>
Joseph Taylor >
Songs >
Sprig o’ Thyme
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Anne Briggs >
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Let No Man Steal Your Thyme
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Trevor Lucas >
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I Sowed the Seeds of Love
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June Tabor >
Songs >
Let No Man Steal Your Thyme / The Seeds of Love
The Sprig of Thyme / The Bunch of Thyme / Let No Man Steal Your Thyme / Come All You Garners Gay / (I Sowed) The Seeds of Love
[
Roud 3
; Master title: The Sprig of Thyme
; G/D 6:1180
; Ballad Index FSWB163
, K167
, R090
, DTthymep
; MusTrad DB29
; VWML CJS2/9/1
, CJS2/9/3359
, RoudFS/S160616
; GlosTrad
Roud 3
; DT THYMSEED
, SEEDLOVE
; Mudcat 24409
, 110437
; trad.]
A Dictionary of the Isle of Wight Dialect Folk Songs Collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams English County Songs Everyman’s Book of English Country Songs Marrow Bones Garners Gay The Everlasting Circle Twenty-One Lincolnshire Folk Songs The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs Northumbrian Minstrelsy One Hundred English Folksongs Rhythms of Labour Songs of the Midlands Songs of the West The Seeds of Love Traditional Tunes Travellers’ Songs From England and Scotland
The Seeds of Love, sung by the gardener John England, is the first folksong Cecil Sharp ever collected while he was staying with Charles Marson, vicar of Hambridge, Sussex, in 1903 [VWML CJS2/9/1] . Maud Karpeles wrote about this in her biography Cecil Sharp: His Life and Work (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1967):
Cecil Sharp was sitting in the vicarage garden talking to Charles Marson and to Mattie Kay, who was likewise staying at Hambridge, when he heard John England quietly singing to himself as he mowed the vicarage lawn. Cecil Sharp whipped out his notebook and took down the tune; and then persuaded John to give him the words. He immediately harmonised the song; and that same evening it was sung at a choir supper by Mattie Kay, Cecil Sharp accompanying. The audience was delighted; as one said, it was the first time that the song had been put into evening dress.
Joseph Taylor sang Sprig o’ Thyme twice in 1908 on a wax cylinder recording for Percy Grainger; this was published in 1972 on the Leader album Unto Brigg Fair. The album’s booklet commented:
Popularly felt to be (with its closely related analogue, The Seeds of Love) a distant relative of The Gardener—Child No. 219. The song has frequently been collected but was not it seems, a song that appeared saleable as far as the broadside printer was concerned.
Jean Ritchie sang Keep Your Garden Clean in 1952 on her Elektra album Singing the Traditional Songs of Her Traditional Kentucky Mountain Family. Edward Tatnall Canby wrote in the sleeve notes:
A version from the Ozark mountains of The Seeds of Love, [the] first English tune collected by Cecil Sharp, and a fascinating example of the ancient flower symbolism found in every art and literature. Thyme (not “time”) is the flower of youth and innocence; rue is for experience—sadder and wiser. The primrose is bright happiness—the willow the tree of weeping. A song most expressive of age-old, worldly-wise femininity.
Cynthia Gooding sang The Sprig of Thyme in 1953 on her Elektra album of early English folksongs, Queen of Hearts. She noted:
The Sprig of Thyme uses the same imagery as does one of Ophelia’s songs. In the 19th Century this song was said to have sprung to the mind of a provincial lady, sorely tried by her husband’s extravagances, but it has since been proven to have lurked in her mind since childhood as the folk song it is. This, one of the few versions which does not wander off into another song. The Seeds of Love, was collected before 18S0.
George ‘Pop’ Maynard sang The Seeds of Love at home in Copthorne, Sussex, on 3 December 1955 to Peter Kennedy. This recording was released in 1976 on Maynard’s Topic album of traditional songs from Sussex, Ye Subjects of England. Another recording made by Reg Hall and Mervyn Plunkett in The Cherry Tree, Copthorne, Sussex, on 4 February 1956 was included in 1998 on the Topic anthology of songs of love and amorous encounters, Who’s That at My Bed Window? (The Voice of the People Volume 10).
Jean Hopkins of East Grinstead, Sussex, sang The Sprig of Thyme in March 1957 to Mervyn Plunkett. This recording was released in 1961 on the Collector EP Four Sussex Singers. Plunkett noted:
Jean Hopkins is twenty-seven and a native of East Grinstead, Sussex. Her family belongs to West Firle in the South Downs and her grandfather and his brothers were well-known singers. Jean’s family call this song You Lads and You Lasses, but the title used here is that generally applied by academic students of the tradition to this close relative of the well-known Seeds of Love. These two versions of the song occur with equal frequency (Jean’s grandfather had both) but the Sprig of Thyme variant is probably the older of the two and both are likely to have originated in the very remote past.
Isla Cameron sang Let No Man Steal Your Thyme on her and Ewan MacColl’s 1958 Riverside album English and Scottish Love Songs and on their 1960 Topic album Still I Love Him. This recording was also included in 1964 on the Topic sampler Folk Songs: Topic Sampler No 1. A second recording on her 1962 Transatlantic album Songs of Love, Lust and Loose Living was reissued in 2006 on the British and Irish folk anthology, Anthems in Eden. A.L. Lloyd noted on the 1960 album:
One of the most famous of all English love-songs, and a celebrated piece of erotic symbology. Out of this song grew another, still more famous, called The Seeds of Lave, which was the first folk song Cecil Sharp ever noted (from the vicarage gardener of Hambridge, Somerset). Also known as The Sprig of Thyme, it has wandered across to Ireland, and it is an unpublished Irish version that Miss Cameron sings here, learned from a recording in the B.B.C.’s Recorded Programmes Library.
William Bartle of Wrestlingforth, Bedfordshire sang this song as Come All You Garners Gay on 19 August 1960; he was recorded by Fred Hamer. This track was included in 1989 on the EDFSS cassette of Hamer’s field recordings, The Leaves of Life, and in 1998 on the EFDSS CD A Century of Song.
Cyril Tawney sang The Seeds of Love in 1962 on his HMV EP of songs from the West Country, Baby Lie Easy. All tracks of this EP were included in 2007 on his posthumous anthology The Song Goes On. Peter Kennedy noted on the original album:
The first English folk song of the three thousand or more collected by Cecil Sharp. He was sitting in the garden of the vicarage at Hambridge in Somerset when he heard the gardener, John England, singing quietly to himself as he mowed the lawn. Sharp noted the song, arranged it the same day and, in the evening, a young lady with a voice sang it to his piano accompaniment. John England was proud of his song but doubtful about the piano.
A 19 years young Anne Briggs sang Let No Man Steal Your Thyme at the Edinburgh Festival in 1963 where it was recorded by Bill Leader for the album Edinburgh Folk Festival Vol. 2. This track was later included on her 1999 Topic compilation A Collection.
Cyril Poacher sang The Bunch of Thyme in a recording made by Neil Lanham in Blaxhall, Suffolk, very probably at the Blaxhall Ship, in 1964-5. This was included in c.2000 on the Helions Bumpstead anthology Songs From the Idiom of the People of Blaxhall (Voice of Suffolk Vol. 10). Cyril Poacher also sang Plenty of Thyme at home, Grove Farm, Blaxhall, Suffolk, to Tony Engle and Keith Summers in August or September 1974. This recording was included in 1975 on Poacher’s Topic album of traditional songs from Suffolk, The Broomfield Wager and in 1998 on the Topic anthology We’ve Received Orders to Sail (The Voice of the People Volume 12). Another recording of Plenty of Thyme sang by Cyril Poacher with an additional fifth verse, made by Ginette Dunn on 3 October 1974 was included in 1999 as the title track of his Musical Tradition anthology Plenty of Thyme. Rod Stradling noted:
Cyril Poacher learned this fine song from George Spencer Leake, a merchant seaman from Snape who was nicknamed ‘Good Old 71’. Plenty of Thyme, or The Sprig of Thyme / Seeds of Love as it is better known—though Garners Gay seems a far closer relative to Cyril’s version—belongs to that class of songs and ballads (going back at least to A Nosegaie Alwaies Sweet… included in A Handful of Pleasant Delights, 1584) which centre around the symbolism of flowers—thyme for virginity, rue for its loss, rose for passion, willow for regret, etc. Cyril’s mildly patriotic final verse also appears in some other collected versions, possibly put there by Henry Parker Such who was the last broadside printer to publish the song.
The leading nineteenth century music-antiquarian, William Chappell included Seeds of Love as one of the three most popular songs with servant-maids of his time (1859). It doesn’t turn up in the written record until 1816, although one characteristic verse appears in a version of The Gardener printed in a Scottish chapbook in 1766. It wasn’t common on broadsides, but was widely collected in Britain and North America.
LaRena Clark sang Thyme ’Tis a Pretty Flower on her 1965 Topic album recorded by Edith Fowke, A Canadian Garland. Edith Fowke noted:
This little lyric obviously belongs to the same family as The Seeds of Love and The Spring of Thyme, but the lady in this garden is wiser than her sisters for she ‘let no one steal her thyme’. The play on the words ‘thyme’ and ‘time’ is also unusual. Most versions do not have it, but it does turn up in one given by Frank Kidson in his Traditional Tunes. His third stanza corresponds to Mrs Clark’s refrain, and his last stanza to her first and third. For other references see The Seeds of Love and The Spring of Thyme in Dean-Smith’s A Guide to English Folk Song Collections and John Harrington Cox’s Folk Songs of the South.
Sara Cleveland of Brant Lake, New York, sang The Maiden’s Lament to Sandy Paton in 1965. This recording was included in 1968 on her Folk-Legacy album Ballads & Songs of the Upper Hudson Valley.
A home demo of 1966 by Sandy Denny—where she just sang the first verse of Let No Man Steal Your Thyme—was included on the cassette Together Again - The Attic Tracks Vol. 4.
Trevor Lucas sang I Sowed the Seeds of Love in 1967 on the soundtrack of Richard Rodney-Bennett’s movie Far From the Madding Crowd (after the novel by Thomas Hardy) and on the BBC Radio LP Through Bushes and Briar.
Jacqui McShee sang Let No Man Steal Your Thyme in 1968 as the opening track of Pentangle’s first album, The Pentangle. This track was included on a lot of anthologies, the best of them being Electric Muse: The Story of Folk into Rock, issued in 1975. Karl Dallas noted in the accompanying booklet:
The first song Cecil Sharp ever collected, from a gardener called John England (!), was a variant of this song, in which flower symbolism is used in a manner reminiscent of Ophelia’s mad speeches in Hamlet. (Shakespeare probably knew the song, since it is a good deal older than Sharp; it was first noted in 1689).
Shelagh McDonald recorded Let No Man Steal Your Thyme in March 1970 for her Album.
Jon Rennard sang The Sprig of Thyme live at the Bate Hall Folk Club in Macclesfield, in November 1970. This recording was included in the following year on his Traditional Sound album The Parting Glass.
The Broadside sang The Sprig of Thyme on their 1971 album of Lincolnshire folk songs, The Gipsy’s Wedding Day. They noted:
A fine version and one of many songs collected sixty-odd years ago by Percy Grainger from Joseph Taylor (of Saxby-All-Saints), whose gramophone discs issued by HMV in 1908 made recording history. The song has been filled out by John Conolly with verses from another version.
George Dunn sang a fragment of The Seeds of Love to Roy Palmer on 14 June 1971. This recording was included in 2002 on Dunn’s Musical Tradition anthology Chainmaker. Rod Stradling noted:
George’s singing here shows a remarkable tenderness. His fragment comes from a classic of English oral tradition, which circulated very little outside England; indeed Roud shows only a dozen or so US sightings, plus a handful each from Canada, Scotland or Ireland out of almost 200 entries. The earliest printed version I have seen dates from the eighteenth century. By the mid-nineteenth the song was “not only a favourite with our peasantry”, wrote J.H. Dixon, but “obtained popularity in more elevated circles”
Oak sang the The Bunch of Thyme live at The Down River Folk Club, King William IV, Walthamstow on 19 December 1972, Oak’s final gig. A recording of it was in included in 2003 on their Musical Traditions CD Country Songs and Music.
Derek Sarjeant and Hazel King sang Thyme It Is a Precious Thing on their 1973 album Folk Matters. They noted:
A song learnt orally from Barrie Roberts of Walsall. A variant of The Sprig of Thyme.
Fred Jordan sang The Seeds of Love in 1974 on his Topic album When the Frost Is on the Pumpkin. This track was also included in 2003 on his Veteran anthology A Shropshire Lad. Mike Yates noted:
In 1971 the English Folk Dance and Song Society Festival, held annually in London’s Albert Hall, included a number of acts depicting aspects of Cecil Sharp’s collecting career. Sharp’s encounter with William Kimber and the Headington Morris Men was easily recreated, as was his meeting with the Kirkby Malzeard Sword Dancers. But what of Sharp’s song collecting? Fred Jordan had been invited to the Festival and he was asked whether he could learn The Seeds of Love, the first song that Sharp had collected, in time for the event. Fred agreed, and, came the night, he gave a performance which would have stirred the heart of old John England, the Somerset gardener from whom Sharp had collected the song in 1903. Though Fred had not previously heard the song it is still relatively well known throughout England. In 1877 Robert Bell, editor of Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England, stated that it was written in 1689 by one Mrs Fleetwood Habergam of Habergam in Lancashire. Scholars now feel that she possibly wrote down the words from the dictation of someone else, the symbolic structure of the song almost certainly pre-dating the late seventeenth century.
Ernie Payne from Hawkesbury Upton, Gloucestershire, sang Seeds of Love to Mike Yates in ca. 1975. This recording was included in ca. 1987-95 on the Veteran Tapes cassette Horkey Load 1 and in 2005 on the Veteran ahthology It Was on a Market Day—One. Mike Yates noted:
According to some authorities The Seeds of Love was composed by a Mrs Fleetwood Habergham (d. 1703), of Habergham, Lancashire. Dr Whitakar in his History of Whalley says that she was “Ruined by the extravagance and disgraced by the vices of her husband” and that she “soothed her sorrows by some stanzas yet remembered among the old people of the neighbourhood”. To be honest, we don’t know whether or not The Seeds of Love was composed by Mrs Habergham, but we do know that it was printed on several 19th century broadsides and that it has turned up repeatedly on the lips of traditional singers.
Barry Dransfield sang Seeds of Love in 1977 on his and his brother Robin’s Free Reed album Popular to Contrary Belief and on their Free Reed anthology Up to Now.
John Roberts and Tony Barrand sang Garners Gay live at Holstein’s, North Lincoln, Chicago, in November 1982, which was released in the following year on their Golden Hind album Live at Holsteins!. And John Roberts and Debra Cowan sang it in 2015 on their CD Ballads Long & Short where they noted:
Fred Hamer was an avid morris dancer, and when he went blind in the early 1950s he turned his attention to collecting folk songs, particularly around his home in Bedfordshire and in other areas not well covered by others. He used Garners Gay as the title of his first published collection of traditional songs. It’s a version of The Sprig of Thyme, closely related to The Seeds of Love, embodying notions of the symbolism of flowers and herbs common in many rural English songs. The song has been a staple of the Roberts & Barrand repertoire for many years.
Sheena Wellington sang Bunch o’ Thyme in 1986 on her Dunkeld album Kerelaw. She noted:
I had this song from my grandmother, Mary Morrison Thoms (1874-1962) who had learned it from her mother’s mother. For Auntie Liz.
Heather Heywood sang Let No Man Steal Your Thyme in 1987 on her Greentrax album Some Kind of Love. She noted:
There are lots of versions of this song and this is another of those songs which I never consciously learned. I heard it sung by an English girl in Sundrum folk club some years ago but have no idea how it compared to the original.
Whippersnapper recorded The Seeds of Love in 1989 for their album Fortune. Incidentally, Whippersnapper’s Dave Swarbrick played the fiddler at Barn Dance in the movie Far From the Madding Crowd.
The Wilson Family sang Sprig o’ Thyme in 1991 on The Wilson Family Album on Harbourtown Records.
June Tabor recorded Let No Man Steal Your Thyme in 1992 for her album Angel Tiger, and she sang The Seeds of Love live at the Electric Theatre, Guildford, on 13 March 2004. This recording was included in 2005 on her 4 CD anthology Always.
Maggie Boyle sang Sprig of Thyme in 1992 on Steve Tilston’s and her album Of Moor and Mesa. They noted:
A deceptively pretty sexual parable, different versions of which are still widely sung in England and Ireland.
Vic Legg of the West Country travelling family, the Orchards, sang Garners Gay in 1994 on his Veteran Tapes cassette of Cornish family songs, I’ve Come to Sing a Song.
George Withers from Donyatt, Somerset, sang The Seeds of Love to John Howson in 1994. This recording was included on the Veteran Tapes cassette The Fly Be on the Turmut (VT 133, ca. 1987-99) and in 2004 on the Veteran anthology of folk songs sung in the West Country Old Uncle Tom Cobleigh and All. John Howson noted:
This was the first song that Cecil Sharp noted down in 1903 from John England of Hambridge, Somerset and he subsequently collected 31 versions of the song. It is also known as Garners Gay and there are 228 versions on the Roud Folk Song Database. Roy Palmer writes in English Country Songs English Country Songs (1979) “;The earliest printed version I have seen is an eighteenth century slip song, The Red Rose Bud, though the song may date back to the previous century. There is a Lancashire tradition, almost certainly unfounded, that it was written by a Mrs Fleetwood Habergham. This song was popular all around Britain. Other recordings can be heard on EFDSSCD02 A Century of Song sung by Billy Bartel of Bedfordshire and VTD148CD A Shropshire Lad. sung by Fred Jordan. George first learned the song at school.
Sarah McQuaid sang an unusual version of Sprig of Thyme in 1997 on her first CD, When Two Lovers Meet. Her version can be found in the “Notes on the Songs” section of Sabine Baring-Gould’s Songs of the West (1913); it was collected from Joseph Dyer of Mawgan in Pyder. Sarah McQuaid noted:
I learned this song, in thoroughly appropriate trad fashion, from my mother. There are a lot of songs in the Irish, English and Scottish folk traditions that are based on a similar theme, with thyme signifying innocence/virginity. However, I haven’t come across this particular version anywhere else.
Coope Boyes & Simpson sang The Sprig of Thyme in 1998 on their No Masters CD Hindsight with almost identical words as Joseph Taylor sang. They noted:
From Joseph Taylor of Saxby All Saints, Linconshire, one of Barry [Coope]’s favourite singers—not only for the quality of his voice and performance but also for the fact that he sang for money. His repertoire of songs has been used by numerous Revival luminaries. This song is from one of the earliest recordings of English traditional songs on wax cylinders made by Percy Grainger in July 1906.
John Roberts & Tony Barrand sang Sprig of Thyme on their 1998 album of English folksongs collected by Percy Grainger, Heartoutbursts.
Magpie Lane with Joanne Acty in lead sang The Seeds of Love in 1998 on their Beautiful Jo CD Jack-in-the-Green. They noted:
The first folk song ever collected by Cecil Sharp was a version of The Seeds of Love, from a Somerset gardener named John England, in 1903. Our arrangement is based on the version sung by woodcutter, hop-pole puller, poacher and marbles champion George ‘Pop’ Maynard (1872-1962) from Copthorne on the Sussex/Surrey border.
Andy Turner also sang The Seeds of Love both solo and with Magpie Lane as the 16 May 2014 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week.
Chris Wood sang Seeds of Love in 1999 on his and Jean François Vrod’s CD Crossing. He noted:
Taught to me by Martin Carthy, collected by W. Percy Merrick from Henry Hills of Lodsworth, West Sussex [VWML RoudFS/S160616] .
Niamh Parsons sang In My Prime in 2000 as the title track of her Green Linnet album In My Prime and at the 2009 Irish Folk Festival: Between Now and Then tour in Germany. She noted on her album:
A song Anne [Parsons-Dunne] and myself have been singing for years, ever since Anne learnt it from Jacqui McShee from a Pentangle album about 25 years ago.
Margaret Bennett sang Bonnie Bunch o Thyme in 2001 on her Foot Stompin’ CD In the Sunny Long Ago…. She noted:
There are versions of this song all over the English-speaking world. When it comes to warning against anyone ‘stealing your thyme’ I am equally inclined to write ‘time’ these days. According to the modern day press time seems to be at a greater premium than thyme, the ancient symbol for virginity. Either way, the word of caution is no bad thing. I have to admit it’s the chorus that makes me keep singing it for I love to hear folk join in.
Terry Yarnell sang The Seeds of Love in 2001 on his Tradition Bearers CD A Bonny Bunch. He noted:
Much has been written on the mixing of this song and the sprig of thyme and also concerning its connections with The Gardener. (See The Everlasting Circle by James Reeves; The Seeds of Love by Stephen Sedley, and others). I think the flower symbolism can be listed once again:
Rose Passionate love Violet Modesty Lily Purity Pink Courtesy Willow Unhappy love Thyme Hope / activity Rue Regret / disdain Hyssop Humility / cleanliness It was the very fine hexatonic tune that attracted me to this particular version of this lovely song.
Martin Young sang Come All You Garners Gay on his 2001 CD Botany Bay.
Jim Moray sang The Seeds of Love on his 2003 album Sweet England.
Logic sang The Bunch of Thyme in 2004 on their album Shades of Ireland.
Sarah Morgan sang The Sprig of Thyme in 2005 on the Hampshire half of the Forest Tracks album Folk Songs From Hampshire and Dorset. Paul March noted:
From the singing of David Marlow in Basingstoke Workhouse, September 1906 [VWML GG/1/9/547] , with additions from Moses Blake, Emery Down, Lyndhurst, May 1906 [VWML GG/1/5/270] .
Purslow describes this as “A ‘classic’ of English folk song which has now become somewhat intermingled with The Seeds of Love. Unfortunately the issue has become even more confused as the tunes of the two songs have become almost interchangeable. Both songs were printed by just about every press in England during the last century (19th), usually in confused versions and under an assortment of names.”
Audrey Smith sang Garners Gay on the 2005 Musical Tradition anthology of Songs From the Golden Fleece in Stroud. Rod Stradling noted:
I got this from Fred Hamer’s book of the same name, collected from William Bartle of Bedfordshire, not far from where I lived in Northamptonshire. It’s an extremely popular song (with 228 Roud instances), and just a part of that even bigger family of songs centred around flower/plant symbolism.
Lauren McCormick and Emily Portman sang Seeds of Love in 2007 on their privately issued EP Lauren McCormick & Emily Portman.
Eliza Carthy and Norma Waterson sang Bunch of Thyme in 2010 on their Topic CD Gift. A live recording from the Union Chapel in November 2010 was released in the following year on the DVD and CD The Gift Band Live on Tour. They noted on the original album:
This is one of those things that most traditional singers have a version of, and the verses are floating and shared by many different songs. A song like this sifts in through the top of your head over the years. We have no idea where we learned it.
This video shows Norma Waterson singing Bunch of Thyme, accompanied by Martin Carthy and Chris Parkinson, at the Royal Oak, Lewes on 18 March 2010:
Jon Boden sang I Sowed the Seeds of Love as the 17 February 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. He also sang Seeds of Love on Bellowhead’s 2014 album Revival where he noted:
Although the melody used here is not the traditional one, Seeds of Love is a totem of English folk song. It was the first folk song ‘collected’ by Cecil Sharp, who due to his work discovering and documenting folk songs and dances in the early 20th century became the founding father of the revival of English folklore. Sharp famously heard this song being sung by gardener John England in Hambridge, Somerset in 1903. Sharp eventually travelled extensively collecting songs and dances, including visiting the United States where in states such as Virginia and North Carolina he collected versions of English folk songs that had survived the trans-Atlantic passage of emigration. Fine Sally, elsewhere on this album is an example of that geographical spread. In 1911 Sharp founded what has become the English Folk Dance and Song Society, the body now responsible for archiving and promoting these traditions. Its headquarters in Regent’s Park is named after Sharp. His influence is often felt in unlikely places, the title of this song providing the inspiration for the Tears for Fears album of the same name.
Steve Roud included The Seeds of Love in 2012 in The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. Bella Hardy sang it a year later on the accompanying Fellside CD The Liberty to Choose. She also sang Sprig of Thyme on her 2022 CD Love Songs, where she noted:
Joseph Taylor sang this to Percy Grainger in 1908. I sing it in memory of Lincolnshire folk singer / collector Brian Dawson.
Lady Maisery sang Let No Man Steal Your Thyme in 2013 on their CD Mayday. They commented:
Tales of love and loss will always resonate through time, and Let No Man Steal Your Thyme is part of a tradition of love songs which use heavy botanical symbolism to tell a story. It is another warning song, this time cautioning of the dangers of false lovers and we learnt it from a recording of Anne Briggs.
Josienne Clarke sang Let No Man Steal Your Thyme in 2014 on her and Ben Walker’s CD Nothing Can Bring Back the Hour.
Alice Jones sang The Sprig of Thyme on 2014 on her and Pete Coe’s album celebrating the legacy of Frank Kidson, The Search for Five Finger Frank.
Peter and Barbara Snape sang Sprig of Thyme in 2014 on their CD Snapenotes. They noted:
The origin of this song is thought to be derived from a poem by Mrs Fleetwood of Habergham Hall, near Burnley. She died in 1703. She wrote it to console herself when, in 1689, her husband’s extravagances finally led to the loss of the family estate. Although there are many versions of this song all over Britain, this has to be my favourite. From Modern Songs and Ballads of Lancashire, published in 1866.
Rosie Upton sang The Seeds of Love in 2014 on her CD Basket of Oysters. She noted:
Another song learnt from my grandmother who in turn learnt it from her mother. This is very similar to a version collected by Cecil Sharp from Joseph Alcock [VWML CJS2/9/3359] of Sibford Gower, the next village to Brailes just over the border in Oxfordshire. I wouldn’t have dared ask my grandmother if the understood the symbolism!
Kirsty Potts sang The Seeds of Love on her 2015 album The Seeds of Life. She noted:
I learnt this from the singing of Stephanie Norgard and Eileen Conn and their gem of an album Leaves So Green—Traditional English Songs (1998) after I saw them perform at Dartmoor Folk Club in 2001. I have varied the tune slightly in my own way of singing it.
Nick Dow sang The Seeds of Love on his 2016 album The Devil in the Chest. He noted:
From George Wyatt of Blue Bowl, West Harptree, 1905 [VWML CJS2/10/515] , one of Sharps’ informants. He and his wife Lydia lived in an old ‘key cottage’ and were well known and liked in the village. There is a biography of them both in the EFDSS book Still Growing. I found out that the cottage was pulled down due to flooding, but the pub where he may have sung is s till there.
This version of the Seeds of Love has a phenomenal tune.
Cupola:Ward sang Sprig of Thyme on their 2016 album Bluebell. They noted:
We have had some fun with the timing of this traditional ballad about how life flies by, especially if you fall in with the wrong people! Doug [Eunson] composed the optimistic and joyful tune [Playing for Thyme] in the middle.
Chris Foster sang The Seeds of Love in 2017 on his CD Hadelin. He noted:
The first folk song Cecil Sharp collected was sung by John England at Hambridge, Somerset in 1903. Sixty years later, it was one of the first songs I learned, off an E.P. by Cyril Tawney, when I signed up for the big folk music scare at Yeovil Folk Club. Now, just over a hundred years after it was collected, I’ve revisited the song, having not sung in since the 1960s.
Melrose Quartet sang The Seeds of Love on their 2017 CD Dominion. They noted:
A collection of less well-known versions of this archetypal gardener-as-lover song, based around a melody collected by Ella Mary Leather in Wembley, Herefordshire.
Bob and Gill Berry sang Sprig of Thyme on their 2018 WildGoose CD Echoes of Alfred, where they noted:
This song is widely popular and is generally sung as a sweet ditty. We see it as a more despairing style of song with some great herb lore depicting the frailties of the human condition. This version was collected by Alfred Williams from David Sawyer with the first verse by George W. Gardiner from Mary A. (Polly) Gurd in the Tisbury Workhouse.
Zoë Wren sang Let No Man Steal Your Thyme on her 2019 EP Inspired and on her 2020 album Reckless River.
Edgelarks sang The Seeds of Love on their 2020 CD Henry Martin. They noted:
It’s quite intimidating to tackle the original English folk song. We decided to keep it simple, and then enjoyed experimenting with backing vocals to recreate the sounds of our buzzing summer garden outside. The words of the last verse, with their message of hope and regeneration, felt like the perfect ending for this record.
Anna Tam sang Let No Man Steal Your Thyme on her 2021 CD Anchoress. She noted:
I made a copy of this song on my first ever trip to the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library at Cecil Sharp House in London, not realising then that it was also the first song Sharp collected.
Kirsty Hannah sang Sprig of Thyme on her 2022 EP of folk songs from Lincolnshire, On the Humber Banks. She noted:
Sung by Joseph Taylor and phonographed by Percy Grainger in Brigg on 4 August 1906. I have had a strange relationship with the song over the years, but it now seems more pertinent to me than ever. The blackbird you can hear at the beginning and end sat on my chimney, gracing us with his daily melodies during spring and summer of 2022. If you listen closely you may also hear the bell of my little friend Runa.
Stick in the Wheel with Jon1st sang Let No Man Steal Your Thyme on their 2022 CD Perspectives on Tradition. They noted:
The sleeve notes for the record that we sampled in this track—a 1965 recording of sisters Lyn and Candy Geddes performing live at Leicester’s Couriers Club—share that the duo gleaned much of their own material from the collections of their local library. A nice moment of serendipity as we came across it while exploring Cecil Sharp House’s vinyl archives. In a way, our discoveries also mirrored the tradition of digging for samples in hip hop and dance music culture: looking to create something new out of fragments of sounds from the past and share their timeless messages. This resonated.
Lizzy Hardingham sang The Seeds of Love on the 2023 anthology Sing Yonder 1. She noted:
It was my absolute pleasure to be asked to contribute to this record. I chose Seed of Love as I’d heard Bellowhead do an adaptation of the song and wanted to learn more about the song and how it was originally collected. Using Sing Yonder was easy and informative and I couldn’t recommend it any more highly!
Iona Lane and Ranjana Ghatak sang Surya Pranam / Let No Man Steal Your Thyme in 2023 on their Hudson EP Cove.
Painted Sky (George and Holly Brandon) sang The Sprig of Thyme on their 2024 album From the Blue.
Matt Quinn and Emily Portman sang Sprig of Thyme, as sung by Jean Hopkins on Four Sussex Singers, on Quinn’s 2024 download album Quinn the Roud: 1-10 in which he followed up Series 1 of his folk song podcast In the Roud with his own recordings of the Roud 1-10 songs.
Lyrics
Joseph Taylor sings Sprig o’ Thyme
Once I had a sprig of thyme.
It prospered by night and by day;
Till a false young man came a-courting to me,
And he stole all me thyme away.
Thyme it is a precious thing,
And thyme it-e-will grow on,
And thyme it’ll bring all things to an end,
And so does my thyme grow on.*
The gardener was standing by.
I bid him choose for me.
He chose me the lily, aye, the violet and the pink,
But I really did refuse them all three.
It’s very well drinking ale,
And it’s nice to have a drop of wine,
But it’s far better sitting by the young man’s side**
That gain-ed this heart of mine.
* second recording ’our thyme ...’
** second recording ’But I like sitting by the young man’s side ...’
Pop Maynard sings The Seeds of Love
O I sowed the seeds of love
For to blossom all in the Spring.
I sowed it all on one May morning,
𝄆 While the small birds they did sing. 𝄇
O I locked my garden gay,
And I chose for to keep the key,
Till some young man came a-courting me,
𝄆 And he stole my heart away. 𝄇
O the gardener was standing by,
And I asked him to choose for me.
He chose me the violet, the lily and the pink.
𝄆 All those flowers I refused all three. 𝄇
O the violet I did not like,
Because it would fade so soon,
But the lily and the pink I fairly overlooked
𝄆 And I vowed I would stay till June. 𝄇
For in June there grows a red. red rose,
And that is the flower for me.
I’ve oftimes plucked at the red rose bud.
𝄆 Till I gained the willow tree. 𝄇
O the willow tree will twist
And the willow tree it will twine.
And so will that false and deluded young man,
𝄆 That once stole the heart of mine. 𝄇
O come all you fair young maids
A warning take by me,
For the grass that you oftimes have trampled under foot
𝄆 Give it time it will rise again. 𝄇
Cyril Tawney sings The Seeds of Love
I sowed the seeds of love,
And I sowed them in the spring.
I gathered them up in the morning so soon
𝄆 While the small birds sweetly sing. 𝄇
The gardener was standing by
And I asked him to chose for me.
He chose me the violet, the lily and the pink
𝄆 But these I refused all three. 𝄇
The violet I did not like
Because it fades too soon.
The lily and the pink, I did overthink,
𝄆 And I vowed I would wait till June. 𝄇
In June there’s the red rosebud,
And that’s the flower for me,
I pulled and I plucked at that red rosy bush,
𝄆 Till I gained the willow tree. 𝄇
The willow, it will twist,
And the willow, it will twine,
I wish I was back in that young girl’s arms,
𝄆 That once held this heart of mine. 𝄇
So come all you false young maids
That leave me hear to complain,
The grass that is now trodden underfoot,
𝄆 Give it time, it will rise again. 𝄇
Anne Briggs sings Let No Man Steal Your Thyme
Come all you fair and tender girls
That flourish in your prime, prime,
Beware, beware, if you’re good and fair
Let no man steal your thyme, thyme,
Let no man steal your thyme.
For when your thyme it is past and gone
He’ll care no more for you, you.
And every place where your thyme was waste
Shall spread all o’er with rue, rue,
Shall spread all o’er with rue.
For woman is a branchy tree
And man a clinging vine, vine.
And from her branches carelessly
He takes what he can find, find,
He takes what he can find.
Trevor Lucas sings I Sowed the Seeds of Love
I sowed the seeds of love
And I sowed them in the springtime,
In April, May and sunny June
𝄆 When small birds sweetly sing. 𝄇
My gardener he stood by,
I asked him to choose for me.
He chose me the violet, the lily and the pink
𝄆 But these I refused all three. 𝄇
The violet I forsook
Because it fades too soon.
The lily and the pink, I do really overthink,
And 𝄆 I vowed I’d wait till June. 𝄇
In June there’s the red rosebud,
And that’s the flower for me,
I pulled and I plucked at the red rosy bush,
𝄆 Till I gained the willow tree. 𝄇
The willow, it will twist,
And the willow, it will twine,
I wish I was back in that young girl’s arms,
𝄆 That once held this heart of mine. 𝄇
George Dunn sings The Seeds of Love
… … … …
And that is the flower for me.
You can have the violet, the lily and the pink,
𝄆 I’ll wait for the rose in June. 𝄇
The gardener stood by;
I asked him to choose for me.
He chooses me the violet, the lily and the pink,
𝄆 But those I refused all three. 𝄇
In June there’s a red rose bud,
And that is the flower for me.
So you can have the violet, the lily and the pink,
𝄆 I’ll wait for the rose in June. 𝄇
Fred Jordan sings The Seeds of Love
I sowed the seeds of love
And I sowed them in the spring,
I gathered them up in the morning early,
While the small birds sweetly sing,
While the small birds sweetly sing.
O my garden was planted well
With flowers everywhere
But I had not the liberty
To choose for myself
Of the flowers that I love so dear,
Of the flowers that I love so dear.
O the gardener was standing by
And I asked him to choose for me.
He chose for me the violet,
The lily and the pink
And these I refused all three,
And these I refused all three.
For the violet I did not like,
Because it came too soon.
The lily and the pink I really overthink,
I vowed I would wait till June,
I vowed I would wait till June.
For in June there’s a red rosebud
And that is the flower for me.
I oft-times have plucked
At that red rosebud
Till I gained the willow tree,
Till I gained the willow tree.
For the willow tree will twist
And the willow tree will twine,
I oft-times wished
I was in that young man’s arms
That once had the heart of mine,
That once had the heart of mine.
So come, all you false young men,
Do not leave me here to complain,
For the grass that oft-times has
Been trampled under foot,
Give it time, it will rise again,
Give it time, it will rise again.
Cyril Poacher sings Plenty of Thyme
Once I had plenty of thyme
I could flourish by night and by day,
’Til a saucy sailor lad, he chanced to come that way,
And he stole all my happy thyme away.
There was a gardener standing close by
And I asked him to choose them for me;
He chose to me the lily, the violet and the pink,
But I did refuse them all three.
For the lily will very soon fade,
And the violet is very much the same.
But as for the pink, I will give them all a fling
And he says I will tarry until June.
For in June comes that red and rosy bud,
And that is the flower for me.
For I ofttimes pluckèd off the red and rosy bud,
’Til I gained the goodwill of them three.
Now, it’s very well a-drinking of ale,
But it’s much better drinking of wine,
And it’s far better sleeping in a saucy sailor’s arms,
Where he stole away that fair heart of mine.
Now here is success to our Queen,
Likewise to our jolly Jack Tar.
We’ll drink and be merry and we’ll tarry out the moon,
And we’ll drink ’til the sun rise again.
O we’ll drink and be merry and we’ll tarry out the moon,
And we’ll drink ’til the sun rise again.
Ernie Payne sings Seeds of Lovr
We sowed the seed of love
For then it blossom in the spring.
There is April, May and likewise June
And the small birds they all do sing,
And the small birds they all do sing.
The gardener standing by,
I asked him to choose for me.
He chosed the violet, the lily and the pink,
And those flowers I refused all three,
And those flowers I refused all three.
The violet I did not like,
Because it faded so soon,
But the lily and the pink I fairly overlooked
And I vowed I would stay till June,
And I vowed I would stay till June.
Well June brought forth the rose
And that is the flower for me,
For I’ve oft times plucked at the red and rosy bud
Till I gained the willow tree,
Till I gained the willow tree.
The willow tree won’t twine
And the willow tree won’t twain,
For no more did the fair and elusive young maid
That once stole this heart of mine.
June Tabor sings Let No Man Steal Your Thyme
Come all you fair and tender girls
That flourish in your prime, prime,
Beware, beware, keep your garden fair
And let no man steal your thyme, thyme,
Let no man steal your thyme.
For when your thyme is past and gone
He’ll care no more for you, you.
For every place that your thyme was waste
Will all spread o’er with rue, rue,
Will all spread o’er with rue.
The gardener’s son, he was standing by,
Three flowers he gave to me, me.
The pink, the blue and the violet too
And the red, red rosy tree, tree,
And the red, red rosy tree.
But I forsook the red rose bush
And gained the willow tree, tree,
That all the world may plainly see
How my love slighted me, me
How my love slighted me.
For woman is a lofty tree
And man’s a clinging vine, vine,
And from her branches carelessly
He’ll take what he can find, find,
He’ll take what he can find.
(repeat first verse)
George Withers sings The Seeds of Love
I sowed the seeds of love,
And I sowed them in the Spring,
I gathered them up in the morning so clear,
While the small birds did sweetly sing,
While the small birds did sweetly sing.
I locked my garden gate,
And I vowed I would keep the key,
’Till some young man stole my heart away,
When he came a courting me,
When he came a courting me.
My garden was planted well,
With flowers everywhere,
But did not have the liberty of choosing for myself,
Of the flowers that I love so dear,
Of the flowers that I love so dear.
Now the violet I did not like,
Because it did bloom too soon,
The lilly and the pink, I never really loved,
So I vowed I would wait ’til June,
So I vowed I would wait ’til June.
For in June there grows a red rose bud,
And the rose is a flower for me,
But often I have reached for that red rose bud,
And gained but the willow tree,
But I’ve plucked but the willow tree.
For the withy it will twist,
And the withy it will twine,
And so did that false and deluding young man,
Who stole this heart of mine,
Who once stole this heart of mine.
So come all you fair young maids,
And warning take from me,
The grass that you have often times tramped under foot,
May rise again for thee,
It may rise up again for thee.
And come all you false young men,
Do not leave me here to complain,
The grass that you have often times tramped under foot,
Give it time it may rise again,
Give it time it may rise again.
Sarah McQuaid sings Sprig of Thyme
In my garden grew plenty of thyme,
It would flourish by night and by day.
’Til along came a lad and he took all I had,
𝄆 Stole all my thyme away. 𝄇
And I was a damsel fair
But fairer I wished to appear,
So I bathed me in milk and I clothed me in silk
I 𝄆 put the sweet thyme in my hair. 𝄇
In June the red roses in bloom,
It was not the flower for me.
For I plucked the bud and it pricked me to blood
As 𝄆 I gazed on a willow tree. 𝄇
Now the willow tree it will twist
And the willow tree it will twine,
And I wish I were clasped in my lover’s arms fast
𝄆 ’Tis he that has stolen my thyme. 𝄇
And it’s very good drinking of ale
But it’s better for drinking of wine.
And I wish I were clasped in my lover’s arms fast
𝄆 ’Tis he that has stolen my thyme. 𝄇
Coope Boyes & Simpson sing Sprig o’ Thyme
Once I had a sprig of thyme.
It prospered be night and be day;
Till a false young man came a-courting to me,
And he stole all me thyme away.
O thyme it is a precious thing,
And thyme it will grow on,
And thyme it’ll bring all things to an end,
And so does me thyme grow on.
The gardener was standing by.
And I asked him choose for me.
And he chose me the lily, aye, the violet and the pink,
Ah, but surely I refused them all three.
O thyme it is a precious thing,
And thyme it will grow on,
And thyme it’ll bring all things to an end,
And so does me thyme grow on.
And it’s very well a-drinking ale,
And it’s nice to have a drop of wine,
Ah, but I like sitting by the young man’s side
That’s gain-ed this heart of mine.
O thyme it is a precious thing,
And thyme it will grow on,
And thyme it’ll bring all things to an end,
And so does me thyme grow on.
Niamh Parsons sings In My Prime
When I was in my prime
I flourished like a vine;
There came along a false young man
𝄆 Come stole the heart of mine. 𝄇
A gardener standing by
Three offers he made to me:
The pink the violet and red rose,
𝄆 Which I refused all three. 𝄇
The pink’s no flower at all
For it fades away too soon,
And the violet is too pale a hue
𝄆 ⁄ think I’ll wait till June. 𝄇
In June the red rose blooms
That’s not the flower for me,
For then I’ll pluck the red rose off
𝄆 And plant a willow tree. 𝄇
And the willow tree shall weep
And the willow tree shall whine,
I wish I was in the young love’s arms
That stole the heart of mine,
Who stole the heart of mine.
If I live for one year more
And God will grant me grace
I’ll weep a bowl of crystal tears
𝄆 To wash his deceitful face. 𝄇
June Tabor sings The Seeds of Love
I sowed the seeds of love,
I sowed them in the spring,
In April, May and in June likewise
𝄆 When the small birds sweetly sing. 𝄇
My garden was planted well
My flowers ev’rywhere;
But I had not the liberty to choose for myself
𝄆 Of the flowers growing there. 𝄇
My gard’ner was standing by;
And I asked him to choose for me.
He chose me the violet, the lily and the pink,
𝄆 But these I refused all three. 𝄇
The violet I do not like,
Because it fades too soon.
The lily and the pink, oh, I really overthink,
𝄆 And so I will wait till June. 𝄇
In June comes the red rosebud,
And that’s the flower for me.
Oft times I have pulled at that red rosy bush
𝄆 Till I gained the willow tree. 𝄇
For the willow tree will twist
And the willow tree will twine.
Oft times I have wished myself back in that young man’s arms
𝄆 Who once had this heart of mine. 𝄇
So come all you fine young men,
And don’t leave me here to complain;
For the grass that has often been trampled underfoot,
𝄆 Given time, it will rise again. 𝄇
(Repeat first verse)
Audrey Smith sings Garners Gay
Come all you garners gay,
That are just now in your prime,
I wish I were in that young man’s arms,
Where I’ve been many’s the time.
Chorus (after each verse):
Where I’ve been many’s the time,
Where I’ve been many’s the time,
I wish I were in that young man’s arms,
Where I’ve been many’s the time.
Oh it’s all right drinking beer,
But it’s much better drinking wine,
And it’s better still sleeping in that young man’s arms,
Where I’ve been many’s the time.
Green willows they will twist,
Green willows they will twine,
I wish I were in that young man’s arms,
That stole away this heart of mine.
Once I had time enough,
To flourish night and day,
Until that man, that bonny young man,
Came and stole all my time away.
And now my time is all gone,
And I can plant no new,
For everywhere where the thyme once grew,
Is overrun with running, running rue.
Oh rue, you running, running rue,
You’re not the flower for me,
I’ll pluck up all that running, running rue,
And I’ll plant me the sturdy oak tree.
Stand fast, stand fast sturdy oak,
Stand fast and don’t ever die,
For I’ll prove as true to my own true love,
As the stars prove true to the sky.
Bellowhead sing Seeds of Love
Oh I sowed the seeds of love
I sowed them all in the spring
I sowed them all on one May morning
While the small birds they did sing
Oh the gardener was standing by
And I asked him to choose for me
He chose me the violet the lily and the pink
Those flowers I refused all three
For love it is tender and love it is true
And love it is pleasure when first it is new
But when it grows old then love grows cold
And fades like morning dew
Oh the violet I did not like
Because it would fade too soon
The lily and the pink I did really over think
And I vowed I would stay till June
For in June there grows a red rose bud
And that is the flower for me
I oft times had plucked that red rose bud
Till I gained the willow tree
Oh the willow tree it will twist
And the willow tree it will twine
And so will that false and deluded young girl
Who once stole this heart of mine
Melrose Quartet sing The Seeds of Love
I sowed the seeds of love,
It was all in the spring,
In April, May and in June likewise
𝄆 While small birds they do sing. 𝄇
My garden was planted well
With flowers everywhere;
But I hadn’t the liberty to choose for myself
𝄆 The flowers that I loved dear. 𝄇
My gardener he stood by
And I asked him to choose for me.
He chose me the violet, the lily and the pink
𝄆 But those I refused all three. 𝄇
In June there’s the red rosebud,
And that’s the flower for me,
For often have I plucked at the red rose bud,
𝄆 Till I gained the willow tree. 𝄇
Come all you false young men,
Don’t leave me to complain;
For grass that has often been trampled underfoot,
𝄆 Given time, it will rise again. 𝄇