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Cyril Tawney >
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I Will Give My Love an Apple
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Tim Hart and Friends >
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The Riddle Song
Peri Meri Dixi Domine / I Gave My Love a Cherry / The Riddle Song
[
Roud 330
; Ballad Index R123
; MusTrad DB27
; VWML HAM/4/24/11
, COL/6/30
, COL/6/63
; Bodleian
Roud 330
; GlosTrad
Roud 330
; trad.]
Cynthia Gooding sang I Will Give My Love an Apple in 1957 on the extended reissue of her 1953 Elektra album of early English folksongs, Queen of Hearts. She noted:
I Will Give My Love an Apple is an early version of the famous Riddle Song, most often sung in this country as I Gave My Love a Cherry. I first heard it sung by the charming English Singers and later found it in Sharpe and William›s Selection of Folk Songs, Vol. I. The beautiful concept of giving oneself as an apple, a palace, etc., is very old to folk music and appears to branch from the Riddles Wisely Expounded (Child No. 21).
Tony Wales sang Piri-Iri-Igdum in 1957 on his Folkways album Sussex Folk Songs and Ballads. Kenneth S. Goldstein noted:
This song is an interesting variant of The Riddle Song so popular both in Britain and America. All are characterized by the ‘bird without a bone’ and ‘cherry without a stone’ riddles, though these two riddles are occasionally followed by one or two additional riddles. Such lines are common in various British nursery rhymes, and have also proven popular as a college song both in Britain and America. In some versions, four brothers bare a gift which comprise the riddles; an equally common form has three sisters bearing the gifts (as in this version). The refrain is probably intended to be some garbled Latin words.
This version was learned from the singing of Mr. Wales’ mother.
The Jeffersons sang I Gave My Love a Cherry in 1958 on their Topic EP Round and Round With the Jeffersons.
Sandy and Caroline Paton sang Perry Merry Dixi Domini in 1960 on their Topic EP of American songs and ballads sung as lullabies, Hush Little Baby. The liner notes commented:
This song has grown out of The Devil’s Nine Questions […]. The Nine Questions (of which a text is preserved in the Bodleian Library in a manuscript written in a hand of about 1450) tells of an encounter between a girl and the Devil. The Devil puts nine questions to her. Unless she can answer them all, she is damned. But she contrives to solve the riddles. Later, this moralising situation was changed into an amorous one. A knight meets a girl in a wood. Unless she answers his riddles, she must yield to him. Later still, the riddle section became detached from the ballad to lead its own life as a lyrical song, usually called I Gave My Love a Cherry. Perry Merry Dixi Domini may represent a form of the riddle song just before it became I Gave My Love a Cherry. The mock-Latin refrain recalls the macaronic carols popular in the 15th and 16th centuries, with their mixture of Latin and English text. The present version is reported from Taunton, Massachusetts.
Roy and Val Bailey sang Peri Meri Dixi in 1968 on their album of children’s songs with Leon Rosselson, Oats & Beans & Kangaroos and they sang it in 2010 on Roy Bailey’s album Tomorrow where he noted:
The first children’s album Val and I ever made was way back in the mix sixties—Oats & Beans & Kangaroos. Three Blind Mice / I Hear Thunder, Carrion Crow and Peri Meri Dixi were all included on that recording with Leon Rosselson playing guitar and/or banjo. This time Henry and Jessica’s dad, Dave [Bailey] plays the guitar on Peri Meri Dixi. If ever I listen to that album I’m shocked by our young voices. I liked the tracks, however, so we’ve had another go, almost 50 years on!
Sandy Denny sang Twelfth of Never in an unreleased studio demo from probably the early 1970s that was included in 2010 on the 19 CD Sandy Denny Box Set. There it is credited to Michael Webster and Neville ‘Bunny’ Livingston, but according to Wikipedia, The Twelfth of Never was written by Jerry Livingston and Paul Francis Webster, with the tune except for the bridge being adapted from The Riddle Song. Anyway, the one verse Sandy sings here is a verse from The Riddle Song.
Cyril Tawney sang I Will Give My Love an Apple as the title track of his 1973 Argo album of traditional love songs from South West England, I Will Give My Love. His version is from Dorset.
Tim Hart and Maddy Prior sang The Riddle Song in 1983 on Tim Hart and Friends’ album Drunken Sailor and Other Kids Songs. This track was later included on their compilation CD Favourite Nursery Rhymes and Other Children’s Songs.
Elle Osborne sang the Riddle Song in 1999 on her CD Testimony.
Keith Kendrick and Sylvia Needham sang The Riddle Song and Lovers’ Tasks on their 2012 WildGoose album Well Dressed. They noted:
Here, segued together are two of three songs on this collection to honour and celebrate the life and work of John Langstaff (Google him, it’s worth it!) who championed the cause of English traditional music across America for close to six decades through his mammoth work in schools and with his Christmas Revels theatrical productions, which now run annually in 10 cities across North America. Started in Washington, these Grande events were so popular they became a duplicated phenomenon all over the US, all running in tandem at Christmas Season for decades and are still rolling! The shows were a massive undertaking with a gigantic cast, made up of young school children, an adult chorus, Morris and sword dancers, renaissance/medieval musicians and special ethnic players, (varying from script to script and city to city), and others from the local community. They frequently employed some of the great names of the day from the UK like Norman Kennedy, Margaret Bennett, Ron Smedley, Bob Parker, Alasdair Fraser and Shay Black. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1920, by the time he was 11, John was a celebrated choir-boy soloist in oratorio and sacred music concerts around New York, and later a classical baritone. But the watershed event in this history was when John changed schools at age 13 to a private school in Brooklyn, whose Headmistress was Carol Preston—the most important totally unknown name in this history. By sheer accident, she was the house-mate of May Gadd, already the Director of the American Branch of EFDSS, which a few years later became the Country Dance and Song Society of America (CDSS). Ms. Preston was already deep into the traditions of song and dance and spotted John’s talent and interest. In 1935 she took him to the White Top Festival in North Carolina where John heard and witnessed the real tradition in the flesh. It totally changed his life, and thus the lives of countless others. Later, John met Maud Karpeles and Douglas Kennedy during his five years in the UK working for the BBC. He also recorded an album of traditional songs at Abbey Road under the production of a young George Martin—way before the Beatles were even heard of…;-) Ralph Vaughan Williams was a friend who frequently used John’s recordings to illustrate his lectures. John tragically died about a year after we met him at Pinewoods Camp, Cape Cod in 2005 just before his 85th birthday. He had the most amazing voice, a very open and inclusive personality and had a very special way of bringing traditional songs to life through his unique interpretations. A truly great, GREAT man.
Megson sang The Riddle Song in 2002 on their album of children’s folk songs, When I Was a Lad….
Hannah Sanders sang I Gave My Love a Cherry in 2015 on her CD Charms Against Sorrow.
Alden Patterson and Dashwood sang The Riddle Song on their 2015 CD Call Me Home.
Lynne Heraud and Pat Turner sang I Will Give My Love an Apple in 2019 on their WildGoose CD Watching for Winkles. They noted:
A version of The Riddle Song, this one was collected in Essex in the early 1900’s.
Nick Dow sang The Riddle Song on his 2020 album of love songs from the British Tradition, In a Garden Grove. He noted:
The singer Jim Burrows sang this at the Gravel Pits in Sherborne Dorset in 1906 [VWML HAM/4/24/11] . It seems to be based upon the broadside issued at the beginning of the nineteenth century which combined verses from The Boys of Kilkenny subtitled “A favourite Irish song”, with another song called The Riddle. Mr Burrows learned it “from an Irishman”, who was probably an inmate of the workhouse. The Gravel Pits stopped producing gravel in the eighteenth century and became the courtyard of the workhouse. It is now an upmarket housing estate. The pairing of the two songs is quite successful. Various art musicians have separated the two, and sang the song operatically. I shall stick with Mr Burrows version.
It is more than likely Jim Burrows and his Irish friend, were receiving ‘out’ relief, from the Parish. This involved a ten hour day slaving in the Workhouse to earn a small amount of food to eat at home. Not much to sing about! However they managed to our advantage.
Lyrics
Tony Wales sings Piri-Iri-Igdum
I’ve got three sisters across the sea,
Piri-iri-igdum, do-man-wee,
And very nice presents they ali sent me,
Portum, quartum, peri-cum-placem,
Piri-iri-igdum, do-man-wee.
They sent me a chicken without a bone,
Piri-iri-igdum, do-man-wee,
They sent me a cherry without a stone,
Portum, quartum, peri-cum-placem,
Piri-iri-igdum, do-man-wee.
How can there be a chicken without a bone?
Piri-iri-igdum, do-man-wee.
How can there be a cherry without a stone?
Portum, quartum, peri-cum-placem,
Piri-iri-igdum, do-man-wee.
When the chicken’s in the egg, it’s without a bone,
Piri-iri-igdum, do-man-wee,
When the cherry’s in the bud, it’s without a stone,
Portum, quartum, peri-cum-placem,
Piri-iri-igdum, do-man-wee.
Roy and Val Bailey sing Peri Meri Dixi
I have four brothers over the sea,
Peri, meri, dixi, domine
They each sent a present to me,
Petrum, partrum, paradisi, tempore
Peri, meri, dixi, domine
The first sent a cherry without a stone,
The second sent a goose without a bone.
The third sent a blanket without a thread,
The fourth sent a book no one could it read.
[ How could there be a cherry without any stone?
How could there be a goose without any bone?
How could there be a blanket without any thread?
How could there be a book no one could it read? ]
When the cherry is in blossom there is no stone,
When the goose is in the shell there is no bone.
When the wool is on the sheep’s back there is no thread,
When the book is in the press, no one can it read.
Sandy Denny sings Twelfth of Never
How can there be a cherry without no stone?
How can there be a chicken without no bone?
How can there be a story without no end?
How can there be a baby with no crying?
Cyril Tawney sings I Will Give My Love an Apple
I will give my love an apple without e’er a core
I will give my love a house without e’er a door
I will give my love a palace wherein she may be
And she may unlock it without e’er a key.
My head is the apple without e’er a core
My mind is the house without e’er a door
My heart is the palace wherein she may be
And she may unlock it without e’er a key.
I will give my love an cherry without e’er a stone
I will give my love a chick without e’er a bone
I will give my love a ring not a rent to be seen
I will give my love children without any crying
When the cherry’s in blossom there’s never no stone
When the chick’s in the womb there’s never no bone
And when they’re running running not a rent to be seen
And when they’re child-making they’re seldom crying
Tim Hart and Maddy Prior sing The Riddle Song
I gave my love a cherry that had no stone
I gave my love a chicken that had no bone
I gave my love a story that had no end
I gave my love a baby with no crying
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 story that has no end?
And how can there be a baby with no crying?
A cherry when in blossom, it has no stone
A chicken when it’s in the egg, it has no bone
The story of “I love you”, it has no end
A baby when it’s sleeping, has no crying
Nick Dow sings The Riddle Song
Now as I was a-walking one morning in June
By a clear crystal river myself all alone
To meet my own true love she lives down in the west
And she embraced me with her head on my breast.
I’ll give my love an apple without any core,
I’ll give my love a room without any door.
I built my love a palace wherein she may be
And she can unlock it without any key.
My head is an apple without any core,
My mind is a room without any door.
My heart is a palace wherein she may be
And she can unlock it without any key.
I will give my love a cherry without any stone,
I’ll give my love a chick without any bone,
I’ll give my love a ring without any rim,
And she can have a baby without any crying.
When the cherry’s in blossom you won’t find a stone,
When the chick’s in the egg you won’t find a bone.
When a young girl’s a-dancing their ring has no rim
And when they’re child-making there’s seldom crying.
The boys of Kilkenny they’re all roving blades,
All their delights is in courting young maids.
I built my love a palace upon yonder green
That’s fit for a duke or a lord or a queen.