Lyr Req: Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree

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Lyr Req: Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree

11 Feb 08 - 09:07 AM (#2259360)
Subject: Lyr Req: UnderneaththeSpreadingChestnut tree
From: Mr Happy

The title boxes on here are too short!

Anyone have the words for 'Underneath the spreading Chestnut Tree?

It's an action song, & from the vague bits I remember, the chorus goes:

'Oh how happy I would be

'neath the spreading chestnut tree'

pointing to chest, & head [nut] , then spreading arms & hands above head like a tree.

11 Feb 08 - 09:17 AM (#2259368)
Subject: LYR ADD: UNDER THE SPREADING CHESTNUT TREE
From: Sorcha

UNDER THE SPREADING CHESTNUT TREE

Verse 1:
Under the spreading chestnut tree,
Where I knelt upon my knee,
We were as happy as could be,
Under the spreading chestnut tree.

Verse 2:
Under the spreading chestnut ____,
(Replace 'tree' with action:
Place arms close to side, bent upward
from the elbow, hands spread, with palms up)

Where I knelt upon my knee,
We were as happy as could be,
Under the spreading chestnut ____.
(Replace 'tree' with action as above)

Verse 3:
Under the spreading chest___ _____
(Replace 'nut' and 'tree' with actions:
For 'nut', pat head with hands.
For 'tree', do action as above)

Where I knelt upon my knee,
We were as happy as could be,
Under the spreading chest___ _____
(Replace 'nut' and 'tree' with actions as above.)

Verse 4:
Under the spreading ________ _____
(Replace 'chest', 'nut' and 'tree' with actions:
For 'chest', tap chest with both hands.
For 'nut' and 'tree', do actions as above.)

Where I knelt upon my knee,
We were as happy as could be,
Under the spreading ________ _____
(Replace 'chest', 'nut' and 'tree' with actions as above.)

Verse 5:
Under the _________ ________ _____
(Replace 'spreading', 'chest', 'nut' and 'tree'
with actions: For 'spreading', spread arms wide.
For 'chest', 'nut' and 'tree', do actions as above.)

Where I knelt upon my knee,
We were as happy as could be,
Under the _________ ________ _____
(Replace 'spreading', 'chest', 'nut' and 'tree'
with actions as above.)

Verse 6:
Under the _________ ________ _____
(Replace 'spreading', 'chest', 'nut' and 'tree'
with actions as above.)

Where I knelt upon my knee,
(Replace 'knee' with action: strike knee with hand)

We were as happy as could be,
Under the _________ ________ _____
(Replace 'spreading', 'chest', 'nut' and 'tree'
with actions as above.)

From:http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/u005.html

11 Feb 08 - 09:23 AM (#2259372)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: UnderneaththeSpreadingChestnut tree
From: Mr Happy

Thanks Sorch.

Other bits I recall were 'When I sat you on my knee'

Are there other more 'adult' lyrics?

11 Feb 08 - 10:10 AM (#2259400)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: UnderneaththeSpreadingChestnut tree
From: Newport Boy

One verse from the 1940s

Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
Mr Churchill said to me
If you want to get your gas mask free
You must join the ARP

ARP was Air Raid Precautions, and the line referred to the Air Raid Wardens - those not suited to the Home Guard.

Phil

11 Feb 08 - 10:12 AM (#2259403)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: UnderneaththeSpreadingChestnut tree
From: Mr Happy

Yes, that's exactly the sort've verse I'm after, thanks.

Any more?

11 Feb 08 - 11:26 AM (#2259459)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: UnderneaththeSpreadingChestnut tree
From: dick greenhaus

Under the spreading chestnut tree
The village idiot sat
Amusing himself by abusing himself
And catching it in his hat.

11 Feb 08 - 11:31 AM (#2259467)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: UnderneaththeSpreadingChestnut tree
From: Mr Happy

HWLOL!!

[Howling with lafter LOL!}

11 Feb 08 - 11:39 AM (#2259479)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: UnderneaththeSpreadingChestnut tree
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh

".. I sold you, and you sold me."

(in Orwell's "1984")

11 Feb 08 - 12:41 PM (#2259539)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: UnderneaththeSpreadingChestnut tree
From: GUEST,Hootenanny

A slight variation on Dick Greenhaus's posting above which my cousin used to do as a recitation. I don't relate it to the song requested.

Beneath the spreading chestnut tree
The village parson sat
Amusing himself,abusing himself
And making a c_ _ t with his hat.

Hoot

23 Oct 08 - 06:00 AM (#2473511)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
From: Emma B

Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
Where I held you on my knee
Oh how happy we could be!
'Neath the spreading chestnut tree

Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
Where I held you on my knee
There we'll raise a family
'Neath the spreading chestnut tree

Want the actions too? :)

23 Oct 08 - 06:14 AM (#2473518)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
From: Emma B

Interesting historical note . . . . . .

'Long before Longfellow penned his verses about the village smithy, rural Englishmen were singing a hippety-hopping tune to the words:

Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
I loved her and she loved me.
There she used to sit upon my knee
'Neath the spreading chestnut tree.

Last year, when King George VI visited a boys' camp in England, the boys entertained him by singing it with gestures, and (before a battery of newsreel Cameras) the King himself joined in with a right royal will (see cut). Weeks later the newsreel reached a small cinema theatre at Juan-les-Pins on the French Riviera.
In the audience was a jumpy, pink-eyed little Czech composer named Jaromir Weinberger, world-famed for his lilting opera Schwanda der Dudelsackpfeifer. Composer Weinberger was much struck. Said he: "I liked this whole scene very much and I said to myself: 'This is the theme for which you, Jaromir, shall write variations and a fugue.'"

From Time magazine
Monday, Oct. 23, 1939

23 Oct 08 - 06:17 AM (#2473519)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
From: GUEST,Suffolk Miracle

Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
I loved him and he loved me
There I sat upon his knee
Underneath the spreading chestnut tree.

Underneath the spreading chestnut tree,
There I sat upon my knee
We were as happy as could be
Underneath the spreading chestnut tree.

Underneath the spreading chestnut tree,
There he said he'd marry me
[Can't remember the next line]
Underneath the spreading chestnut tree.

23 Oct 08 - 06:19 AM (#2473521)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
From: Mr Happy

Thanks all,

Any more verses?

23 Oct 08 - 06:20 AM (#2473523)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
From: Mr Happy

'There I sat upon my knee?'

How?

23 Oct 08 - 12:07 PM (#2473818)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
From: Emma B

It even got into Orwell's '1984' !

Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me
There lie they, and here lie we
Under the spreading chestnut tree

23 Oct 08 - 12:25 PM (#2473837)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
From: Mr Happy

Great folks!

Keep 'em coming!

23 Oct 08 - 12:43 PM (#2473857)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Underneath the spreading chestnut tre
From: GUEST,Newport Boy (no cookie)

Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
Winston Churchill said to me
'If you want to get your gas mask free
You must join the ARP'

1940-41 - ARP = Air Raid Precautions, used as abbreviation for the voluntary wardens.

Phil

25 Oct 08 - 11:01 PM (#2476211)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
From: Jim Dixon

From:
Rees, Nigel. Brewer's Famous Quotations. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006, page 294:

'The Village Blacksmith' (1842)—one of the most parodied and plundered of verses. In the 19th century there were musical settings by several composers, but that by W. H. Weiss (1820-67), dating from 1854, was the most popular. There was then a lull until a song was written called 'The Chestnut Tree' in 1938. This was a joint effort by Jimmy Kennedy, Tommie Connor and Hamilton Kennedy:

The actual blacksmith only manages to make an appearance in this song by exclaiming 'Chest...nuts!'—which gave rise to interesting gestures by performers. Instruction as to how to do these were given on the sheet music for this 'novelty singing dance sensation'.

04 Aug 10 - 04:35 PM (#2958298)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Underneath the Spreading Chestnut Tree
From: GUEST

Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you, and you sold me;
There lie they, and here lie we,
Under the spreading chestnut tree.

04 Aug 10 - 04:56 PM (#2958315)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Underneath the Spreading Chestnut Tree
From: Amos

Not to be confused with:

Under the spreading chestnut tree
The village smithy stands.
The smith, a mighty man is he
With large and sinewy hands.
And the muscles on his mighty arms
Stand out like soft-shelled clams.

A

04 Aug 10 - 06:04 PM (#2958371)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Underneath the Spreading Chestnut Tree
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Is the Longfellow original still taught in school, or was my generation, steam-dozen years ago, the last burdened with the poem?

04 Aug 10 - 08:17 PM (#2958457)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Underneath the Spreading Chestnut Tree
From: Amos

I thik my school was one of the last to impose it.

UNDER a spreading chestnut tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms                 5
Are strong as iron bands.

His hair is crisp, and black, and long,
His face is like the tan;
His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whate'er he can,         10
And looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man.

Week in, week out, from morn till night,
You can hear his bellows blow;
You can hear him swing his heavy sledge         15
With measured beat and slow,
Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low.

04 Aug 10 - 08:31 PM (#2958468)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Underneath the Spreading Chestnut Tree
From: Nick E

Does not George Orwell Riff on this in 1984?

04 Aug 10 - 10:32 PM (#2958512)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Underneath the Spreading Chestnut Tre
From: Jim Dixon

There's another thread called Lyr Req: Underneath the spreading chestnut tree which contains the Longfellow poem.

18 Oct 10 - 03:19 PM (#3010025)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree
From: GUEST

Hi I've a friend who remembers her Mother singing this song......but the only words she can remember is

Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
Hitler dropped a bomb on me

Has anyone heard this version and do they know the rest of the words.

Many Thanks

Jeanette
E-MAIL jintsnunn@aol.co.uk

18 Oct 10 - 03:31 PM (#3010035)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree
From: GUEST,Songbob

I recall a local DC-area rock musician (whose name I can't recall) who had a wonderful song that went like this:

Under the spreading chestnut tree the Village Smithy stands,
With his anvil in his pocket and his suitcase in his hands.
His bellows has been punctured, and his hammer is in hock --
It would have been better to have kept it, but he only has one pocket.
He got forty-seven cents for it, and now he's lost the ticket;
He does not know he was jobbed, but then the smithy's kind of thick, it
Is a pity, what a pity, how we treat our smithies these days.

In actual fact, a "smithy" is the smith's place of work -- the shop, as it were -- and not the man. The man is the smith, the shop is the smithy, and the location is under a blighted tree.

Bob

PS -- The song above was later rewritten, so folks who were around in the 70s may recall a different set of words. I suspect Andy Wallace or Mike Rivers are the only ones I know who could tell us who wrote the thing.

18 Oct 10 - 03:51 PM (#3010039)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree
From: Jim Dixon

I remember as a kid, hearing the Longfellow poem read aloud, and thinking the line was "the village smith he stands."

Later, when I saw the poem in print, I was surprised to read "smithy," but I still didn't understand that a smithy was a place. I figured it was a nickname, like Jimmy is a nickname for Jim or James.

I can't remember how I finally learned the truth.

14 Oct 11 - 08:36 PM (#3239156)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree
From: GUEST,psnore

Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
Hitler dropped a bomb on me
Now you ought to see what's left of me
'Neath ... the spreading chestnut tree

-From my Scottish mother born 1929

13 Mar 13 - 07:36 PM (#3490006)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree
From: GUEST,Lisa H

'Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
Hitler dropped a bomb on me
Now I'm only four foot three
'Neath the spreading chestnut tree'

Playground chant when I was at primary school, 1970s, Kent.

07 Oct 13 - 10:20 AM (#3564918)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree
From: GUEST,whiskey's girl

I believe my grade school music teacher had her classes come up with our own lyrics (which is why none of these match).

Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
Eating lemon cakes and drinking tea.
Oh how happy this little life will be
Underneath the spreading chestnut tree.

07 Oct 13 - 11:02 AM (#3564923)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree
From: Eldergirl

Middle eight as sung by my ma-in-law:

I said, I love you
And there ain't no ifs or buts.
She said, I love you
And the blacksmith shouted CHEST-NUTS!

She had a music copy, but I think that went missing.

07 Oct 13 - 11:04 AM (#3564924)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree
From: Eldergirl

Sorry, ongoing spell checking trouble, you type in what's correct and it Alters it for you..
That should say IFS or buts.

07 Oct 13 - 12:11 PM (#3564949)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree
From: Rumncoke

From a misspent youth -

U t s c t
The black smith will work for free
Makes the old maids shriek with glee
U t s c t

U t s c t
If you go there then you can see
How to make two people into three
Y t s c t

But I can't remember the second life which goes with something like

but you can't do that legally

04 Oct 14 - 08:09 AM (#3665963)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree
From: GUEST,Dominie John

Under the spreading chestnut tree
[spread arms wide - tap chest - tap head - arms up high]

Where a wasp sat on my knee
[say 'zzzzzz' - tap knee]

I was happy as could be
[say 'ha-ha']

Under the spreading chestnut tree
[arms wide - tap chest - tap head]

Next verse ... replace the word 'spreading' with the action only

etc. etc. with other verses with more and more of the actions and 'zzzzz' and 'ha-ha' only ..