Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose
Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose
Round
Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose,
Will I ever see thee wed?
I will marry at thy will sire,
At thy will.
Oh poor bird,
Why art thou
Flying in the shadows
of this dark hour?
Notes
Sometimes the first lines is "Rose, Rose, Rose Red".
Here's another version:
Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose
Shall I ever see thee wed?
Aye marry, that thou will,
If thou but stay.
Here are some other verses that can be sung as part of this song:
Ding dong, ding dong
Wedding bells on an April morn
Carve my name on a moss covered stone,
On a moss covered stone.
Ah poor bird
Take thy flight
Fly above the sorrows
Of this sad night.
*****
Joel wrote:
I saw your listing of the lyrics of this song, and see that you have a common mistranscribed version caused by mishearing old English words.
"The lyrics originally are:
Rose, rose, rose, rose
Shall I ever see thee red?
Aye, marry, that thou wilt
An thoult but stay
In this original version, the word 'marry' is used in the archaic meaning of 'indeed'. The word 'an' is old English for 'if'.
Clearly as language changes, people lost the old meaning of 'marry' and so 'red' becomes 'wed' as it seems more logical if a marriage is the topic of conversation.
So the song was originally about a flower blooming, and if the singer paused a while, they might see it.
But songs (and language) change over time through the oral tradition. Thought you might be interested in an older version."
Cheers,
Joel
Thanks!
Thanks and Acknowledgements
Thanks to Joel for commenting on this song!
Image: "Luther Burbank's Bounties from Nature to Man" (1911).
