Wallflowers

DESCRIPTION: Playparty. "Wallflowers, wallflowers, growing up so high, All of you young ladies Are meant to die." One girl is excepted, because of her great skill at (something).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1850 (Opie/Opie-TheSingingGame)
KEYWORDS: playparty death nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(England(All),Scotland(All)) US(Ap,MA,NE) New Zealand
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Greig/Duncan8 1595, "Water Water Wallflower" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #152, p. 1, "Water, Water, Wall-Flowers" (1 text)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H48d, p. 11, "Water, Water, Wallflowers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brady-AllInAllIn, pp. 117-118, "Wallflowers, Wallflowers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 54-56, "Water, Water, Wild Flower" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson-BalladsOfTheKentuckyHighlands, p. 174, "Lily-White Flower" (1 text)
Trent-Johns-PlaySongsOfTheDeepSouth, pp. 12-13, "Water-Flower" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie/Opie-TheSingingGame 25, "Wallflowers (II)" (4 texts); 56, "Wallflowers (I)" (6 texts, 1 tune)
Newell-GamesAndSongsOfAmericanChildren, #12, "Down She Comes as White as Milk" (2 texts, 1 tune plus excerpts; the text with tune is "Wallflowers"; the other text might be "The Wind (Rain, Rain, the Wind Does Blow)")
Montgomerie/Montgomerie-ScottishNurseryRhymes 72, "(Water, water, wall-flower, growing up so high)" (1 short text)
Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren, p. 28, "(Wallflowers, wallflowers)" (1 text)
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #587, "Water, water, wallflower" (1 text)
JournalOfAmericanFolklore, Gerald Porter, "'Work the Old Lady out of the Ditch: Singing at Work by English Lacemakers," Vol. XXXI, No. 1/3 (Jan 1944), pp. 46-47 "Wallflowers" (2 texts, including a verse quoted from Opie/Opie-TheSingingGame)
ADDITIONAL: J. C. Reid, _A Book of New Zealand_ (Collins National Anthologies), Collins, 1964, p. 332, "Children's Games" ("Wallflowers, wallflowers") (1 text)
ST HHH048d (Full)
Roud #6307
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Row Boat (Ride About)" (form, floating lyrics)
cf. "Green Grass (II)" (lyrics)
NOTES [69 words]: Opie/Opie-TheSingingGame includes this in the chapter "Witch Dances." Porter writes that his text is more gory than any of the Opie versions. It adds "a sinister or Gothic element to emphasize the grave consequences of breaking rhythm or looking up before the count was completed." It ends, "turn your back, you saucy cat, And say no more to me, For if you do, I'll chop you in two, And hang you on the tree." - BS
Last updated in version 6.5
File: HHH048d

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