Wow, I remember learning this song in choir at school in 1978. My music teacher taught us lots of interesting songs that she probably doesnt think we little heathens appreciated very much but I remember nearly every word, all these years later! Thank you for the memories - and for singing it so much better than we ever did :)
Thank you very much. I was so happy that I found your video. I used to sing this song sixty years ago at camp on Lake Fairlee, Vermont. The words are exactly as I remember them.
I love old stuff. Just love it. This is the best version i've ever heard of this song! Also good is your attention to accuracy and possible alternative words, such as simples and symbols. Instead of burying it, running over it, you explain your alternate word. All good. I expected applause at the end!
Ah, I love singing this song at a marching tempo as I'm out on a longish walk. I too learned it in our folk club at secondary school in the 1960s. I love the fact that each singer brings to a folk tune something of their own. I enjoy your enjoyment of the song. Brought a smile. Thanks for playing and sharing. kx
Thank you so much . The best version of this song I ever heard . I'm about your age, I'm french and it's one of the first english songs I learnt at college .You have a beautiful voice and your videos are very pleasant .
"Green grow" came into my head today, a song my dad sang occasionally when I was kid. I'm so happy to track it down and such a lovely delivery - thank you
David Anderson my Dad used to sing this to me when I was kid. He passed away yesterday and this song kept coming into my head. I am going to play your version at his service if that's ok with you.
Fred, please accept my condolences on the loss of your father. As you know, he sent me a kind comment on this song and it would be my honour for you to play it at his service.
I'm so sorry but I may have wrongly confused David Anderson's post with mine. My Dad was Don Rose. He passed away yesterday and I was searching RUclips to find the song Green Grow the Rushes, as it kept coming into my head. My Dad used to sing it to me when I was a kid. When I saw your video I was thrilled as your version is how he sang it to me. I've not heard it for 55 years until today. I will play your version at his service. Thank you.
Thanx for that!! I rememeber we sang this at outdoor school in the 6th grade. I haven't heard it since. I only remembered the first verse. One is one and all alone and evermore shall be it so.
This is brilliant. I saw this in February and I dont think there's since been a fortnight that's gone by where i haven't watched this. Your 'Spanish Ladies' is very good too.
I can't believe I'm listening to classic folk songs as they used to be sung back in the fifties . . Allan Mills and others! Again, as in "Halleluiah I'm a Bum", your voice is so melodic and PEACEFUL! Perhaps its the Isle of Man, surrounded by the deep silence of the sibilant sea! Thanks also for showing the lyrics. Much obliged. Bob from London, Canada.
Thank you for this! I learned it at camp over 50 years ago and haven't heard it since! I listened all the way through cause each verse came back as you sang! Loved it!
All power to your fingers, your voice and your heart. Keep playing, keep singing, and thank you very much indeed - treasures like this, found amongst the drab dross and dirt of commercial life are what makes life worth living.
Very well done! Hearing you sing this song took me back to a 'school journey' some 55 years ago. Good memories! Thank you so much for posting this video.
Wow, thanks for this! My dad sang this to me as a lullaby when I was little, and I could only remember the tune of the last two lines until I found this video. Thank you!
Indeed the best version of this song. My husband remembers it from his childhood so I found this for him and we sang along. Thank you! We will now go and check your other video uploads.
I agree, this is a well put together version. Like joedeni1 this reminds me of my late father singing after a night down the pub! Except for number two he sang "two,two, the same to you, how's your father...Alright? One is one etc..Brilliant mate and again well done...
Thanks for this, I saw the song on Sesame Street and researched some more and found you (and Wikipedia). I like singing this to my baby and she likes it too. Xx
Ahhh! truly lovely, just the way it should be sung. I sang along with you threelegsoman and it reminded me of when I sang this at school down in the antipodes.
Beautiful Rendition thank you so much for passing on such a precious and enigmatic part of our historic culture. I too learned ' five for the symbols at your door ' so 'simples' gives me another branch to investigate...also as a point of interest my local version tells me that the Lilly white boys were 'cloth-ed all in greeen-oh' rather than 'dressed up' the meaning is of course the same but I think the old fashioned word helps the flow of the music. Having Googled I read that this may refer to practice of the saints on the Catholic alter who stand either side of Christ Jesus being covered or Clothed in rushes during Holy Week . Presumably to hide their faces while Jesus was crucified
Superb rendition - but I had learned it as five *symbols* at your door - which, I think is a reference to the Passover / plague episode in Exodus... I'll look it up
@ElonDann67 As I recall, when I first learned this song the information I had was that the Simples were a group of mummers who came round to the houses at Christmas tide and performed traditional plays. In the Isle of Man, these mummers are known as White Boys, alluding to the colour of the clothes they wear.
My brothers were in the boy choir at my church growing up in the 60s. I think that's where he learned it. They were very slanted towards English songs, since ours was an Anglican/Episcopal church. My next oldest brother was totally involved in the music of our church and England. This song came to me today for the first time since way back then, for some totally unknown reason so i had to look it up.
@matthewcollins57 Yes, in this case it is a song with which I am very familiar as I used to sing it with groups of children often, so I managed it in one take.
Thank you for your kind comment. I am always happy to hear from people who have enjoyed by offerings and especially to be able to bring back fond memories.
@georgesimmons61 No George, you're not sad, you obviously enjoy great songs. (Not that I am saying my singing or playing is great, but the song is.) When I was a teacher, this song was the most popular with the children. We used to sing it on buses on school trips.
Lovely ! I haven't heard this song since I was a youngster, 12 or 13, and I've never known all the words, so thankyou very much. Around the area I live in the Lilywhite boys were very active at certain times of the year, so they say!!! On Bidston Hill Birkenhead, on 31st October and the eve of Mayday I think. If I didn't come in from playing out in the summer evenings me mother used to threaten me with the Lilywhite Boys. She'd say "Right then stay out but look out for the Lilywhites ". I was up the stairs to bed like a shot out of a gun!
@spannerotoole My apologies for not pointing this out. I will add an extra annotation to that effect. The chords I show are of course those I am using with the capo at the 7th fret.
Thank you. Why is it so hard to find performances of this version of the piece in full? This video is a blessing.
Thanks for posting this. I saw this song quoted in the fantasy novel Little, Big, and found your video through a Google search.
You're very welcome!
Wow, I remember learning this song in choir at school in 1978. My music teacher taught us lots of interesting songs that she probably doesnt think we little heathens appreciated very much but I remember nearly every word, all these years later! Thank you for the memories - and for singing it so much better than we ever did :)
Thank you very much. I was so happy that I found your video. I used to sing this song sixty years ago at camp on Lake Fairlee, Vermont. The words are exactly as I remember them.
This is the definitive way to sing and play this. Great!
This is a very enjoyable and mellow rendering, very pleasant to sing along to! Thank-you,
Anne Seagull
Phenomenal sir!
I live in a different country to my mom and I miss her like mad and we always used to sing this song together and it reminds me of her
Very nice rendition of a great old tune.
Ah what a pleasant voice!
I love old stuff. Just love it. This is the best version i've ever heard of this song!
Also good is your attention to accuracy and possible alternative words, such as simples and symbols. Instead of burying it, running over it, you explain your alternate word. All good. I expected applause at the end!
Thank you for your kind comment. No applause as I only record in my own living room on my own. :-)
Nicely done man! Class version.
Ah, I love singing this song at a marching tempo as I'm out on a longish walk. I too learned it in our folk club at secondary school in the 1960s. I love the fact that each singer brings to a folk tune something of their own. I enjoy your enjoyment of the song. Brought a smile. Thanks for playing and sharing. kx
This is the best (and clearest) rendition I've heard!
Great performance :)
Thank you so much . The best version of this song I ever heard . I'm about your age, I'm french and it's one of the first english songs I learnt at college .You have a beautiful voice and your videos are very pleasant .
Thanks for listening. I am pleased you find my videos to your liking.
Thank you. I sang this in childhood. Loved it and forget some of it. So nice to hear it once more.
The finest version I found on RUclips. Sweet, simple, well-made. Well done :)
Best version on RUclips! What would we do without you? x
It was like being at Beaver Cross, summer camp (greatest camp on earth!), again! Thank You!!
A very mysterious song.
"Green grow" came into my head today, a song my dad sang occasionally when I was kid. I'm so happy to track it down and such a lovely delivery - thank you
David Anderson my Dad used to sing this to me when I was kid. He passed away yesterday and this song kept coming into my head. I am going to play your version at his service if that's ok with you.
Fred, please accept my condolences on the loss of your father.
As you know, he sent me a kind comment on this song and it would be my honour for you to play it at his service.
Further to last message, if you send me your email address, I will send you the audio file.
I'm so sorry but I may have wrongly confused David Anderson's post with mine. My Dad was Don Rose. He passed away yesterday and I was searching RUclips to find the song Green Grow the Rushes, as it kept coming into my head. My Dad used to sing it to me when I was a kid.
When I saw your video I was thrilled as your version is how he sang it to me. I've not heard it for 55 years until today.
I will play your version at his service. Thank you.
Thank you So much, this is beautiful!
Legend! Many thanks for this. The very essence of Christmas!
They don't make 'em like that any more! Great voice too...
thank you this brings back memories of scout summer camp..last day..we all get together to sing..excellent
Thanx for that!! I rememeber we sang this at outdoor school in the 6th grade. I haven't heard it since. I only remembered the first verse. One is one and all alone and evermore shall be it so.
I love this song since I was a kid ..thank you 😊
This is brilliant. I saw this in February and I dont think there's since been a fortnight that's gone by where i haven't watched this. Your 'Spanish Ladies' is very good too.
Terrific!!
I loved this song as a child and thought I would never find it sung. Thank you so very much!
I can't believe I'm listening to classic folk songs as they used to be sung back in the fifties . . Allan Mills and others! Again, as in "Halleluiah I'm a Bum", your voice is so melodic and PEACEFUL! Perhaps its the Isle of Man, surrounded by the deep silence of the sibilant sea! Thanks also for showing the lyrics. Much obliged. Bob from London, Canada.
thanks for that I have been looking for this for ages my dad used to sing it to me when I was a kid
Thank you for this! I learned it at camp over 50 years ago and haven't heard it since! I listened all the way through cause each verse came back as you sang! Loved it!
Thank you Carol for your kind comment. Happy to bring back fond memories.
All power to your fingers, your voice and your heart. Keep playing, keep singing, and thank you very much indeed - treasures like this, found amongst the drab dross and dirt of commercial life are what makes life worth living.
excellent interpretation. i appreciate your inclusion of the lyrics.
This is great! nice work :)
Very well done! Hearing you sing this song took me back to a 'school journey' some 55 years ago. Good memories! Thank you so much for posting this video.
I love it !! Used to sing it with my dad when i was a little girl, guitar an all. Very happy memories, thanku for posting x
beautiful :) I love it!!
Wonderful! Thank you.
Absolutely lovely. I enjoyed both the song, which was new to me, and your excellent and most pleasant performance of it.
Wow, thanks for this! My dad sang this to me as a lullaby when I was little, and I could only remember the tune of the last two lines until I found this video. Thank you!
Indeed the best version of this song. My husband remembers it from his childhood so I found this for him and we sang along. Thank you!
We will now go and check your other video uploads.
Thanks again! I enjoy the songs! And the funny answers!! ;-)
Wow, my father is British and taught us this song when we were just kids. Amazing.
If you enter the title of the song and 'Wikipedia' there is an in-depth description of the meaning of the verses there. Thanks for your kind comment.
Amazing! This is all but identical to how I learned the song in scout camp more than 30 years ago! Thank you!
I remember this song from an old episode of "The Avengers" ("Too Many Christmas Trees"). Sounds great!
I agree, this is a well put together version.
Like joedeni1 this reminds me of my late father singing after a night down the pub! Except for number two he sang "two,two, the same to you, how's your father...Alright? One is one etc..Brilliant mate and again well done...
@clintonearlwalker Thanks for the kind comment. Always happy to bring back fond memories.
I'm your fan! You are incredible. So beautiful voice...
@GratefulJWB Thank you for your kind comment. I am always happy to bring back fond memories.
Thanks for sharing this - used to sing it many years ago! :)
@MsFrenchFlower Thank you for your kind comment and for favouriting my video.
Simply smashing! Ta!
U appeared on my screen after I watched REM and I enjoyed your perform ance. Viva!
Thanks for this, I saw the song on Sesame Street and researched some more and found you (and Wikipedia). I like singing this to my baby and she likes it too. Xx
Fantastic! You're awesome. thanks for putting up the chords, too.
Ahhh! truly lovely, just the way it should be sung. I sang along with you threelegsoman and it reminded me of when I sang this at school down in the antipodes.
I used to sing this when I when to sleep away camp this is such a butiful song
well thanks very much you rock !!!!!
Beautiful Rendition thank you so much for passing on such a precious and enigmatic part of our historic culture.
I too learned ' five for the symbols at your door ' so 'simples' gives me another branch to investigate...also as a point of interest my local version tells me that the Lilly white boys were 'cloth-ed all in greeen-oh' rather than 'dressed up' the meaning is of course the same but I think the old fashioned word helps the flow of the music.
Having Googled I read that this may refer to practice of the saints on the Catholic alter who stand either side of Christ Jesus being covered or Clothed in rushes during Holy Week . Presumably to hide their faces while Jesus was crucified
Nice job, man. Great voice and great guitar. Kind of reminds me of the Ernie Ford version a song called "Children Go Where I Send Thee."
@joeyb55 Happy to bring back fond memories. Thanks for the comment.
@DaveWhiteEagle Thanks for your kind comment. I am always pleased to know I have brought back fond memories.
Thanks for your comment, you are very welcome
@themillbrooker Thank you for your comment. I suspect you might have a job on there!
Thank you for your kind comment.
Check out the article on this song in Wikipedia which explains all the verse references.
Superb rendition - but I had learned it as five *symbols* at your door - which, I think is a reference to the Passover / plague episode in Exodus... I'll look it up
Thanks🤗
Thank you for your kind comment
@michelesouris I am glad you enjoyed it.
I really liked it. It reminds me of being little, though my mum would sing with slightly different timbre and, obviously, higher in pitch.
@bsontrop Once again Bob, thank you for your comment
i really love diz, we used 2 sing it as a family, each n' everyone has his/her own part
@bdfil Thanks for the kind comment. It always gives me pleasure to bring back fond memories for my viewers.
And beautifully you sang it too Louise! :-))
Thank you Mr Green, I appreciate your kind comment.
@ElonDann67 As I recall, when I first learned this song the information I had was that the Simples were a group of mummers who came round to the houses at Christmas tide and performed traditional plays. In the Isle of Man, these mummers are known as White Boys, alluding to the colour of the clothes they wear.
Thank you, I am pleased you enjoyed it.
I would sing this song never knowing the words or were it came from, thanks
@archmageaskara I am happy that you enjoyed it. Thank you for your kind comment.
Thank you once again for your very kind comment .
My brothers were in the boy choir at my church growing up in the 60s.
I think that's where he learned it. They were very slanted towards English songs, since ours was an Anglican/Episcopal church. My next oldest brother was totally involved in the music of our church and England.
This song came to me today for the first time since way back then, for some totally unknown reason so i had to look it up.
thank you - I also used to enjoy this song at Boy Scout Camp.
@Avril4Lavigneluver Thanks for your kind comment.
@darkhegemony Very kind of you to say so.
@matthewcollins57 Yes, in this case it is a song with which I am very familiar as I used to sing it with groups of children often, so I managed it in one take.
Thank you for your kind comment. I am always happy to hear from people who have enjoyed by offerings and especially to be able to bring back fond memories.
YEAH MAN!
That made my night...
@georgesimmons61 No George, you're not sad, you obviously enjoy great songs. (Not that I am saying my singing or playing is great, but the song is.) When I was a teacher, this song was the most popular with the children. We used to sing it on buses on school trips.
Lovely ! I haven't heard this song since I was a youngster, 12 or 13, and I've never known all the words, so thankyou very much. Around the area I live in the Lilywhite boys were very active at certain times of the year, so they say!!! On Bidston Hill Birkenhead, on 31st October and the eve of Mayday I think. If I didn't come in from playing out in the summer evenings me mother used to threaten me with the Lilywhite Boys. She'd say "Right then stay out but look out for the Lilywhites ". I was up the stairs to bed like a shot out of a gun!
I have added the lyrics and chords with the information now as the original annotations no longer show up.
Thanks so much, this reminds me at the age of 7 when my dad used to sing the song,
@Crucibella Thank you
@WarwickAlice Thank you. Kind of you to say so.
Thank you. I am pleased that you and your husband enjoyed it and hope you find more of my efforts equally as enjoyable.
Tony
That is kind of you to say. I am pleased that you like it.
@larrygould2002 Always happy when I manage to bring back fond memories. Thank you for your comment.
@spannerotoole My apologies for not pointing this out. I will add an extra annotation to that effect. The chords I show are of course those I am using with the capo at the 7th fret.
Happy to have been of help