Cambric Shirt- Tucker (MD) pre1940 Carey
[From Maryland Folk Legends and Folk Songs; Carey, 1971. The informant Mrs. Alice Ridgeway Tucker from Davidsonville, Maryland was 84 when she died in 1944 so she was born before the Civil War. I've dated this pre-1940 because I don't know the authentic date which I'm sure is much older. She sang this as a lullaby to her 12 children and grandchildren. The text was recalled by June Chance her granddaughter with the help of her mother (Tucker's daughter).
The ballad became immensely popular after a version by Simon and Garfunkle was used as the theme song for the movie, The Graduate. The book, The Graduate, was written by my 2nd cousin who lived in Long Beach, CA.
R. Matteson Jr. 2014]
Cambric Shirt
From the repertoire of Mrs. Tucker. It was a song she often used as a lullabye. According to Child, I, 6 ff., the ballad dates back to at least the 17th century. The account of the impossible tasks is well known in folktale tradition, and we have seen a version of this same song used rather effectively as a theme song for the recent movie, The Graduate. For American versions, see Coffin, p.23.
1. Go and make me a cambric shirt
Without any needle or thread.
2. Go and wash it in yonders well
Where never the rain or dew has fell.
3. Go and hang it on yonders thorn
Tha' hasn't borne leaves since Adam was born.
4. Go and buy me an acre of land
Between the salt sea and the land.
5. Go and plow it with an old ram's horn
And sow it down with three grains of corn.