I love the boys and the boys love me,
I love the boys and the boys love me,
I love the boys and the boys love me,
As we go marching home.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
As we go marching home.
The old whiskey bottle lies empty on the shelf,
The old whiskey bottle lies empty on the shelf,
The old whiskey bottle lies empty on the shelf,
As we go marching home.
—Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (Herbert).
(b) In [Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire] the game is played by the children forming a circle and dancing round, singing. The first and third lines are sung three times. Partners are chosen during the singing of the last line. Miss Peacock adds, “The rest wanting, as my informant had forgotten the game.” In the [Sharleston version] the children march round two by two, in a double circle, with one child in the centre, singing the verse. At the conclusion, the children who are marching on the inner side of the circle leave their partners and take the place of one in front of them, while the centre child endeavours to get one of the vacant places, the child turned out taking the place of the one in the centre, when the game begins again. In the [Earls Heaton version] there is the circle of children, with one child in the centre, who chooses a partner after the lines have been sung.
(c) From this it would seem that while the [Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire words] appear to be the most complete, the action has been preserved best at [Sharleston]. The acting of this version is the same as that of “[The Jolly Miller].” The third variant is evidently an imitation of the song, “John Brown.”
Green Grow the Leaves (2)
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—Northants (R. S. Baker).