"The Riddle Song", also known as "I Gave My Love a Cherry", is an English

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

, a lullaby carried over by settlers to the American Appalachians. Thread at Mudcat discussions
/ref>

History

"The Riddle Song" descends from a 15th-century English song in which a maiden says she is advised to unite with her lover. It is related to

Child Ballad The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as '' ...

no. 1, or "

Riddles Wisely Expounded "Riddles Wisely Expounded" is a traditional English song, dating at least to 1450. It is Child Ballad 1 and Roud 161, and exists in several variants. The first known tune was attached to it in 1719. The title "Riddles Wisely Expounded" was give ...

" and

no. 46, " Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" Thread at Mudcat discussions
/ref> It is no. 330 in the

Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

. Burl Ives recorded it on 11 February 1941 for his first album, ''

Okeh Presents the Wayfaring Stranger ''Okeh Presents the Wayfaring Stranger'' (Okeh K-3) is a 1941 album by Burl Ives consisting of four 10-inch records (78 rpm, 6315-6318). This set marked Ives' debut as a recording artist. He accompanies himself on the guitar as he sings 12 folk so ...

''. Since then, it has been recorded by many artists, including Josh White, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Doc Watson,

Sam Cooke Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred ...

, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Shelby Flint, The Meters,

Skid Roper Skid Roper (born Richard Banke, October 19, 1954, in National City, California, United States) is an American musician, most active in the 1980s and early 1990s. He has recorded with several groups including the surf band The Evasions, but is bes ...

and

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, memoirist, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation" (No. 13), " The Right Thin ...

. The song's "cherry that has no stone" goes back to the 15th-century version's "the cherye with-outyn ony ston." Some have seen it as a reference to the hymen, and some have even tried to reconstruct an original bawdy version from which modern versions are supposedly bowdlerized. However, the relevant slang sense of "cherry" is not attested till the early 20th century. The other riddles in the original do not resemble the "reconstructions."

Popular culture

The song was sung by African American blues and folk musician Josh White in the 1949 John Sturges film "

The Walking Hills ''The Walking Hills'' is a 1949 American Western film directed by John Sturges and starring Randolph Scott and Ella Raines. The film's plot has film noir elements in its story of a search for an old treasure by nine men including a detective tr ...

." It was sung by Ann-Margret in the 1961 Frank Capra film ''

Pocketful of Miracles ''Pocketful of Miracles'' is a 1961 American comedy film starring Glenn Ford and Bette Davis, produced and directed by Frank Capra, filmed in Panavision. The screenplay by Hal Kanter and Harry Tugend was based on Robert Riskin's screenplay for t ...

''. Canadian singer and actress

Rebecca Jenkins Rebecca Jenkins (born 1959) is a Canadian actress and singer. Acting She had starring roles in the 1990s CBC series ''Black Harbour'', and the films '' Bye Bye Blues'', '' Marion Bridge'', ''Wilby Wonderful'', ''Whole New Thing'', ''South of W ...

recorded a live version of the song, entitled "I Gave my Love a Cherry," that appears on the El Seven Niteclub album featuring Big Sugar (band) (1993). A parody was recorded by Jewish

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

Allan Sherman in a medley called "Shticks and Stones", on his album, '' My Son, the Folk Singer'' (1962). A parody by

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

and folk singer Max Boyce, called "I Gave My Love a Debenture", features on his album, ''

We All Had Doctors' Papers ''We All Had Doctors' Papers'' is a live album by Welsh comedian and singer Max Boyce, first issued in 1975 and recorded at Pontarddulais Rugby Club. It was his fourth album release and followed his breakthrough recording ''Live at Treorchy''. T ...

'' (1975). The song was sung by Stephen Bishop in the toga party scene in the movie '' National Lampoon's Animal House'' (1978). The song appeared in the "

Marge vs. the Monorail "Marge vs. the Monorail" is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 14, 1993. The plot revolves around Springfie ...

" episode of '' The Simpsons'', where Homer briefly serenaded Marge with a line: "I gave my love a chicken, it had no bones. Mmm... chicken." The tune was adapted for the song "

The Twelfth of Never "The Twelfth of Never" is a popular song written in 1956 and first recorded by Johnny Mathis the following year. The title is a popular expression, which is used as the date of a future occurrence that will never come to pass. In the case of t ...

". The Jukebox Band sing it in a '' Shining Time Station'' episode, "Do I Hear". The song was sung by the character Carlos (played by Mark Damon Espinoza) to Kelly Bundy in the Season Ten episode of '' Married... with Children'' entitled "Love Conquers Al". (1995) A music student sings it in ''

Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure ''Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure'' is a 1999 live-action direct-to-video film directed by Stephen Furst, based on the Harvey Entertainment Company animated character Baby Huey. It was released by Columbia TriStar Home Video on VHS on March 2, ...

'' (1999). Three lines are in '' Megas XLR'' episode 2, titled "Battle Royale" (2004). In " Love & Monsters", an episode of the

second series The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds eac ...

of the revived ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'', the song is performed acoustically by Bliss ( Kathryn Drysdale), a member of the group LINDA. The song is sung by an asylum prisoner in '' Harlots'', season 3, episode 2 (2019). The tune is set in the second movement of composer Evan Chamber’s chamber piece “Come Down Heavy” for Violin, Alto Saxophone, and Piano. The title of the movement is “I gave my love a cherry”.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riddle Song Burl Ives songs Joan Baez songs Pete Seeger songs Doc Watson songs Sam Cooke songs Carly Simon songs Year of song unknown English folk songs