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Rose Connolly/Down in a Willow Garden/Willow Garden
Old-Time and Bluegrass (fiddle) song of Irish origin.
ARTIST: from Grayson andf Whitter 1927.
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: Collected by Edward Bunting from an unknown source in Coleraine Co. Derry, Northern Ireland in 1811. Cox, in "Folksongs of the South," gives two "Rose Connoley" versions, from Wetzel County W. Va. in 1895, and Wood County in 1917. The song was first recorded by Grayson and Whitter as Rose Conley in 1927.
RECORDING INFO: Down in the Willow Garden [Laws F 6/Me I-B 65]
Laws, G. Malcolm / Native American Balladry, Amer. Folklore Society, Bk (1964/1950), p194 (Rose Connoley/Conley)
Wernick, Peter (ed.) / Bluegrass Songbook, Oak, Sof (1976), p 37b
Silverman, Jerry (ed.) / Folksingers Guitar Guide, Advanced, Oak, Sof (1964), p26
Lomax, John A. & Alan Lomax / Folk Song USA, Signet, Sof (1966/1947), # 83
Lomax, Alan / Folksongs of North America, Doubleday Dolphin, Sof (1975/1960), p267/#137 (Rose Connoley/Conley)
Leisy, James F. (ed.) / Folk Song Abecedary, Bonanza, Bk (1966), p366 (Willow Garden)
Barenberg, Russ / Teach Yourself Bluegrass Guitar, Amsco, Sof (1978), p22
Boone, Woodrow; and Roger Howell. Music in the Air, BearWallow 210, Cas (1993), trk# B.10
Brentano, Ron. Pilgrim Life with Music, Oregon History --, CD (200?), trk# 8
Clark, Roy. Guitar Spectacular, Capitol SM-2454, LP (1965), trk# 12 (In the Willow Garden)
Clayton, Paul. Bloody Ballads, Riverside RLP 12-615, LP (1956), trk# A.06 (Rose Connoley/Conley)
Forbes, Walter. Ballads and Bluegrass, RCA (Victor) LPM-2472, LP (1962), trk# 11 (Willow Garden)
Gladden, Texas. Ballad Legacy, Rounder 11661-1800-2, CD (2001/1941), trk# 9 [1946] (Rose Connoley/Conley)
Hall, Kenny. Gray, Vykki M,; and Kenny Hall / Kenny Hall's Music Book, Mel Bay, Sof (1999), p247
Hall, Kenny; and the Sweets Mill String Band. Kenny Hall and the Sweets Mill String Band, Bay TPH-727, LP (1973), trk# B.04 (Willow Garden)
Hicks, Captain & Viola. Traditional Music of Beech Mountain, NC, Vol II, Folk Legacy FSA 023, LP (1965), trk# 16 [1961-63]
Higgins, Uncle Charlie; and Wade Ward. Southern Journey. Vol. 2: Ballads and Breakdowns, Rounder 1702, CD (1997), trk# 13 [1959/08/28] (Willow Garden)
Hutchison Brothers. Hutchison Brothers, Vetco LP 505, LP (1975), trk# 8 (Willow Garden)
Ian and Sylvia. Ian & Sylvia, Vanguard VSD 2113, LP (1962), trk# B.03 (Down by the Willow Garden)
Jarvis, Ward. Old-Time Banjo Anthology, Vol. 2, Marimac AHS 5, Cas (1991), trk# 3 [1980/04]
Jones, Clayton. Traditional Autoharp, Sunny Mountain EB 1006, LP (197?), trk# B.03 (Willow Garden)
Kilby, Steve. Steve Kilby, 11/26/54, Heritage (Galax) 074, Cas (198?), trk# B.02 (Willow Garden)
Kossoy Sisters. Bowling Green and Other Folksongs from the Southern Mountains, Tradition TLP 1018, LP (1956), trk# 11
Lonesome River Boys. Cool Blue Outlaws, Sugar Hill Sug 3950, CD (2002), trk# 8 (Willow Garden)
Mainer, Wade; & Zeke Morris. Smokey Mountain Ballads, RCA (Victor) LPV-507, LP (1964), trk# 15 [1937/08/02]
Monroe, Charlie. Who's Calling You Sweetheart Tonight, Camden CAS-2310(e), LP (1969), trk# 7 [1947/03/24]
Morgan, F. A.. Cox, John Harrington (ed.) / Folk-Songs of the South, Dover, Sof (1967/1925), p314/# 91A [1915/10/15] (Rose Connoley/Conley)
Osborne, Sonny. Seeger, Pete / How to Play the Five String Banjo, Seeger, sof (1962), p44
Simmons Family. Simmons, Tommy (ed.) / Simmons Family, Simmons, Sof (1974), p12
Stanley, Peter; and Judy Weston. Greenland No More, Talkeetna 25002, CD (1999), trk# 10 [1960] (Willow Garden)
Steele, Warren C.. Cox, John Harrington (ed.) / Folk-Songs of the South, Dover, Sof (1967/1925), p315/# 91B [1917/01] (Rose Connoley/Conley)
Taussig, Harry. Taussig, Harry / Folk Style Autoharp, Oak, Sof (1967), p 46
Thomason, Ron. Mandolin and Other Stuff, Kanawha RT-3, LP (198?), trk# A.07 (Willow Garden)
White Lightning. White Lightning, ABC ABCS-690, LP (1969), trk# 7
Wiley, Paul. Comin' Round the Mountain, Voyager VLRP 302, LP (1968), trk# 14
Williams, George. Leisy, James F. (ed.) / Hootenanny Tonight!, Gold Medal Books, sof (1964), p 92 [1940s] (Willow Garden)
Texas Gladden with Hobart Smith, "Down in the Willow Garden" (Disc 6081, 1940s)
[G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "Rose Conley" (Victor 21625, 1927; on GraysonWhitter01)
Charlie Higgins, Wade Ward & Dave Poe, "Willow Garden" [instrumental] (on LomaxCD1702)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers [or Wade Mainer & Zeke Morris], "Down in the Willow" (Bluebird B-7298/Montgomery Ward M-7307, 1937)
Charlie Monroe & His Kentucky Pardners, "Down in the Willow Garden" (Victor 20-2416, 1947)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Down in the Willow Garden" (on NLCR16)
Osborne Brothers & Red Allen, "Down in the Willow Garden" (MGM 12420, 1957)
OTHER NAMES: "Down in the Willow Garden," "Willow Garden," "Rose Conley," "Rosey Connolly" "Rose Conna Lee"
RELATED TO: Rosin the Bow/Beau (melody); Sally Garden (lyrics and melody); "The Fair at Dungarvan," "Alas, My Bright Lady," "Lament for Kilcash," "Nelly, My Love, and Me," "There is a Beech‑tree Grove," "Were You Ever in Sweet Tipperary?"
SOURCES: Meade; Ceolas; Folk Index;
Laws F6, "Rose Connoley"
Warner 110, "Rose Connally" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 249, "Rose Connally" (1 text plus excerpts from 1 more)
Lomax-FSUSA 83, "Down in the Willow Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 137, "Rose Connelly" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 91, "Rose Connoley" (2 texts)
Darling-NAS, pp. 202-203, "Willow Garden" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 223, "Down In The Willow Garden" (1 text)
NOTES: The song, better known as "Down in the Willow Garden," originated as an Irish stall ballad and was collected by Edward Bunting from an unknown source in Coleraine Co. Derry, Northern Ireland in 1811:
All you young men and Maidens I pray you take warning by me,
And never court your true love anunder a Hozier Tree.
The devil and his temptations it was that came over me,
And I murdered my Rosey Connolly anunder a Hozier Tree.
O'Sullivan notes that "ozier," a form of willow, is meant for "Hozier" in the lyric.
Bunting published the song tune in his 1840 collection, "The Ancient Muse of Ireland" and this is the extent of the information we have about 'Rose(y) Connolly' in Ireland except for a text of the song taken down in 1929 by a collector, from a singer in Co. Galway. The words identify the song as a murder ballad. The unfortunate Rose(y) is killed by her lover. Although no reason is given the subtext is probably that of a pregnant girl whose lover is unwilling to face the consequences. [OLD-TIME FORUM]
The late American Scholar D. K. Wilgus who researched the origins of "Rose Connolly" outlined the connection between it and a more famous Irish song "Down By the Sally Gardens". The words of the song were written by the Irish poet W. B. Yeats. He adapted the lyrics from a song he had heard sung in his youth by an old woman in Co. Sligo.
Down by the sally gardens my love and I did meet,
A willow tree in Ireland is also known as a sally tree. The other name which Rose Connolly is known in America is "Down in the Willow Garden." Other texts quoted in the article by Dr D.K. Wilgus (he lists 71 in it - JAFL 92 (1979) pp172-195) have "burglar's" "the burglar's" (Grayson Whittier) "burgundy" (Charlie Monroe and his Kentucky Pardners, March 24 1947 released on RCA Victor 20-3416 and 48-0222) "bourbon" (Kentucky, 1961) "burglan's" (Kentucky, ca 1937). At one point Wilgus comments that aspects of the story, such as the weapon with which the deed was done, are too scattered to provide a coherence - he also indicates that there is wide variation in the description of the wine.
Rose Connolly has been mainly collected in the southern mountains of the United States usually with the "Willow Garden" title. Along with Eck Robertson and Fiddlin' John Carson, Grayson and Whitter were the first rural recording artists. Grayson, who was blind, played fiddle and Whitter the guitar and harmonica. 'Rose Conley' became a standard and was later recorded by the likes of Doc Watson, Charlie Monroe etc. Rambling Jack Elliott album, but it turns up all over the place, including such folk music luminaries as Art Garfunkel ( a somewhat prettified version on Angel Clare, his first solo album ) and the Everly Brothers.
"The Willow Garden" on the CD, as the one Holly Hunter sings in Raising Arizona.
The “Down in the Willow” tune made its way into bluegrass repertoire from the Grayson/Whitter recording. O'Sullivan/Bunting, 1983; No. 14, pg. 21.
These words are from G.B. Grayson and Henry Whitter's 1927 record, Rose Conley, while the bluegrass versions all stem from Down In The Willow Garden, Charlie Monroe's 1947 cover of the Grayson & Whitter version, hopped up in typical Monroe fashion.
The following is from Lyle Lofgren: Folk Songs of the South, a collection of West Virginia songs edited by John Harrington Cox, prints a version collected in 1915, and says it was popular in the area in the 1890s. The murderer gives a name (Patsey O'Railly) which indicates the song might be of Irish origin. Some other key evidence (G&W's pronunciation of "sabre" as sabree, for example) tells me it must have been printed at some point, perhaps by its author
The burglar's or burgalar's wine is most puzzling of all. Commentators typically brush it off as a mishearing of burgundy, as did Monroe, but that doesn't make linguistic sense (enn and ell sounds rarely get confused), and the oldest (Cox) version serves merkley wine. Some scholars have suggested that burglar's wine is a term for drugged wine. That may be true, but no one that Bob Waltz contacted on the subject could quote any source. Doped wine is the modus operandi of partying football players rather than burglars. Besides, the song says the wine was poisoned, not just drugged. I searched likely words on the internet, Webster's and Oxford dictionaries, and John Russell Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms (4th ed., 1889). This last book gave me a candidate: burgaloo, a popular pear variety at the time, identified in the dictionary as a variant of virgelieu. Burgaloo wine would be more at home in Virginia than imported burgundy.
Bob Moore: My Mother, who was born in 1900, sang this song to my family. She learned it from her father, John Duncan Sullivan, who was a wonderful folk singer. She remembered him singing it in her very early childhood; so it is at least as old as 1900. He told her it came from Ireland.
I was always interested in what the words meant in all of her songs. She told me that she had asked the same questions of her father. The Sullivan family was of Scotch/ Irish descent. Her explanation of the song was that the man was of a higher class than Rose, and that she became pregnant. His father did not want him to marry beneath his class and encouraged him to kill Rose; since he thought that his money and position would buy the boy out of trouble.
As for the term "burglars wine"; she told me that in the olden days, travelers would stay at roadside inns at night. Crooked inn keepers would dope wine to give to them so that when they went to sleep it would be easy to steal their valuables. This makes sense in that the songs murderer wanted to make sure that she did not resist when he stabbed her. Even in my early days, I am now almost 70, to poison someone did not necessarily mean to kill them. Looks like a well planned crime. In her version the last of the song was:
My race is run beneath the sun
Low hell is waiting for me
For I did murder my own true love
Whose name is Rose Conley
The term "low hell" refers to the 7 levels of hell. The lowest being reserved for the worst crimes. What crime could be lower than murdering one's own true love?
As best as we can determine our ancestor Henry Sullivan or (O'Sullivan) came to Pennsylvania in 1746. Probably from County Cork. He was a peasant farm worker or maybe a servant type. There is evidence that he was a servant to a Samuel Flowers to whom he was in servitude for 4 years to pay his passage to the new world. His offspring migrated to Tennessee around 1800 and settled in Green County. For an absolute certainty we know our family decended from a Henry Sullivan who was born in Pennsylvania around 1788. He and his wife moved to Bledsoe County, TN by 1815. The family spread into White, Warren and Van Buren Counties. My Grandfather, John Duncan Sullivan, was born in 1868, in rural White or Warren County, TN. My mother was born at Bone Cave, Van Buren County, TN in 1900. Much of the family started west in covered wagons in 1906; but illness plagued them shortly after departure and they ran out of money. My Grandfather worked in a limestone quarry in Sherwood, Franklin County, TN. This is in the Crow River Valley near the Alabama border.
My Grandfather and 4 others of the family are burried there. I suspect, though I have no evidence, that this song had it origin in Ireland. Many of the other songs he sang came from there. My mother said that he told her he learned the songs from his mother. If that is so, the song would date to at least before his birth date.
Here's some info about the related song, Sally Gardens. As published in FOLK SONGS AND BALLADS OF IRELAND:
SALLY GARDENS
Down in the sally gardens my love and I did meet.
She passed the Sally Gardens with little snow-white feet;
She bid me take life easy, as the leaves grow on the tree.
But I, being young and foolish, with her did not agree.
The name "Sally Garden" is a 17th century variation of sallow garden, the term for a
willow garden. The name 'sally' is derived either from the Latin name 'salix' or 'salyx', meaning willow ('aspirin', or acetylsalicylic acid, was developed from an investigation of the folk remedy of chewing willow shoots to relieve pain), or from the Gaelic word for the plant, "sailleach" (which itself may have been derived from the Latin). A sally garden was kept as a source for willow sprouts or osiers used in making wicker baskets, furniture and other household items but it also sometimes served as a trysting place for lovers. The theory is that over the years 'sally garden' was personified into the object of desire, "Sally Gardens;" a woman's name (see also the American tune "Sally in the Garden"). [Kuntz]
"Rose Conley" from Grayson and Whitter (1927):
ROSE CONLEY
G.B. Grayson and Henry Whitter 'Rose Conley'. Recorded Atlanta GA 18 October 1927. Transcribed from 'The Recordings of Grayson & Whitter' County CD 3517.
Down in the willow garden
Where me and my love did meet
Oh there we sit a-courting
My love dropped off to sleep
I had a bottle of the burglar's wine
Which my true love did not know
And there I poisoned my own true love
Down under the banks below
I drew my sabre (pron 'saybree') through her
Which was a bloody knife
I threw her in the river
Which was a dreadful sight
My father always taught me
That money would set me free
If I'd murder that pretty little miss
Whose name is Rose Conley
He's sitting now in his own cottage door
A-wiping his weeping eyes
A-looking at his own dear son
Upon the scaffold high
My race is run beneath the sun
Though hell's now waiting for me
I did murder that pretty little miss
Whose name is Rose Conley
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