Cherry Tree

On the subject of English folk songs describing Christian tales that somehow got redacted from the Bible - having dealt with the murderous madness of The Bitter Withy a couple of weeks back - one of the more famous is, of course, The Cherry Tree Carol (performed here by The Pentangle). The roots of the song are complex and nebulous - it dates back to the 15th century at least - but it essentially revolves around Joseph and Mary having a bit of a marital tiff, in which Joseph decides to have a dig about the dubious paternity of the unborn baby Jesus, and Jesus promptly starts doing some magical landscape gardening from within the womb. Get 'em on Jeremy Kyle, I say.


Joseph was an old man, an old man was he,
When he married Virgin Mary, the Queen of Galilee.

As Mary and Joseph were walking one day
To an orchard of cherry trees they happened to stray.

Then Mary said to Joseph, so meek and so mild,
"Pick me some cherries, Joseph, for I am with child."

Then Joseph flew angry, so angry flew he,
"Let the father of your baby gather cherries for thee."

Then up spoke Lord Jesus from in his mother's womb,
"Bow low down, cherry trees, bow down to the ground."

And the cherry trees bowed down, bowed low to the ground,
And Mary gathered cherries while Joseph stood round.

Then Joseph he kneeled down and a question gave he,
"Come tell me, pretty baby, when your birthday shall be."

"On the fifth day of January my birthday shall be,
And the stars in the heaven shall all bow down to me."