I Gave My Love a Cherry

Album: Lullabies (1600)
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  • Verse 1.
    I gave my love a cherry, that has no stone.
    I gave my love a chicken, that has no bone.
    I told my love a story, that has no end.
    I gave my love a baby, with no cryin'.
    Verse 2.
    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 story, that has no end.
    How can there be a baby, with no cryin'.
    Verse 3.
    A cherry when it's bloomin', it has no stone.
    A chicken when it's pippin', it has no bone.
    The story of I love you, it has no end.
    A baby when it's sleepin', has no cryin'. Lyrics from a song in Public Domain

Comments: 2

  • Leroy from Nc"The Twelfth of Never" by Johhny Mathis (and later, a host of others) sounds like a rip off of this old song. I wonder if someone claimed credit for this old public domain tune and made money off of it.
  • Don Farkas from Los AngelesAt the ripening age of 67 years old, I was very surprised to find out the lyrics of "The Riddle Song," as most of the world has apparently known them, are actually very different in tone than the ones I had been taught as a kid in elementary school. The only version I had ever heard before was the one sung to us by our fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Mulkurn (sp?), on her autoharp. The first two verses that she sang, about giving her love a cherry without a stone, a chicken without a bone, a kitten with no sighin', and a baby with no cryin', were basically the same, but the last verse explained: "A cherry pie a'bakin', it has no stones. A chicken made for stewin', it has no bones. A kitten when it's sleepin', has no sighin'. But there should not be a baby, with no cryin'. It was a much sadder song, and not a lullaby at all.
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