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The Sheep-Shearing Song / Rosebud(s) in June

[ Roud 812 ; Master title: The Sheep-Shearing Song ; Ballad Index ShH93 ; VWML CJS2/9/302 , HAM/3/15/11 ; DT ROSEBUDJ ; Mudcat 31322 , 150716 ; trad.]

Roy Palmer: Everyman’s Book of English Country Songs Frank Purslow: Marrow Bones Cecil Sharp: 100 English Folk Songs

Cecil Sharp collected It’s a Rosebud in June from William King in Somerset in 1904 [VWML CJS2/9/302, RoudFS/S160867] . It was printed in the Journal of the Folk Song Society 1 (1904) and in Sharp’s 100 English Folk Songs.

The Hammond Brothers collected Rosebuds in June from William Miller of Wootton Fitzpaine, Dorset, in April 1906 [Hammond D.358, VWML HAM/3/15/11] . This is printed as The Sheep Shearing Song in Frank Purslow’s book of English folk songs from the Hammond and Gardiner manuscripts, Marrow Bones.

Steeleye Span recorded Rosebud in June in 1972 for their album Below the Salt and a second time—with Maddy singing solo—as hidden track after King Henry on their CD Present to accompany the December 2002 Steeleye Span reunion tour. The original recording’s notes said somewhat cryptically:

“Reality is a complex of related hypotheses,” he said pulling up the horses. “Take they hypotheses yonder.” He pointed to a flock of sheep with the wet end of his sucking straw. “Now theyse all related in a complex sort of way so theyse got ter be real ain’t they.” Ned looked at him very hard. “Ev you been drinkin’ with parson again?”

Sylvia and Bill Rogers sang The Sheep-Shearing Song in 1975 on the Forest Tracks album Folk Songs From Dorset of songs collected in 1905-07 by the Hammond Brothers. Frank Purslow noted:

Marrow Bones p. 90 from William Miller, Wootton Fitzpalne, April 1906 [VWML HAM/3/15/11] .

Another traditional survival, but this time of A Sheep-shearing Ballad, set by Mr. J(ohn) Barret and included In Barrett’s music for a play Country Lasses; or, The Custom of the Manor produced in 1715. Whether the tune was Barrett’s own or whether he merely adapted existing popular tune (and text?) for his purpose—a common contemporary practice—is open to question. Personally I feel that the tune is an elaboration of an earlier one, subsequently restored nearer to its traditional shape by the invariable practice of traditional singers (several generations of them) in discarding in essential trimmings. Whichever way one looks at it, it is a remarkably fine tune.

The Watersons sang Rosebuds in June, with somewhat different verses more similar to William Miller’s, on their 1981 album Green Fields. This track was also included in 2003 on their anthology The Definitive Collection. A.L. Lloyd noted:

Probably the most famous version of this beauty is the one obtained by Cecil Sharp from a farmer, William King, of West Hastree, Somerset. Gustav Holst, for one, made an orchestral setting of the melody. Eighteenth century print may have helped to keep in alive, both words and music. It was sung on the stage in a play called [The Country Lasses; or,] The Custom of the Manor in 1715 [Act I, Scene II], but it’s doubtful whether a town composer made it, even though it’s an unusual shape for a traditional tune. Most probably he lifted it from tradition. The Watersons found this present version in Mr H. Mason’s Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs (1878).

Nick Dow sang The Sheepshearing Song on his 1990 album of 100 years of traditional songs from Dorset, A Dorset Garland, and with the title The Rosebud in June on his 2016 album The Devil in the Chest where he noted:

The tune comes from Farmer William Miller of Wootton Fitzpaine 1906 [VWML HAM/3/15/11] . The song originated on the stage. I have been singing it for 30 years and it has altered considerably from the original published in Marrow Bones.

Sally Dexter, Julie Murphy, Ian Giles and Andy Turner sang The Sheepshearing Song on The Mellstock Band’s 1995 Saydisc CD Songs of Thomas Hardy’s Wessex. Their source is Hammond D.358 from William Miller.

Magpie Lane with Tom Bower in lead sang A Rosebud in June in 1998 on their Beautiful Joe CD Jack-in-the-Green. They noted:

A classic love song from southern England’s sheep hills; contrast the rustic idyll with the more stark reality evoked by The Sheepstealer.

Martyn Wyndham-Read and company sang Rosebud in June in 1998 on their CD Maypoles to Mistletoes.

Mary Humphreys and Anahata sang Rosebud in June on their 2001 CD Through the Groves.

The Cecil Sharp Centenary Collective sang Rosebud in June in 2003 on their CD As I Cycled Out on a May Morning.

Steve Jordan and Sarah Morgan sang Rosebud in June in front of an invited audience at the White Lion in Wherwell, Hampshire, on 12 January 2003. This recording was released in the same year on Jordan’s Forest Tracks album The Trees Scarce Green. He noted:

This traditional song was sung widely, certainly in the south of England, and no doubt beyond. In keeping with the tradition my version seems to be a ‘muddley’ of several. My first memories of singing Rosebud were in a concert over thirty years ago in the parish church of St Mary Bourne, coincidently the parish in which I am now living with my wife Sarah who joins me on this song.

Hilary James and Simon Mayor sang Rosebud in June on the latter’s 2006 CD Music From a Small Island. He noted:

As with so many English folk songs, a version of this was collected—rescued even—by Cecil Sharp on one of his song hunting expeditions, in this case in Somerset. The words are a simple celebration of rural life and love, the beauty of the melody has haunted me for many years.

The New Scorpion Band sang It’s a Rosebud in June in 2008 on their CD Master Marenghi’s Music Machine. They noted:

Sung by farmer William King to Cecil Sharp at Castle of Comfort, Mendip, Somerset on 15 April 1904. The text and tune are printed in The Merry Musician; or, a Cure for the Spleen (1716) [Volume 1; p. 236]. Kidson informs us that the music is by John Barrett and was sung on the stage in [The Country Lasses; or,] The Custom of the Manor (1715).

Bella Hardy sang Rosebud in June in 2009 on her CD In the Shadow of Mountains.

Maggie Sand and Sandragon sang Rosebud in June in 2009 on their WildGoose CD Susie Fair. She noted:

This song was collected from William King, a Somerset singer, by Cecil Sharp in 1904. We’ve always though it a bit odd that a song that celebrates a happy time—the coming of summer with lads and lasses dancing and singing before going off to plough their fields and shear their sheep—should have such a sad-sounding tune.

Eliza Carthy sang Rosebuds in June on The Imagine Village’s 2010 CD Empire and Love.

James Findlay sang The Rosebuds in June in 2012 on his Fellside CD Another Day, Another Story. He noted:

The classic novel by Thomas Hardy, Under the Greenwood Tree, begins with Dick Dewy singing this song on Christmas Eve whilst walking to join other members of the Mellstock Quire. The song rings of ‘Sheep Shearing Feasts’ when farm workers would meet, drink and talk about their sheep, very much in the fashion of ‘Young Farmers’ today. This version was collected in Wootton Fitzpaine, Dorset, from William Miller by Henry Hammond in 1906 [VWML HAM/3/15/11] . It is likely to be the tune that Hardy was humming as he was writing the novel.

Sproatly Smith sang Rosebuds in June on the 2012 Folk Police Recordings anthology Weirdlore.

Tan Yows sang Rosebud in June on their 2017 album Hefted.

Belinda Kempster and Fran Foote sang The Sheep-Shearing Song on their 2019 album On Clay Hill.

Lyrics

The Sheep Sheering in The Country Lasses; or, The Custom of the Manor

When the rose is in bud, and the blue violets blow,
When the birds sing us love-songs on every bough,
When cowslips, and daisies, and daffodils spread,
And adorn and perfume the green flowery mead;
When without the plough
Fat oxen low,
The lads and the lasses a sheep-sheering go.

The cleanly milk-pail
Is fill’d with brown ale;
Our table’s the grass;
Where we kiss and we sing,
And we dance in a ring,
And every lad has his lass.

The shepherd sheers his jolly fleece,
How much richer than that which they say was in Greece!
’Tis our cloth and our food,
And our politic blood;
’Tis the seat which our nobles all sit on:
’Tis a mine above ground,
Where our treasure is found,
’Tis the gold and silver of Britain.

William King sings the Sheep Shearing Song

It’s a rosebud in June, and violets in full bloom,
And the small birds singing love songs on each spray.

Chorus (after each verse):
We’ll pipe and we’ll sing, Love,
We’ll dance in a ring, Love,
When each lad takes his lass
All on the green grass,
And it’s all to plough where the fat oxen graze low
And the lads and the lasses to sheep shearing go.

When we have a-sheared all our jolly, jolly sheep,
What joy can be greater than to talk of their increase?

With the lily-white pail filled full of brown ale,
Our table, our table is all on the green grass.

William Miller sings Rosebuds in June

Here’s the rosebud in June, the sweet violets in bloom
And the birds singing gaily on ev’ry green bough.
The pink and the lily and the daffy-down-dilly
To adorn and perfume the sweet meadows in June.

Chorus (after each verse):
Whilst out the plough, the fat oxen go slow
And the lads and the lasses a-sheep-shearing go.

Here’s the cleanly milk pail is full of brown ale,
Our table, our table, our table we’ll spread.
We will sit and we’ll drink, we’ll laugh, joke and sing,
Each lad takes his lass out on the green grass.

Now the shepherds have sheared all their jolly, jolly sheep,
What joy can be greater than to talk of the increase.
Here’s the ewes and the lambs, the hogs and the rams,
The fat wethers too, they’ll make a fine show.

Steeleye Span sing Rosebud in June

It’s a rosebud in June and the violets in full bloom,
And the small birds singing love songs on each spray.

Chorus (after each verse):
We’ll pipe and we’ll sing love.
We’ll dance in a ring love.
When each lad takes his lass
All on the green grass,
And it’s, oh, to plough where the fat oxen graze low
And the lads and the lasses do sheep-shearing go.

When we have all sheared our jolly, jolly sheep,
What joy can be greater than to talk of their increase.

For their flesh it is good, it’s the best of all food,
And their wool it will cloth us and keep our backs from the cold.

Here’s the ewes and the lambs, here’s the hogs and the rams,
And the fat wethers too they will make a fine show.

The Watersons sing Rosebuds in June

Here the rosebuds in June and the violets are blowing,
The small birds they warble on every green bough.
Here’s the pink and the lily and the daffy-down-dilly
To adorn and perfume those sweet meadows in June.

Chorus (after each verse):
If it weren’t for the plough, the fat ox would grow slow
And the lads and the bonny lasses to the sheep-shearing go.

Our shepherds rejoice in their fine heavy fleeces,
And frisky young lambs which their flocks do increase.
Each lad takes his lass all on the green grass
To adorn and perfume those sweet meadows in June.

Our clean milking pails, they are fouled with good ale;
At the table, there’s plenty of cheer to be found.
We’ll whistle and sing and we’ll dance in a ring
To adorn and perfume those sweet meadows in June.

Now sheep-shearing’s over and harvest do draw nigh,
We’ll prepare for the fields, our strength for to try.
We’ll reap and we’ll mow, we’ll plough and we’ll sow
To adorn and perfume those sweet meadows in June.

The Mellstock Band sing The Sheepshearing Song

Here’s the rosebud in June, the sweet violet’s in bloom,
And the small birds singing gaily on ev’ry green bough.
The pink and the lily and the daffy-down-dilly
To adorn and perfume the sweet meadows in June.

Chorus (after each verse):
Whilst out o’ the plough, the fat oxen go slow
And the lads and the lasses a-sheep-shearing go.

Here’s the cleanly milk pail is full of brown ale;
Our table, our table, our table we’ll spread,
We will sit and we’ll sing, we’ll laugh, joke and drink,
Each lad takes his lass out on the green grass.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Greer Gilman for transcribing the Watersons’ singing and to Patrick Montague for correcting the Steeleye Span lyrics.