The trees they grow so high
Language: English
Available translation(s): GER
The trees they grow so high And the leaves they grow so green, And many a cold winter's night My love and I have seen. Of a cold winter's night, My love, you and I alone have been, Whilst my bonny boy is young He's a-growing. Growing, growing, Whilst my bonny boy is young He's a-growing. O father, dearest father, You've done to me great wrong, You've tied me to a boy When you know he is too young. O daughter, dearest daughter, If you wait a little while, A lady you shall be While he's growing. Growing, growing, A lady you shall be While he's growing. I'll send your love to college All for a year or two, And then in the mean-time He will do for you; I'll buy him white ribbons, Tie them round his bonny waist To let the ladies know That he's married, Married, married, To let the ladies know That he's married. I went up to the college And I looked over the wall, Saw four and twenty gentlemen Playing at bat and ball. I called for my true love, But they would not let him come, All because he was a young boy And growing, Growing, growing, All because he was a young boy And growing. At the age of sixteen, He was a married man And at the age of seventeen He was a father to a son And at the age of eighteen The grass grew over him, Cruel death soon put an end To his growing, Growing, growing, Cruel death soon put an end To his growing. And now my love is dead And in his grave doth lie. The green grass grows o'er him So very, very high. I'll sit and mourn His fate until the day I die, And I'll watch all o'er his child While he's growing, Growing, growing, And I'll watch all o'er his child While he's growing.
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "The trees they grow so high" [text verified 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Sharon Krebs) , title 1: "Die Bäume, sie wachsen so hoch", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 66
Word count: 322