Come Follow

DESCRIPTION: "Come follow, follow, follow, Follow, follow, follow me Whither shall I follow, follow, follow, Whither shall I follow, follow thee? To the greenwood, to the greenwood To the greenwood, greenwood tree." (Some versions have "redwood tree")
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1949 (GirlScouts-SingTogether), but see NOTES
KEYWORDS: nonballad campsong
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 433, 434, "Come Follow" (notes only)
GirlScouts-SingTogether, p. 104, "Come Follow" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Rodeheaver-SociabilitySongs, p. 29, "Come, Follow!" (1 short text, 1 tune)
NOTES [169 words]: The description above cites the camp song known as "Come Follow," as found in several camp songbooks. I can't prove that this is what Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs means by this title, but it seems probable. Averill asserts that this is the same song as "Come Follow," published by John Hilton in the 1652 book Catch that Catch Can. The lyrics printed by Hilton are as follows:
Come follow, follow mee,
come follow, follow mee,
and we will to the Taverne go
with mirth and merry glee:
wee'l each man take his Cup,
what ever us be-fall,
and we will drinke all up, all up,
and for another call:
then let us merry be,
be merry my noble hearts,
for a cup of old Sherry
will make us merry,
and wee'l sing well our parts. Come, &c.
I don't know about the tune, but they don't look alike to me, although the mention of the "greenwood" does hint at something old. I did not find anything like Hilton's text in my scouting songbooks. Rodeheaver-SociabilitySongs seems to say that the tune, not the text, is from "Hilton." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: ACSF433F

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