Country Gardens
"Country Gardens" is an English folk tune collected by Cecil Sharp from the playing of William Kimber and arranged for piano in 1918 by Percy Grainger.
In 2008,[1] "Country Gardens" was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia registry.
A version of "Country Gardens" appears in the Quaker's Opera of 1728.[2]
Use in Morris dancing
Several Cotswold villages used differing versions of the tune for their Morris dances: Bampton in the Bush (collected by Roy Dommett from Arnold Woodley); "Field Town" (Leafield - collected by Kenworthy Schofield) ; Headington (collected by Carey) and Longborough (collected by Cecil Sharp and Schofield).[3]
Format of renditions
The tune and the Grainger arrangement for piano and orchestra is a favourite with school orchestras, and other performances of the work include morris dancing. Jimmie Rodgers sang a well-known version ("English Country Garden"), which reached Number 5 in the UK charts in June 1962. The lyrics refer to several species of bird which are not native to England but are found only in the Americas. Anglo-Australian comedian Rolf Harris recorded a parody of the Rodgers version in the 1970s. Comedian Allan Sherman used this melody as the tune for his 1963 song, "Here's to the Crabgrass".
See also
References
- ^ Country Gardens
- ^ Walker, Thomas (2011-08-31) [First published 1728]. "The Quaker's Opera (Walker, Thomas) - IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library - Free Public Domain Sheet Music". London. p. 37. Retrieved 2017-12-27.
- ^ Bacon, Lionel (1974). A Handbook of Morris Dances. The Morris Ring.
External links
- Historical background
- Listen to "Country Gardens" on australianscreen online and read more about the title
Video clips
 | This folk song–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |