The Riddle Song
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
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Lyrics:
I gave my love a cherry that has no stone,
I gave my love a chicken that has no bone,
I gave my love a ring that has no end,
I gave my love a baby with no cryin'.
How can there be a cherry that has no stone?
How can there be a chicken that has no bone?
How can there be a ring that has no end?
How can there be a baby with no cryin'?
A cherry, when it's blooming, it has no stone,
A chicken when it's pipping, it has no bone,
A ring when it's rolling, it has no end,
A baby when it's sleeping, has no cryin'.
"The Riddle Song," also known as "I Gave My Love a Cherry" is an English folk song,<br> apparently a lullaby, which was carried by settlers to the American Appalachians.<br> It descends from a 15th-century English song in which a maiden says she will accept<br> courtship only if the suitor can answer a series of riddles. It is related to Child<br> Ballad no. 1, or "Riddles Wisely Expounded" and Child Ballad no. 46, "Captain<br> Wedderburn's Courtship". It is no. 330 in the Roud Folk Song Index.<br> In some versions the number of riddles varies from three to ten or more. In some,<br> versions the suitor poses the riddles that the woman must answer. In some versions<br> the riddles are in two parts so that three riddles are actually six.<br> Burl Ives recorded it in 1941 for his debut album, Okeh Presents the Wayfaring<br> Stranger. Since then, it has been recorded by many artists, including Pete Seeger,<br> Joan Baez, Doc Watson, Sam Cooke and Carly Simon.<br> It has been printed in Pete Seeger's American Favorite Ballads and in<br> The Burl Ives Songbook.<br>
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