Carol of the Cherry-Tree: Cargill (KY) pre1945 REC
[From Folk-Legacy recording. Their notes follow. This version is taken from Acie Cargill of Kentucky, who learned it from his Grandmother, Hattie Mae Tyler Cargill(1897–1945). His grandfather was fiddler Asa Cargill (1890-1937) of The Cargill Brothers String Band.
R. Matteson 2014]
Acie Cargill: My grandma, Hattie Mae Tyler Cargill (1897 – 1945) , was the last of the Tyler ballad singing family from Kentucky. The Tylers were very private people and kept their music in the family. They had their own way of tuning all the instruments and their own ways of playing them, and they only allowed family members to know those techniques.
When I was very young, my grandma used to sing to me and make me repeat the words and melodies back to her many times until I had them perfect. I guess I was the one who was chosen to preserve her tradition. I learned to accompany her on a
small homemade fretless instrument that I now know was a primitive dulcimer. In this way, my ear was trained in the various scales that she sang in. She played a specially tuned parlor guitar in a strange style with the thumb playing the bass notes and with the index finger being thrust downward all the way to full extension, and she was very accurate with the noting, as I remember.
2. THE CAROL OF THE CHERRY TREE- Susan Brown: vocal, fretted dulcimer
Oh, Joseph was an old man
And Mary was so pure,
Oh, Joseph was an old man
And Mary was so pure,
Oh, Joseph was an old man
And Mary was so pure.
Oh, yes, she was a virgin,
Of that he was sure.
One day they went a-walkin'
Near the Sea of Galilee
And found a tree a-brimmin'
With red cherries so sweet.
Mary spoke to Joseph
In a voice soft and mild,
Please gather up some cherries,
For I am with child.
Oh, Joseph became angered
By her lost virginity.
Let the father of the baby
Gather cherries for thee.
Then up spoke baby Jesus
From in his mother's womb.
He told the cherry tree to bend down,
Bow low to the ground.
The cherry tree did bend down
So low to the ground;
As Mary gathered cherries
Joseph made not a sound.
Then Joseph knelt before her
On both his hands and knees.
Oh, Mary, please forgive me,
For I have slighted thee.
Then Jesus spoke to Joseph,
You have no debt to pay;
Just respect the Virgin Mary,
My birth is Christmas Day.