Recordings & Info 219. The Gardener
CONTENTS:
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index [Two entries]
3) Child Collection Index
4) Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
5) Folk Index
6) Mainly Norfolk (lyrics and info)
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud No. 339: The Gardener ( Listings)
Alternate Titles
The Gairdener Chylde
The Gardener's Wooing
The Gairdner and the Plooman
The Gairdner
Traditional Ballad Index: Gardener, The [Child 219]
DESCRIPTION: A "gardener" comes to a lady, offering many flowers if she will marry him. She is not interested.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
KEYWORDS: courting flowers rejection gardening
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Child 219, "The Gardener' (3 texts)
Bronson 219, "The Gardener" (9 versions+3 in addenda, but #1 at least is "The Gairdner and the Plooman")
GreigDuncan4 840, "The Gardener" (5 texts, 4 tunes)
Greig #42, pp. 1-2, "The Gardener Lad" (1 text)
Leach, p. 577, "The Gardener" (1 text)
OBB 159, "The Gardener" (1 text)
DBuchan 55, "The Gardener" (1 text)
DT 219, GRDNRCHD*
Roud #339
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "The Gairdener Chyld" (on SCMacCollSeeger01) {cf. Bronson's #6}
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Gairdener Chylde
The Gardener's Wooing
NOTES: One can only suspect that this piece was made up to get in as many flower symbols as possible; at least, there seems little point to most of the imagery. For a catalog of some of the sundry flower symbols, see the notes to "The Broken-Hearted Gardener."
Child prints a text (additions and corrections to "The Gardener", p. 258 in Volume V of the Dover edition) which conflates this with "In My Garden Grew Plenty of Thyme" or something similar.
The song is also sometimes confused with "The Gairdener and the Plooman" (which see).
Although most mentions of flower symbolism in the ballads seem to go back to the Elizabethan-era symbols, it is perhaps worth noting that in the Victorian era there arose a form of flower arrangement known as Tussy Mussy, which was intended to convey meaning. The Chinese and Japanese also had art forms in which flower arrangements had meaning, but these surely did not affect British ballads! - RBW
Child Ballad 219: The Gardener
Child ---Artist ---Title ---Album ---Year ---Length ---Have
219 Alex Robb The Gardener Lad The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
219 Alison McMorland & Geordie McIntyre The Gairdner White Wings 2007 No
219 Bell Duncan The Gardener Lad The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
219 Bert Jansch The Gardener Blackwater Side 1997 1:46 Yes
219 Bert Jansch The Gardener Legend - the Classic Recordings 2003 1:46 Yes
219 Bert Jansch The Gardener Jack Orion 2001 1:48 Yes
219 Bert Jansch The Gardener Strolling Down the Highway - The Essential Collection Vol. 1 1986 1:47 Yes
219 Bert Jansch The Gardener The Best of Bert Jansch 1992 1:46 Yes
219 Broadside Electric The Gardener + The Herring With Teeth 1999 5:43 Yes
219 Ewan MacColl The Gairdener Chyld Poetry and Song, Vol. 4 1967 No
219 Ewan MacColl The Gairdner Child (The Gardener) The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) - Vol. 5 [Reissue] 196? No
219 Ewan MacColl The Gairdner Child (The Gardener) The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) - Vol. 3 1956 4:08 Yes
219 Ewan MacColl The Gairdner Chylde The Wanton Muse 1968 4:18 Yes
219 Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger The Gairdener Chyld Classic Scots Ballads 1997 4:42 Yes
219 Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger The Gairdener Chyld Scottish Drinking and Pipe Songs 1984 4:42 Yes
219 Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger The Gairdener Chyld Folk 78 1978 4:13 Yes
219 Grace Notes The Gardener Northern Tide 2008 No
219 Greenhouse The Gardener Dreams and High Hopes 2009 No
219 Hedgehog Pie The Gardener The Green Lady 1975 3:52 Yes
219 Isla Proud Maisry Isla 1998 No
219 Jean Redpath The Gairdner Child Frae My Ain Countrie 1973 4:03 Yes
219 Jean Redpath The Gardener A Woman of Her Time 1997 4:03 Yes
219 Jenny & Carolyn The Gardener Farewell Orkney 1996 No
219 Jon Boden The Gardener A Folk Song a Day - May 2011 3:14 Yes
219 June Tabor The Gardener A Quiet Eye 1999 5:21 Yes
219 June Tabor The Gardener This Is Folk 2006 No
219 Kate Burke & Ruth Hazleton The Gardener Summer's Lonesome Tale 2008 4:49 Yes
219 Lady Maisery The Gardener Weave & Spin 2011 4:27 Yes
219 Martin & Jessica Ruby Simpson The Gardener's Child Red Roses 1995 8:16 Yes
219 Mick West The Gairdner Chiel Sark O' Snaw 2009 5:12 Yes
219 Mrs William Duncan The Gardener Lad The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
219 Owen Hand The Gardener The Best of Scottish Folk Music 1967 No
219 Owen Hand The Gardener Something New + I Loved a Lass 1999 4:15 Yes
219 Owen Hand The Gardener Transatlantic Folk Box Set 2005 4:18 Yes
219 Rachael McShane The Gardener No Man's Fool 2009 3:56 Yes
219 Rebecca Fox The Gardener Birmingham Traditional Music Club - Live at the Wagon & Horses 2006 4:06 Yes
219 Shirley Collins & Davy Graham Proud Maisrie Folk Roots, New Routes 1964 4:06 Yes
219 Skyboat The Gardener Ship in Distress 1981 No
219 Sue Brown & Lorraine Irwing The Gardener Call & Cry 1997 3:20 Yes
219 The Champion String Band The Gardener The Champion String Band 1981 No
219 The House Band The Gardener Rockall 1996 3:51 Yes
219 The Owl Service Child Ballad No 219 (Or the Gardener Child) A Garland of Song 2007 5:16 Yes
219 Tim Hart & Maddy Prior The Gardener Folk Songs of Olde England - Vol. 2 1968 2:52 Yes
219 Tim Hart & Maddy Prior The Gardener Heydays 2003 3:42 Yes
219 Valerie Rose The Gardener Petals of Stone 2001 No
219 Wendy Weatherby The Gardener A Shirt of Silk or Snow 2009 3:49 Yes
219 Wren Trust Dead Maid's Land Dead Maid's Land - Traditional songs from Devon and Cornwall from the collection of Sabine Baring-Gould 1998 4:52 Yes
Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America
by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
219. THE GARDENER
Reed Smith lists this ballad among the survivals of the Child ballads in America. See SFLQ, I, 22, 9 n. I have not, however, been able to find a published text. Child, V, 258 9 indicates that this song, Seeds of Love, and A Spring of Thyme have exchanged material. Some of The Gardener may have entered America in one of these two works.
Folk Index: The Gardener [Ch 219]
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p577
Broadside Electric. With Teeth, Clever Sheep CS-1707D, CD (1999), trk# 4
Champion String Band. Champion String Band, Black Crow CRO-201, LP (1981), trk# A.04
MacColl, Ewan. Classic Scots Ballads, Tradition TLP 1015, LP (1959), trk# A.04 (Gairdner Child/Gairdener Chyld)
MacColl, Ewan. English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) Vol. 5, Washington WLP 719, LP (1963/1956), trk# B.03 (Gairdner Child/Gairdener Chyld)
Redpath, Jean. Frae My Ain Countrie, Folk Legacy FSS 049, LP (1973), trk# 3 (Gairdner Child/Gairdener Chyld)
Mainly Norfolk:Proud Maisrie / The Gardener / The Gardener Child
[Roud 339; Child 219; Ballad Index C219; trad.]
Ewan MacColl sang The Gairdner Child in 1956 on his and A.L. Lloyd's anthology The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Volume III.
Shirley Collins learned this ballad from the singing of Ewan MacColl and sang it as Proud Maisrie on her and Davy Graham's 1964 album Folk Roots, New Routes.
Bert Jansch sang The Gardener in 1966 on his Transatlantic album Jack Orion.
Tim Hart and Maddy Prior recorded this song as The Gardener in 1969 for their second duo album Folk Songs of Old England Vol. 2. The sleeve notes commented:
A gardener offers to make a lady a robe made up of flowers if she will bestow her love on him. This romantic idea forms the basis of a most winsome and lyrical ballad. It is probably of Northern origin since most printed texts are Scottish, and was given to us by A.L. Lloyd, it being a collation of several printed versions.
June Tabor sang The Gardener in 1999 on her CD A Quiet Eye.
Grace Notes learned The Gardener from The House Band's 1996 album Rockall and sang it in 2007 on their CD Northern Tide.
Rachael McShane sang The Gardener in 2009 on her CD No Man's Fool. and at Shrewsbury Folk Festival in August 2009:
Her Bellowhead band mate Jon Boden sang it as the May 14, 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. He noted in his blog:
Such a beautiful tune this. Steeleye borrowed it for a chorus for Wife of Usher’s Well, and who can blame them? Lovely lyric as well. I’ve decided to drop the last verse though because I’m less keen on it.
Lady Maisery sang The Gardener in 2011 on their CD Weave & Spin. They commented in their liner notes:
This is a very mysterious dialogue between a gardener and a woman who does not appreciate his flowery propositions. It's a Child ballad which Hannah [James] has adapted from a few different versions.
This video shows Lady Maisery at Beverley Folk Acoustic Roots Festival in June 2012:
Lyrics
Shirley Collins sings Proud Maisrie
Proud Maisrie stands in her bower door,
As slim as the willow wand,
And by there comes a gardener child
With a red rose in his hand, his hand,
A red rose in his hand.
“Oh you shall have my rose, fair maid,
If you'll give your flower to me.
And among the flowers in your father's yard
I'll make a gown for thee, for thee,
I'll make a gown for thee.
“Your dress shall be the smelling thyme,
And your petticoat chamomile.
And your apron of the celandine
Then kiss, sweetheart, and join and join,
Come kiss, sweetheart, and join.
“Your feet are shoon with yon red rue
That grows in the garden fine,
And I’ll line them with the tapitaine.
So join your love with mine, with mine,
So join your love with mine.”
“Since you have made a gown for me
Among the summer flowers,
So I will make a suit for thee
Among the winter showers, showers,
Among the winter showers.
“The milk white snow shall be your shirt
And lie your body next,
And the mirk-black rain shall be your coat
With a wind-gale at your breast, your breast,
A wind-gale at your breast.
“The bonnet that’s upon your head
Shall be the southron grey,
And every time that you pass by
I’ll wish you were away, away,
I’ll wish you were away.”
June Tabor sings The Gardener
Proud Maisrie stands in her bower door
As straight as the willow wand
And by and comes a gardener lad
With a red rose in his hand.
“It's you shall have my rose, fair maid,
If you'll give your flower to me.
From among the flowers in my garden
I'll shape a gown for thee.
“The lily white shall be your smock,
Becomes your body best,
The gillyflower to be your quill
And a primrose at your breast.
“Your gown shall be the scented thyme,
Your petticoat chamomile.
Your apron of the salads neat
That taste both sweet and fine.”
“Since you have shaped a gown for me
Among the summer flowers,
It's I'll repay you back again
Amidst the winter showers.
“New fallen snow shall be your shirt
And lie your body next,
The mirk-black rain shall be your coat
And a wind-gale at your breast.
“The steed that you shall ride upon
Shall be the weather grey,
And when you come into my sight
I'll wish you were away.”
Tim Hart & Maddy Prior sing The Gardener
Proud Margret stood at her father's doorway
As straight as willow wand
And by there came a gardener bold
With red rose in his hand, his hand,
With red rose in his hand.
“O you shall have my rose, fair maiden,
If you give your flower to me.
Among the flowers in your father's garden
I'll make a gown for thee, for thee,
I'll make a gown for thee.
“Your gown shall be sweet smelling thyme,
Your apron celandine,
Your petticoat of the chamomile.
Come kiss sweetheart and join, and join,
Come kiss sweetheart and join.
“Your glove shall be of the clover flower,
Your shoes of the rue so fine,
I'll line them with the cornflower blue.
So join your love with mine, with mine,
So join your love with mine.”
“Since you have made a gown for me
Among the summer flowers,
So I will make a suit for thee
Among the winter showers, the showers,
Among the winter showers.
“The milk-white snow will be your shirt
That lies your body next,
And the night-black rain will be your coat
With the wind gale at your breast, your breast,
With the wind gale at your breast.
“The horse that you shall ride upon,
Will be of the wintry grey,
And every time that you pass by,
I'll wish you were away, away,
I'll wish you were away.”
Rachael McShane sings The Gardener
Proud Margret stood at her father's doorway
Straight as willow wand
And by there came a gardener bold
With a red rose in his hand, his hand,
With red rose in his hand.
“O you shall have my rose, fair maiden,
If you'll give your flower to me.
And among the flowers in your father's garden
I'll make a gown for thee, for thee,
I'll make a gown for thee.
“Your gown shall be sweet smelling thyme, love,
Your apron celandine,
Your petticoat of the chamomile.
Come kiss sweetheart and join, and join,
Come kiss sweetheart and join.
“Your glove shall be of the clover flower,
Shoes of the rue so fine,
I'll line them with the cornflower blue.
So join your love with mine, mine,
Join your love with mine;
Join your love with mine, mine,
Join your love with mine.”
“Since you have made a gown for me-o
Among the summer flowers,
So I will make a suit for thee
Among the winter showers,
Among the winter showers.
“Milk-white snow will be your shirt-o
That lies your body next,
And the night-black rain will be your coat
With the wind all at your breast-o,
The wind all at your breast,
With the wind all at your breast.
“The horse that you shall ride upon,
Will be a wintry grey,
And every time that you pass by,
I'll wish you were away-o,
I'll wish you were away;
I'll wish you were away-o,
I'll wish you were away;
I'll wish you were away-o,
I'll wish you were away.”
Links
See also the Mudcat Café thread Lyr Req: The Gardener (from The House Band).