First published at 11:42 UTC on November 26th, 2019.
This song was originally an English folk song called “Hares On The Mountain.” Niamh (pronounced Neeve) Parsons states she learned the song at the Góilín Traditional Singers' Club in Dublin, Ireland. The song perhaps references European myths in…
MORE
This song was originally an English folk song called “Hares On The Mountain.” Niamh (pronounced Neeve) Parsons states she learned the song at the Góilín Traditional Singers' Club in Dublin, Ireland. The song perhaps references European myths in which a woman or nymph, fleeing the unwanted sexual pursuit of a man, faun, satyr, or god, metamorphosizes into an animal or tree and thus escapes her rape but ends her human or anthropomorphic life. The song was first written down and collected by the English Folklorist Cecil Sharp in 1904 in Somerset, England.
Lyrics:
If all the young ladies were blackbirds and thrushes
If all the young ladies were blackbirds and thrushes
Then all the young men would go beating the bushes
Right-fol-del-dal diddle-da-diddle-dal-dey
If all the young ladies were ducks on the water
If all the young ladies were ducks on the water
Then all the young men would go swimming in laughter
Right-fol-del-dal diddle-da-diddle-dal-dey
If all the young ladies were rushes a-growing
If all the young ladies were rushes a-growing
Then all the young men would get scythes and go mowing
Right-fol-del-dal diddle-da-diddle-dal-dey
If the ladies were all trout and salmon so lovely
If the ladies were all trout and salmon so lively
Then divil the men would go fishing on Friday
Right-fol-del-dal diddle-da-diddle-dal-dey
If all the young ladies were hares on the mountain
If all the young ladies were hares on the mountain
The men with their hounds would be out without countin'
Right-fol-del-dal diddle-da-diddle-dal-dey
LESS