a seam or needlework
Then you shall be a true lover of mine

Can you wash it in the well
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Where water ne'er ran nor rain never fell
Then you shall be a true lover of mine

Can you dry it on a thorn
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Which never has grown since Adam was born
Then you shall be a true lover of mine

Can you clear an acre of land
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Between the sea water and the salt strand
Then you shall be a true lover of mine

Can you plow it with a hog's horn
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
And seed it down with one pepper corn
Then you shall be a true lover of mine

Can you tie it up in a sack
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
And send it to market all on a rat's back
Then you shall be a true lover of mine

Can you deep it all in the salt sea
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
And still bring it back to home and me
Then you shall be a true lover of mine

And when you ... and done this work
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Then you may have your cambric shirt
Then you shall be a true lover of mine

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ritchie & Brand's Cambric Shirt
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 08 Dec 03 - 01:04 PM

This version is very close to those that say "When you have finished and done this work." Hope this helps.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ritchie & Brand's Cambric Shirt
From: Roberto
Date: 09 Dec 03 - 03:46 AM

Thank you, but it isn't the missing word. I know many different versions and recordings of this ballad, but I can't understand what Jean Ritchie says in this particular one, instead of the usual "finished and done" or "done and finished". Anyone has this LP? Roberto

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ritchie & Brand's Cambric Shirt
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 09 Dec 03 - 04:48 AM

In the Dr Faustus version of The Cambric Shirt, Tim van Eyken sings "done and finished". It's broadly similar to the version above, with the addition of several verses.

The major lyrical difference is that "Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" is substituted by "Tell me a riddle and sing me a rhyme". Their source is Roy Palmer's book Bushes and Briars.

The outstanding features of the Dr Faustus version (which can be heard on their Fellside recording The First Cut) are, for me, Paul Sartin's outstanding oboe playing and the dramatic build-up of four voices in harmony.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ritchie & Brand's Cambric Shirt
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)
Date: 09 Dec 03 - 07:07 PM

...and when you've gone and done this work...good ole mountain grammer.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ritchie & Brand's Cambric Shirt
From: Roberto
Date: 10 Dec 03 - 03:13 AM

Gone and done! Thank you: that's it. Roberto

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ritchie & Brand's Cambric Shirt
From: KathWestra
Date: 10 Dec 03 - 01:13 PM

Well yes, Roberto, kytrad should know! That's our own Jean Ritchie's Mudcat handle. Good song, that! Kathy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ritchie & Brand's Cambric Shirt
From: open mike
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 02:19 AM

CAN SOMEONE TELL ME JUST WHAT A CAMBRIC SHIRT IS??

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ritchie & Brand's Cambric Shirt
From: nutty
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 12:19 PM

Cambric is the material that the shirt is made from.

---- a finely woven white linen.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ritchie & Brand's Cambric Shirt
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 08:48 PM

...and the line was "Presley, Page, Rosemary and Thieme!"

As I've mentioned before a few dozen times in this forum: It's taken from the folksinging quartet we had. Made up of Elvis, Patti, Rosemary Clooney, and me.

(Art Thieme)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ritchie & Brand's Cambric Shirt
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jul 06 - 01:03 PM

Wow! I remember seeing Presley, Page, Rosemary and Thieme at Woodstock. You all should never have broken up.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Cambric Shirt (Ritchie & Brand)
From: GUEST,Dan Booth Cohen
Date: 11 Jul 12 - 04:20 AM

Milt Okun and Ellen Stekert recorded the song for Riverside Records in the 1950s.

The missing word is "fool"

Now when the fool has done all is work,
Why then you can tell him to come get his shirt,
For then we will be...

It's on the album Everybody Sing which includes tracks by Oscar and Jean.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Cambric Shirt (Ritchie & Brand)
From: Big Mick
Date: 13 Jul 12 - 04:14 PM

I guess if I were to choose, I would choose Jean Ritchie's words.