Blow, Ye Winds, Blow- Allen (MA) c1870 Barry; Linscott
[From Traditional Ballads in New England II by Phillips Barry published in The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 18, No. 70 (Jul. - Sep., 1905), pp. 191-214. Also in Barry's "Some Traditional Songs."
The pamphlet from which this song is taken is entitled "Family Songs," compiled by Rosa S. Allen. Music arranged by Joseph A. Allen. As sung by the Allens at the Homestead, Castle Hill, Medfield, Massachusetts, 1899." Barry adds in Some Traditional Songs:
"Comparison of this version with the several others taken down of late years in various parts of this country brings out the fact that it comes from a distinct and separate line of tradition. This appears from the refrain, "Blow, blow, blow, ye winds, blow." In the other versions referred to, — which appear to spring from a line of traditions rather English than Scotch, — the refrain was originally a list of names of flowers, in course of time perhaps becoming much altered."
The Allen family version was also collected by Linscott 1939, from Lucy Allen who learned it from an uncle circa 1870.
R. Matteson Jr. 2014]
XIII. THE ELFIN KNIGHT
A. "Blow ye winds, blow." No. 3, in "Family Songs," compiled by Rosa S. Allen, in whose family it has been traditional for many generations.
1. You must make me a fine Holland shirt:
Blow, blow, blow, ye winds blow.
And not have in it a stitch of needle-work:
Blow, ye winds that arise, blow, blow.
2 You must wash it in yonder spring,
Where there's never a drop of water in.
3 You must dry it on yonder thorn,
Where the sun never yet shone on.
4. My father's got an acre of land,
You must dig it with a goose quill.
5. You must sow it with one seed,
You must reap it with your thumb nail.
6. You must thrash it on yonder sea,
And not get it wet, or let a kernel be.
7. You must grind it on yonder hill,
Where there yet has ne'er stood a mill.
8. When you've done, and finished your work,
Bring it unto me, and you shall have your shirt.