The Ash Grove

The Ash Grove (Welsh: "Llwyn Onn") is a traditional Welsh folk song whose melody has been set to numerous sets of lyrics. The most well-known was written, in English, by John Oxenford in the 19th century.

The first published version of the tune was in 1802 in "The Bardic Museum". The book was written by Edward Jones, a harpist. About 4 years later a version with words appeared, under the name "Llwyn Onn". It tells of a sailor's love for "Gwen of Llwyn". The tune might be much older, as a similar tune appears in "The Beggar's Opera" by John Gay (1728), in the song "Cease Your Funning". In 1922 , however Kidson claimed that John Gay's tune derives from the morris dance tune "Constant Billy", which is first known in Playford's "Dancing Master".

The tune of "The Ash Grove" is used for the hymn "Let All Things Now Living" by Katherine K Davis (born 1892). About 1962 a song called "The Irish Free State" was written to this tune. The "Ash Grove" featured in the 1980 BBC mini-series "Pride and Prejudice".

A folk club at 8162 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, was named after the song. The venue opened in 1958. The Greenbriar Boys, Lightnin' Hopkins, Mississippi John Hurt, Ry Cooder and many others performed here.

Oxenford Lyrics

The ash grove how graceful, how plainly 'tis speaking
The wind through it playing has language for me.
Whenever the light through its branches is breaking,
A host of kind faces is gazing at me.
The friends from my childhood again are before me
Each step brings a memory as freely I roam.
With soft whispers laden the leaves rustle o’er me
The ash grove, the ash grove alone is my home. Down yonder green meadow where streamlets meander
When twilight is fading I pensively roam
Or in the bright noon tide in solitude wander
Amid the dark spaces of that lonely ash grove.
‘Twas there while the black bird was cheerfully singing
I first met my dear one the joy of my heart
Around us for gladness the blue bells were springing
The ash grove, the ash grove that sheltered my home. My lips smile no more, my heart loses its lightness;
No dream of the future my spirit can cheer.
I only can brood on the past and its brightness
The dear ones I long for again gather here.
From ev'ry dark nook they press forward to meet me;
I lift up my eyes to the broad leafy dome,
And others are there, looking downward to greet me
The ash grove, the ash grove, again is my home.

External links

* [http://www.cantorion.org Cantorion] - various arrangements for free download, CC-BY-SA license
* [http://www.gurman.org/ashgrove/ Lyrics (1)]
* [http://www.boudicca.de/ashgrove-e.htm Lyrics (2)]
* [http://www.ceolas.org/cgi-bin/ht2/ht2-fc/case=yes Searchable index: input "Cease Your Funning"]
* [http://yscolan.blogspot.com/2006/03/llwyn-onn.html Possible origins of the tune]
* [http://www.ashgrovemusic.com/press.htm Ashgrove Folk Club (1)]
* [http://www.folkworks.org/content/view/35373/3176/ Ashgrove Folk Club (2)]
* [http://www.oldtimeherald.org/archive/back_issues/volume-5/5-8/hollywood.html Ashgrove Folk Club (3)]
* [http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ballads/PGa071.html The Irish Free State]