Cherry Tree Carol- Marks (WV) 1998 Davies REC
[From: Across the Blue Mountains (An Appalachian and Adirondack field trip) online. Gwilym Davies collected 140 songs, tunes and stories from 8 different performers in the Appalachian and Adirondack mountain regions. His notes follow:
R. Matteson 2014]
Note: Various American versions of this carol are to be found. It appears to have dropped out of oral tradition in the British Isles, where most versions came from England.
Our first port of call was to see Phyllis Marks, a delightful 70 year-old who lives at Glenville, Gilmore County. Phyllis has a large repertoire of old songs learnt from her parents and her late husband and she has already been recorded by Gerry Milnes. Phyllis is blind and so singing is very much one of the joys of her life. During the course of our visit, she sang us her versions of several of the big ballads, such as House Carpenter, Barbara Allen, Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor, Lord Lovell and The Two Sisters, in her gentle but expressive way. Having recently carried out a project in Gloucestershire on Christmas carols, I was excited to discover that she has a very nice version of The Cherry Tree Carol.
The Cherry Tree Carol (Child 54, Roud 453) recorded 7 March 1998 from Phyllis Marks (70) of Glenville, West Virginia.
When Joseph was a young man, a young man was he
He courted Virgin Mary, in the land of Galilee.
When Joseph and Mary were walking one day
They came to an orchard where cherries to behold.
Then Mary said to Joseph, so meek and so mild
Come gather me some cherries, for I am with child.
Then Joseph flew in anger, in anger flew he
Let the father of that baby gather cherries for thee.
Then the cherry tree bowed down, bowed low upon the ground
And Mary gathered cherries while Joseph stood around.