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Chickens in the Garden

[ Roud 2552 ; Ballad Index R668 ; trad.]

The Watersons (Mike Waterson lead with Lal and Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy on chorus) sang Chickens in the Garden on their LP For Pence and Spicy Ale. There is another rare recording of this song on the Sounds of Yorkshire promotional LP (1985) as second Watersons track besides Young Banker. Both have been released in 2004 on the Watersons' 4CD anthology Mighty River of Song.

A.L. Lloyd commented in the original album's sleeve notes:

Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson heard a man named Joe Udal sing this at a shepherd's meet in the Lake District in 1974, and took a fancy to it. As well they might.

Jon Boden sang Chickens in the Garden as the July 7, 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.

Lyrics

When first I came down Yorkshire,
Not many years ago.
I met with a little Yorkshire lass,
And I'd have you know,
That she was so blithe, so buxom,
So beautiful and gay,
Now listen while I tell you,
What her Daddy used to say,

Chorus (after each verse):

Oh treat me daughter decent,
Don't do her any harm.
And when I die I'll leave you both,
Me tiny little farm.
Me cow, me pigs, me sheep, me goats,
Me stock, me field and barn.
And all the little chickens in the garden.

Well first I came to court the girl,
She was awful shy.
She never said a blooming word,
When other folks was by.
But as soon as we were on our own,
She bade me to name the day,
Now listen while I tell you,
What her Daddy used to say,

Well at last I wed this Yorkshire lass,
So pleasing to me mind,
And I did prove true to her,
So she's proved true in kind.
We have three bairns, they're grown up now.
There's a grandbairn on the way.
And when I look into their eyes,
I can hear their grandaddy say,

Acknowledgements

Copied from the Digital Tradition by Garry Gillard