Over the Garden Wall

This item is part of the I. G. Greer Folksong Collection which consists of more than 300 individual song titles and their variants as collected by Isaac Garfield Greer (1881-1967) from informants, primarily in Ashe, Wilkes and Watauga counties. The collection includes manuscripts, typescript transcriptions produced by Dr. Greer’s clerical staff, and handwritten musical notations. Songs range from traditional Child Ballads, traditional English and Scottish ballads as well as their American variants, to 19th century popular music to musical compositions of local origin.

Folk songs, English

Courtship--Songs and music

Elopement--Songs and music

Fathers and daughters--Songs and music

AC.113 Isaac Garfield (I.G.) Greer Papers and Recordings

W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University

Greer, I. G. (Isaac Garfield), 1881-1967

PDF

English

Text

Over The Garden Wall
Oh, my love stood under the walnut tree,
Over the garden wall
And whispered and sang she’d be true to me,
Over the garden wall.
She’d beautiful eyes and beautiful hair,
She was not very tall so she stood in a chair,
And many a time have I kissed her there,
Over the garden wall.
Over the garden wall, the sweetest girl of all
There never were yet such eyes of jet
And you can bet I’ll never forget
The night our lips in kisses met
Over the garden wall.

Her father stamped and her father raved,
Over the garden wall.
And like an old mad man he behaved
Over the garden wall.
She made a bouquet of roses red and
immediately
I popped up my head,
But he gave me a bucket of water instead
Over the garden wall.
(Chorus)

One day I jumped down on the other side
Over the garden wall,
And she bravely promised to be my bride
Over the garden wall.
She screamed in a fright, here’s father quick,
I have an impression he’s bringing a stick,
But I brought the impression of half a brick
Over the garden wall.
(Chorus)

Where there’s a will, there’s always a way
Over the garden wall
There’s always a night as well as a day
Over the garden wall.
We hadn’t much money but weddings are cheap
So while the old fellow was snoring asleep
With a lad and a ladder she managed to creep
Over the garden wall.
(Chorus)

Brown, Additional Songs - 714 Randolph, 867

113_OverTheGardenWall