As Joseph And Mary Were A-Walking The Green

Words and Music: Sung by Mrs. Tom Rice at Big Laurel, N.C., Aug. 17, 1916
Hexatonic. Mode I. b.
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer / PDF

Source: Maud Karpeles, ed., English Folk Songs From The Southern Appalachians Collected by Cecil Sharp, Vol. 1 (London: Oxford University Press / Humphrey Milford, 1932), #15A, p. 90

 

See generally: The Cherry Tree Carol - Notes

1. As Joseph and Mary were a-walking the green,
They was apples and cherries plenty there to be seen.
They was apples and cherries plenty there to be seen.

2. And then Mary said to Joseph so meek and so mild:
Gather me some cherries, Joseph, for I am with child.

3. Then Joseph said to Mary so rough and unkind:
Let the daddy of the baby get the cherries for thine.

4. Then the baby spoke out of its mother's womb:
Bow down you lofty cherry trees, let my mammy have some.

5. Then the cherry tree bent and it bowed like a bow,
So that Mary picked cherries from the uppermost bough.

6. Then Joseph took Mary all on his left knee,
Saying: Lord have mercy on me and what I have done.

7. Then Joseph took Mary all on his right knee,
Saying: O my little Saviour, when your birthday shall be,
The hills and high mountains shall bow unto thee.

8. Then the baby spoke out of its mother's womb:
On old Christmas morning my birthday shall be
    (Or: it'll be just before day)
When the hills and high mountains shall bow unto me.

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