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The Pear Tree

[ Roud 1713 ; TYG 38 ; Ballad Index Gath069 ; Mudcat 36778 ; trad.]

Nigel Gatherer: Songs and Ballads of Dundee Roy Palmer: Everyman’s Book of British Ballads Sam Richards & Tish Stubbs: The English Folksinger

Frank Hinchliffe sang The Pear Tree at home on 7 May 1976 to Mike Yates. This recording was included in the following year on his Topic LP of traditional songs from South Yorkshire, In Sheffield Park. It was also included in 1988 on the EFDSS anthology CD A Century of Song and in 1999 on the EFDSS anthology Root & Branch 1: A New World. Ruairidh and Alvina Greig noted on the original album:

This amusing song, about one of the more unexpected hazards of courtship, has an interesting history. We first saw a fragment of it that Bob Thomson had recorded in a Fenland pub, about eight years ago. Since then we have recorded two complete versions in the Sheffield area, another has been reported in Scotland, one in Cheshire, and Mike Yates has found yet another in Kent. It was, as far as we can discover, previously un-recorded. We first heard Frank sing it in his ‘local’ in the summer of 1970, in an attempt to cheer up a man who had just produced an enormous pocket handkerchief to wipe his eyes after a touching rendering of The Blind Boy.

Tundra sang The Pear Tree in 1978 on their Sweet Folk and Coutry album A Kentish Garland.

Tom Smith from Thorpe Morieux, Suffolk, sang The Pear Tree in a recording made by John Howson in 1993. It was included in 2011 on the Veteran anthology CD of traditional folk music, songs and stories from England and Ireland, Stepping It Out Again!. John Howson noted

This is a rare song which has seldom been seen in print. It is included in Sheila Douglas’s collection Come Gie’s a Sang with the text coming from Dave Marshall of Perthshire, but as Ian Russell points out in the 1987 Folk Music Journal, “Before 1970 The Pear Tree was virtually unknown to scholars”. In Sheffield two versions were recorded, one from Frank Hinchliffe and the other from his cousin Grace Walton, while Mike Yates recorded it from Kentish Gypsy Joseph Jones and Neil Lanham recorded it from Ernest Grimwood in Suffolk.

Roy Harris sang The Pear Tree live in 1997 at The White Lion folk club in Wherwell, Hampshire. The concert recording was released on 1999 on the WildGoose album Live at The Lion.

Joe Aitken sang The Pear Tree on the 2007 Ross live album Tam Reid’s Ceilidh, on his 2010 album Festival Favourites, and on his 2020 Ross EP The Kelty Clippie.

Lyrics

Frank Hinchliffe sings The Pear Tree

Now me an’ two other boys went on the spree,
On our way we met a pear tree;
Up this pear tree I did climb
For to get some pears I felt inclined.

Chorus (after each verse):
To me ay, me oh, me ammer like a daisy,
Why fol-de-diddle, to me why fol-de-day.

When up this pear tree I got landed,
The other two lads from me they’d squandered;
Were not the pears that please`d me,
But a man and a woman came under this tree.

Now with sweet kisses ’e embraced ’er,
Swore for many a mile ’e’d chased ’er,
Pulled off ’is coat to save ’er gown,
An’ ’e gently sits this fair maid down.

Now I shook this pear tree just like thunder,
The man and the woman ran away in wonder,
Were not the pears that please`d me,
But a damn good coat left under this tree.

Now off to town I ran like fire,
The owner of the coat bein’ my desire,
The owner of the coat were never found out,
So I got a damn good coat for nowt.

Come all ye lads, wherever you may be,
Never go a-courtin’ under a pear tree,
Never pull your coat off to save their gown,
For the pears they will come tumblin’ down.

Tom Smith sings The Pear Tree

Now me and two other boys went on a spree,
On our way we met a pear tree,
Up this pear tree I did climb,
For to get some pears I felt inclined.

Chorus (after each verse):
To me aye to me oh, to me wack-fol-a-daisy,
Wack-fol-the-riddle-oh, wack-fol-the-day.

When up this pear tree I’d got landed,
The two other lads from me they squandered.
Was not the pears that pleas-ed me,
But a man and a woman came under the tree.

Now with sweet kisses he embraced her,
Swore for many a mile he’d chased her,
Pulled off his coat to save her gown,
When suddenly the pears came rattling down.

Now I shook this pear tree just like thunder,
The man and woman ran away in wonder.
Were not the pears that pleas-ed me,
But a damn’ good coat left under the trees.

Now off to town I ran like fire,
The owner of the coat being my desire.
The owner of the coat was never found out,
So I got a damn good coat for nowt.

Now all you boys take warning from me,
Never go courting under a pear tree.
Never take off your coats to save her gown,
For the pears will then come rattling down.