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Lyr Add: Ivy Leaf / What Shall I Offer Thee?

16 Aug 98 - 04:39 PM (#35034)
Subject: Lyr Add: IVY LEAF
From: jb3

What shall I give to thee
Dear, we must part
Something to hide away
Close to the heart

Give me an ivy leaf
Fresh from the vine
Give me an ivy leaf
Green as the pine

What shall I give to thee
Life is so strange
All I could offer thee
Surely must change

Give me an ivy leaf
Fresh from the vine
Give me an ivy leaf
Green as the pine

21 Jun 10 - 11:22 PM (#2932423)
Subject: Lyr Add: WHAT SHALL I OFFER THEE? (Septimus Winner
From: Kent Davis

At the West Virginia Folk Festival on June 19, I heard this beautiful song sung by Mary Shipley, the great-granddaughter of Patrick Gainer, who collected it from his aunt, Molly Gainer Wilson, in 1930. As far as I know, Dr. Gainer is the only one ever to record the song, which is found on his "Folk Songs of the Alleghenies" (Folk Heritage, 1963). It is also found in two of his books, FOLK SONGS OF THE WEST VIRGINIA HILLS (out of print) and WITCHES, GHOST, AND SIGNS:FOLKFORE OF THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS (1975, 2nd edition 2008). Dr. Gainer's aunt sang the song as part of a witch story, "The Sad Death of Mary Fisher". It was a song that Mary Fisher often sang as she wasted away under a witch's curse.

Does anyone know of any other recordings or sources or versions of the song? I think it may be a "folk-processed" version of Septimus Winner's "What Shall I Offer Thee" from 1882:

WHAT SHALL I OFFER THEE?
(Septimus Winner)

What shall I offer thee, what shall I tend?
What shall I give to thee now as a friend?
Give me an evergreen fresh from the bough,
Something in after years as it is now. (repeat)

What shall I offer thee? Life is so strange.
All I can give to thee surely must change.
Give me an ivy leaf, green as the pine.
Give me an ivy leaf, fresh from the vine. (repeat)

What shall I tender thee? Gifts have I none.
What to remember me when I am gone?
Give me an evergreen ere we must part,
Something to hide away, close to my heart. (repeat)

Winner's tune is different from Gainer's. Gainer's is found in his book, and I have no clue how to write it out. Winner's tune can be found here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=TiuMGgbgQuIC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=%22give+me+an+ivy+leaf%22&source=bl&ots=LupwT7zs0Y&sig=4-uXEwK

Kent Davis

P.S. Do I get the prize for longest interval between the the first and second posts of a thread?

Click to Play

22 Jun 10 - 06:21 AM (#2932531)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Ivy Leaf
From: GUEST,Russ

I was at the concert. I've sung the song for years but never heard the story that goes with it. I learned it from Dr. Gainer's book.

Russ (Permanent GUEST)

22 Jun 10 - 02:02 PM (#2932725)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Ivy Leaf
From: GUEST,leeneia

Kent, thsnks for the link. It goes to a different song, I think, but I found 'What Shall I Offer Thee' in the same book.

Whal Shall - sticks and dots

It's a charming song with a new theme. It looks to me as if the same tune could be used for either version.

I don't know if 12 years between posts 1 and 2 is the record, but it surely must be close to it. However, it's nothing like the 500 years between the guy that lost the harp-tuning pin and the guy that found it. (See thread on that topic.)

22 Jun 10 - 10:17 PM (#2932993)
Subject: Tune Add: WHAT SHALL I OFFER THEE? (Sept. Winner)
From: Artful Codger

Here are ABC transcriptions of the music for the original Septimus Winner song (per the Jerry Silverman books) and the folk variant collected by Dr. Patrick Gainer, described above by Kent Davis. Lyrics for the first have already been posted by Kent.

X:1
  T:What Shall I Offer Thee?
  C:Words and music by Septimus Winner
  S: America Sings! by Jerry Silverman
  %%MIDI gchordoff
  M:3/4
  L:1/4
  Q:1/4=120
  K:G
  "G" B B (B/c/) | d>c B | "D7" A A (A/c/) | "G" B2 z |
  w: What shall I_ of-fer thee?  What shall I_ tend?
   B B (B/c/) | d>c B | "D7" A c F | "G" G2 z |
  w: What shall I_ give to thee now as a friend?
   "C" e e e | "G" d>c B |"C" e e e | "G" d2 z |
  w:  Give me an ev-er-green fresh from the bough,
   B B (B/c/) | d>c B | "D7" A c F | "G" G2 "G7" z :|
  w: Some-thing in_ af-ter years, As it is now.
   "C" e e e | "G" d>c B |"C" e e e | "G" d2 z |
  w:  Give me an ev-er-green fresh from the bough,
   B B "G7" B | "C" c>d "C#dim" He | "D7" d d F | "G" G2 z |]
  w: Some-thing in af-ter years, as it is now.

Click to play


  X:2
  T:What Shall I Give to Thee?
  C:Folk variant based on lyrics and music by Septimus Winner.
  S:_Witches, Ghosts and Signs: Folklore of the Southern Appalachians_ (1975),
  S:by Dr. Patrick Gainer, p.152, in the story "The Sad Death of Mary Fisher".
  M:4/4
  L:1/4
  Q:1/4=144
  K:F
   A2 A c | c>B A2 | G2 c c | A4 |
  w: What shall I give to thee?  Dear, we must part,
   A2 A c | c>B A2 | G2 A G | F4 |
  w: Some-thing to hide a-way close to the heart.
   d2 d d | c>B A2 | d2 d d | c4 |
  w: Give me an i-vy leaf, Fresh from the vine,
   A2 A c | c>B A2 | G2 A G | F4 |]
  w: Give me an i-vy leaf, Green as the pine.
  %
  %    Full lyrics
  W:
  W:1. What shall I give to thee?  Dear, we must part,
  W:Something to hide away close to the heart.
  W:Give me an ivy leaf, Fresh from the vine,
  W:Give me an ivy leaf, Green as the pine.
  W:
  W:2. What shall I give to thee?  Life is so strange.
  W:All I could of-fer thee sure-ly must change.
  W:Give me an ivy leaf, Fresh from the vine,
  W:Give me an ivy leaf, Green as the pine.
Corresponding MIDIs to follow.

Click to play


You can use the converters at either Concertina.net or folkinfo.org to generate either MIDIs or PDF scores from the above transcriptions. If you want a chordal accompaniment for the first tune, generated from the embedded chord symbols, use the folkinfo.org converter (the Concertina.net converter messes up chords like 7ths), and change "gchordoff" to "gchordon".