> Folk Music > Songs > Madam, I Have Come to Court You / Ripest Apples / Twenty, Eighteen, …
Madam, I Have Come to Court You / Ripest Apples / Twenty, Eighteen, …
[
Roud 542
; G/D 8:1588
; Ballad Index CrMa121
; Wiltshire
886
; trad.]
George Townshend sang Twenty, Eighteen, … to Brian Matthews in Lewes, Sussex, on 7 February 1960. This recording was included in 2000 on his Musical Traditions anthology Come, Hand to Me the Glass. Brian Matthews and Rod Stradling noted in the album's booklet:
George [Townshend] is joined by his 11-year-old granddaughter Angela for the two verses he sang of this song—it's counting-song version of Oh, No John which Brian Matthews also recorded from Alfred Patching of Fulking, Sussex. It seems to be known all over England and in the USA, Canada, and even Tristan da Cunha! but Scotland has only produced one sighting. Frank Harte sings an almost identical version to George's from Ireland.
Peggy Seeger sang Madam, I Have Come to Court You in 1962 on her Topic EP Early in the Spring. Angela Carter noted:
Peggy Seeger has based this comic courting song on I'm Going Away to Texas (Vance Randolph, Ozark Folk Songs, Vol. 3) with additional verses from other variants. The suitor is rejected very firmly several times until he mentions money.
Joe Jones sang Ripest Apples to Mike Yates in St Mary Cray, Kent, in 1972-75. This recording was included in 2003 on the Musical Traditions anthology of Gypsy songs and music from South-East England, Here's Luck to a Man …. Mike Yates noted:
Cecil Sharp linked this fragmentary song with another, titled Twenty, Eighteen, that had been collected by Lucy Broadwood (English County Songs, 1893, p.90), and falls within the Oh, No John family. A version that I recorded from the late Mabs Hall of Sussex includes the Twenty, Eighteen verse (see the Veteran cassette Ripest Apples, VT107), and George Townshend (Sussex) also sings it on [Come, Hand to Me the Glass].
Paul Sartin sang Twenty, Eighteen on Belshazzar's Feast's WildGoose albums Drop the Reed (1998) and The Food of Love (2008). He noted:
A song from Norfolk, found in Lucy Broadwood and J.A. Fuller Maitland's English County Songs. We've dropped the chorus, which is a fascinating list of numbers (hence the title). The man gets the last laugh, so it's probably not based on a true story.
Dr Faustus sang The Disdainful Lady in 2005 on their Fellside CD Wager. They noted:
This was found by Benji [Kirkpatrick] in Shropshire Folk-Lore, edited by Charlotte S Burne. It was sung by Harriet Dowley of Edgmont, Shropshire. We conjured up an extra verse to extend the story for no apparent reason.
The Outside Track sang Madam, Madam in 2010 on their CD Curious Things Given Wings. They noted:
The melody and some verses of this song come from the singing of William Gilkie of Sambro, Nova Scotia, who sang it to Canadian folklorist, Helen Creighton in 1949. The song originally came from Ettrick Valley in Scotland. Lauren MacColl's tune, The Dealer, sews the dialogue together between the unfortunate young man and the object of his affection (Alan and the poor mermaid).
The Unthanks sang Madam in 2015 on their CD Mount the Air.
Lyrics
George Townshend sings Twenty, Eighteen, …
Oh yonder stands a most beauty creature,
who she is I do not know,
I will go and court her,
let her answer me yes or no.
Chorus (repeated after each verse):
With me twenty, eighteen, sixteen, fourteen, twelve, ten, eight, six, four, two, none,
Nineteen, seventeen, fifteen, thirteen, 'leven, nine, sev'n, five, three and one.
Oh madam, I am come to court you,
If your favour I can win,
And if you use me kind and welcome,
I will surely come again.
Joe Jones sings Ripest Apples
“Pretty maiden, pretty maiden, I've come to court you,
It's your favour I might gain.
Pretty maiden, pretty maiden, I've come to court you,
But if your answer's yes or no.”
“Pretty maiden, pretty maiden, I have gold, I've silver.'”
“What cares I for your house and land?
For it's what cares I for the world of pleasure?
But all I wants is an honest young man.'”
Spoken: Listen then …
“For it's apples is ripe, but they soon gets rotten.
A young man's love that soon grows cold.
For it's what cares I for the world of pleasure?
But all I wants is an honest young man.”
The Outside Track sing Madam, Madam | The Unthanks sing Madam |
---|---|
A maiden walking in her garden | |
“Oh Madam, madam, I came courting, |
“Madam, madam, I'll come a-courting |
“So to me you came a-courting, | |
“Madam, I've got ships on the ocean, |
“Madam, I have gold and silver, |
“What care I for your ships on the ocean? |
“Don't tell me of your gold and silver, |
“Madam, you speak very boldly | |
“When the mountains turn to valley, | |
Did you ever see the grass in the morning, | |
Did you ever see a copper kettle, | |
Ripest apples are soonest rotten, |
Handsome men are out of fashion, |
After cowslips there come roses, |
First come the oxlip then the cruel, |
Once I lay on a young man's pillow |