US & Canada Versions: 5. A Growing (The Trees They Do Grow High)
[Considering the ballad's popularity in the UK, the number of traditional versions found in North America are few. The little Scotch ballad had almost no circulation in the US south (one version in Sharp's EFSSA, 1918) and has primarily been found in the northeast US and Maritime Canada. None of the texts resemble the early Scottish ones which leads me to believe texts similar to standard English/Irish or the 1820s broadside were in circulation by the early 1800s.
This was the first published version in the US about 1880, as broadside No. 756 by H. J. Wehman of 50 Chatham St., New York[1]. The text was reprinted in Good Old-time Songs, Issue 3 by Wehman bros., firm, publishers 1914:
MY BONNY BOY IS YOUNG, BUT HE'S GROWING
Oh! father, dear father, you've done me much harm.
You've married me a man that is twice too young;
I'm twice twelve and he is but thirteen.
He's young but he's daily growing.
Oh! daughter, dear daughter, I've done you no harm,
I've married you to a rich man's son;
He'll make you a lady if you wait on,
He's young but he's daily growing.
Oh! father, dear father, if you think it fit,
We will send him to college for one year yet;
We will tie a green ribbon around about his head
To let the pretty girls know he's married.
As she chanced to look over her father's garden wall,
'Twas there she saw some men at the tossing of a ball.
Saying, my own true lover is the fairest of them all,
He's young but he's daily growing.
She bought him a shirt of the cambric so fine,
And stitched it all 'round to suit her mind;
As site sat a sewing, the tears came rolling down,
Said she, my bonny boy's a long time growing,
At thirteen he was a married man,
At fourteen his young babe was born.
At fifteen his grave it was green.
And that put an end to his growing.
There is nor evidence that Wehman's version was ever collected. Although few in number, all the traditional North American versions seem not to be influenced by the Wehman text or the British broadsides[2]. The three extant US versions seem to be quite old and Grammy Fish called her version "an old colonial song popular in the early days of new England." Since her father's ancestors were early settlers of Vermont long before the Revolutionary War, it's possible, buy unlikely, her claim of colonial circulation is correct. The ballad may have been popular in the UK (although not in the late 1700s) but there is no evidence it was popular in America (probably a "Fish" story :). Both Fish's ballad and James Atwood's ballad seem to be Vermont versions and they are similar. They date certainly back to the mid-1800s or earlier- how much earlier is speculation until a study of their lineage is considered and an educated guess made. Atwood's ballad has become quite well know as it was sung by Joan Baez in 1961 and is likely the source of Bob Dylan's reworked version as well.
"The Trees They Do Grow High" sung by Joan Baez (a cover of James Atwood's version with minor changes) recorded in 1961[3].
The trees they grow high, the leaves they do grow green
Many is the time my true love I've seen
Many an hour I've watched him all alone
He's young, but he's daily growing.
Father, dear father,
you've done me great wrong
You have married me to a boy who is too young
I'm twice twelve and he is but fourteen
He's young, but he's daily growing.
Daughter, dear daughter, I've done you no wrong
I've married you to a great lord's son
He'll make a lord for you to wait upon
He's young, but he's daily growing.
Father, dear father, if you see fit
We'll send him to college for another year yet
I'll tie blue ribbons all around his head
To let the maidens know that he's married.
One day I was looking o'er my father's castle wall
I spied all the boys a-playing with the ball
My own true love was the flower of them all
He's young, but he's daily growing.
At the age of fourteen, he was a married man
At the age of fifteen, the father of a son
At the age of sixteen, his grave it was green,
And that put an end to his growing.
Fish's version was collected twice: first by the Warners in 1940 then later by Flanders and Olney the same year. The Warner's version was poorly transcribed and two cover versions of it are currently on youtube (One by Jeff Warner, Frank's son).
The other extant traditional US version was collected by Cecil Sharp as sung by Mrs. Mollie Broghton at Barbourville, Knox Co., Ky., on May 8, 1918. It was published in the 1932 edition of English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians. It is not a remarkable or long version but it to probably dates far back into the 1800s-- predating most of the recent (1880s on) UK versions.
The ballad was better known in Maritime Canada. Karpeles collected two versions in 1929 (one melody with combined texts is found in Folk Songs from Newfoundland). Creighton collected and published five versions[4] from Nova Scotia (A-C) in the 1950s. A-C were published in Traditional folk Songs from Nova Scotia in 1950. She added two from Nova Scotia and New Bruswick (D-E) in the 1952 and 1954 that were published in Maritime Folk Songs (1962). Peacock added a version in 1958 that was published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 3, 1965. Some of the versions appear to have been brought from Ireland since they use "bonny boy" while other are standard English texts. Many of the Canadian texts date back to the mid-1800s at least since that's when the settlers came to these remote areas-- Ben Henneberry (b.1863, Creighton C), a fisherman from Devil's Island, brought his ballads to the island by the 1880s.
None of the North American versions resemble the ancient Scottish texts with Craigston's Growing. The reason seems to be that the ballad, originally Scottish, was not well known in the UK and was sung in a small area in Aberdeenshire. When the ballad circulated to other areas in the UK around the late 1700s, the local names were dropped. Since the melody was collected about 1675 in Scotland (Guthrie MSS) the ballad was surely sung by the mid1600s (since it was based on the events of 1631-1635). The first few versions were collected in Aberdeenshire and surrounding areas. By the time the ballad was printed in Scotland circa 1820s it had made it's way into England and Ireland and was widely printed in England from the 1850s onward.
R. Matteson 2016]
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Footnotes:
1. "My Bonny Boy is Young but he's Growing" dated about 1880, is broadside No. 756 by H. J. Wehman of 50 Chatham St., New York, which was the first version published in the US. The text was reprinted in Good Old-time Songs, Issue 3 by Wehman bros., firm, publishers 1914.
2. The Wehman broadside is identified by some unusual text-- particularly the 5th stanza which begins: "She bought him a shirt of the cambric so fine". The single Scottish and many English broadsides also have identifiers not found in North American versions.
3. Joan Baez, Vol. 2, Vanguard VRS 9094, released in 1961. The album notes do not mention Atwood or Sturgis, the collector.
4. Creighton's B version was the same as A except for a few changes which were given, however, it seems likely more changes were not given-- as even the title of B doesn't agree with the text of A.
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CONTENTS: (The texts may be accessed by clicking on the highlighted title below or on the titles attached to this page on left hand column- green border)
1) My Bonny Boy is Young, But He's Growing- (NY) c. 1880 Wehman broadside
2) Still Growing- Mollie Broghton (KY) 1918 Sharp
3) Daily Growing- James Atwood (VT) 1919 Sturgis
4) Daily Growing- Bridget Hall (NL)1929 Karpeles A, B
5) Young But A Daily Growing- Grammy Fish (NH) 1940
6) Young, but Daily Growing- Charles Brink (PA) 1949 Bayard
7) He's Young- Mrs. Duncan (NS) 1950 Creighton A
8) Trees They Do Grow- John Bray(NS)1950 Creighton B
9) He's Young- Ben Henneberry (NS) 1950 Creighton C
10) He is Young- Nathan Hatt (NS) 1952 Creighton D
11) My Bonny Lad- Angelo Dornan (NB) 1954 Creighton E
12) He's Young- Charlotte Decker (NL) 1958 Peacock
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The ballad of America: the history of the United States in song and ...
https://books.google.com/books?id=kCEJAQAAMAAJ
John Anthony Scott - 1966 - Snippet view
Bonny Boy III
2. "O father, dear father, you've done what's very wrong,
To marry me to this bonny boy and he so very young,
He being sixteen years and I being twenty-one,
He's my bonny boy, he's young, but he's growing."
3. "O daughter, dear daughter, don't mind what people say,
He will be a man to you when you are old and gray,
He will be a man to you when I am dead and gone,
He's your bonny boy, he's young, but he's growing."
4. At the age of sixteen he
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Song Collecting in Newfoundland: Maud Karpeles, 1929
David Gregory, Athabasca University
Maud was back again in North River on the 18th October, and found a new singer, Mrs. Bridget Hall, who also knew “The False Bride” and supplied her with three other songs: “The Poor Irish Girl,” “Still Growing” (aka “The Trees They Do Grow High”) and “Farewell Nancy,” plus a tune for “Blow Away the Morning Dew.”
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DYLAN
”Young But Daily Growing (Lang-a-Growing)” (5:36) (traditional): one of the oldest songs in Dylan's repertoire. A recording exists of Dylan singing this song in Minneapolis in 1961. Dylan's performance but probably not his text (from Baez reworked) was inspired by Liam Clancy who recorded the ballad in 1965.
'Young But Daily Growing' was a song sung by Dylan on the Minnesota party tape and the Carnegie Chapter Hall in 1961.
He's young but he's daily growin'
Oh, daughter, dearest daughter, I have done you no wrong
I've wed you to none other than a wealthy man's son
An' he will be a man to you when I am dead and gone
He's young but he's daily growin'
For out one day as I was walkin' all alone down by the school wall
I saw the boys, they were playin' at the ball
And my own true love was the fairest of them all
He was young but he was daily growin'
At the age of sixteen years, he was a married man
At the age of seventeen, he was the father of a son
At the age of eighteen years round his graves the grass grew long
Cruel death has put an end to his growin'
Ah, the springtime is leavin' now as summer's comin' on
With ornaments and fans, the ladies all pass on
Oh, it's once I had a true love, but now I have none
But I watch his bonnie son while he's growin'
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[The info is not always correct in this edition; unknown source] The ballad of America: the history of the United States in song and ...
https://books.google.com/books?id=kCEJAQAAMAAJ
John Anthony Scott - 1966 - Snippet view
Bonny Boy III
2. "O father, dear father, you've done what's very wrong,
To marry me to this bonny boy and he so very young,
He being sixteen years and I being twenty-one,
He's my bonny boy, he's young, but he's growing."
3. "O daughter, dear daughter, don't mind what people say,
He will be a man to you when you are old and gray,
He will be a man to you when I am dead and gone,
He's your bonny boy, he's young, but he's growing."
4. At the age of sixteen he