Trees They Do Grow High- David Penfold (Sus) 1907 V. Williams REC
[From Ralph Vaughan Williams Manuscript Collection (at British Library) (RVW2/3/225). Recording has David Penfold while online MS (Roud Index) has William (Wm) but it's hard to read and the first name may have been left off. Amazingly the original version from 1907 can be heard online:
http://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Ethnographic-wax-cylinders/025M-C0037X1583XX-0100V0
The last two lines are repeated. Only the second through the fourth stanzas are heard. There are a few mistakes in the MS but not important ones. The online notes follow.
R. Matteson 2016]
EFDSS Cylinder No.49. The Trees They Do Grow High, sung by David[1] Penfold, Landlord of the Plough Inn at Rusper. The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) Collection divides into three sub-collections of Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and English recordings. The original cylinders still belong to the EFDSS, originally stored in Cecil Sharp House. The Scottish Gaelic recordings were made by Lucy Etheldred Broadwood (1858-1929) the great grand-daughter of John Broadwood the harpsichord and piano manufacturer, and by Dr. Farquhar MacRae. These recordings are mainly from 1908 and are very good quality. The Welsh recordings were made by luminaries of the Welsh Folk-Song Society such as Lady Ruth Herbert Lewis (1872-1946), and the singer Mary Davies (1855-1930). These are of rather poor sound quality. Also in this part of the collection are demonstrations of animal and sheep dog calls. The English Collection is a mixture of good, reasonable and poor sound quality, made by Cecil Sharp (1859-1924), Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), George Butterworth (1885-1916) and the folklorist Ella Mary Leather (1876-1928), among others. These recordings are also of great interest in that the tunes were to influence, and be used in compositions by Vaughan Williams, Butterworth, and Holst.
The Trees They Do Grow High- sung by David Penfold, Landlord of the Plough Inn at Rusper, Kingsfold, Sussex on May 3, 1907. Collector: Vaughan Williams, Ralph.
"The trees they do grow high and the leaves they do grow green,
The days are past and gone my love which you and I have seen,
One cold and winter's night, when you and I alone have been,
My bonny lad is young and growing."
"O father, dear father you have dome something wrong,
You've bound me to that man which you know is very young."
"O daughter, wait a while, you will quickly have a son
And a lady you will be, while he growing."
We will send him to the college for another year or two,
Perhaps that's time my love that he will do for you,
We'll buy him a bunch of white ribbons to tie round his waist so fine,
Just to let the ladies know that he's married.
She went to the college and looked over the wall,
Saw four and twenty gentlemen there, playing at the ball,
They would not let her in but her true love she did call,
Because he was so long and a-growing.
At the age of sixteen he was a married man
At the age of seventeen[2] he was the father of a son,
At the age of eighteen grass was growing over him,
Cruel death had put an end to his growing.
My true love is dead and in his grave do lie,
The green grass growing over him so very, very high,
I will sit me down and weep all the days of my life,
And will watch o'er his child while he's growing.
I will buy my love a shroud of holland so fine
And while that is a-making, the tears came trinklin' down[3]
Saying: "Once I had a true love but now I've ne'er a one,
So fare you well, my bonny lad, forever.
1. MS has William, a brother? a mistake?
2. text has "16" probably meant "17" not sure.
3. this line was not transcribed- taken from Ginger Clayton