I Will Give my Love an Apple

"I Will Give my Love an Apple" is a traditional English folk song. It was arranged by Benjamin Britten[1] and by Herbert Howells. The song goes thus:

I will give my love an apple without e'er a core,
I will give my love a house without e'er a door.
I will give my love a palace, wherein she may be
And she may unlock it without e'er a key.

My head is the apple without e'er a core.
My mind is the house without e'er a door.
My heart is the palace, wherein she may be
And she may unlock it without e'er a key.

A version of the song was collected at Sherborne, Dorset, by H. E. D. Hammond in 1906; another version was printed in Journal of the Folk-Song Society, vol. 3, no. 11, 1907, p114.[2]

References edit

  1. ^ Boris Ford Benjamin Britten's poets: the poetry he set to music 1996 Page 213 "This volume of folk songs included 'Bonny at morn' as the penultimate song, which Britten also included in Eight Folk Song Arrangements (see p. 281). trad. I will give my love an apple I will give my love an apple without e'er a core, I will give.."
  2. ^ Reeves, James (1960) The Everlasting Circle. London: Heinemann; pp. 161-62