I Gave My Love A Cherry- Kincaid (KY) 1928
[From: My Favorite Mountain Ballads & Old-Time Songs (1928) p.15 Bradley Kincaid was a Kentucky radio star on WLS, The Prairie Farmer Station, a powerful National Barn Dance broadcasting from Chicago. On of his biggest hits was the ballad, "Barbara Allen." In 1928 he began publishing his own collections of songs that he sang on the radio, which he sold at WLS.
This version of "I Gave My Love A Cherry" is nearly identical to Sharp A also from Kentucky (1917).
R. Matteson 2014]
I GAVE MY LOVE A CHERRY
I gave my love a cherry that has no stone,
I gave my love a chicken that has no bone,
I gave my love a ring that has no end,
I gave my love a baby that's no cryin'.
How can there be a cherry that has no stone?
How can there be a chicken that has no bone?
How can there be a ring that has no end?
How can there be a baby that's no cryin'?
A cherry when it's blooming it has no stone,
A chicken when it's pipping has no bone,
A ring when it's rolling has no end,
A baby when it's sleeping has no cryin'.