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Last Updated
December 4, 2007



Tablature and Sound Files
 

The Cherry Tree Carol is a song that I (Neal) used to do with the Mill Run Dulcimer Band about this time of year. It's very straightforward in our arrangment though there are a number of different versions available from a variety of sources. I remember hearing it done by Joan Baez in my formative years and I suppose that's where I learned it. At any rate, we always did it in the key of C but here I've arranged it in the key of D with an F#m in the one place that gives the tune its character. Seeking more information, I looked the song title up in the Wikipedia and discovered that:

The Cherry-Tree Carol" is a ballad with the rare distinction of being both a Christmas carol and one of the Child Ballads (no. 54). The song itself is very old, reportedly being sung, in some form, at the Feast of Corpus Christi in the early 15th century. The versions eventually collected by Francis James Child are thought to be a combination of up to three separate carols that merged together through the centuries.

The ballad relates an apocryphal story of the Virgin Mary, presumably while traveling to Bethlehem for the census with Joseph. In the most popular version, the two stop in a cherry orchard, and Mary asks her husband to pick cherries for her, citing her child. Joseph spitefully tells Mary to let the child's father pick her cherries.

At this point in most versions, Jesus, from the womb, speaks to the tree and commands it to lower a branch down to Mary, which it does. Joseph, witnessing this miracle, immediately repents his harsh words. The more contemporary versions sometimes end here, while others often include an angel appearing to Joseph and telling him of the circumstances of Jesus's birth. Many versions then jump ahead several years, where the next verse picks up with Jesus on his mother's lap, telling her of his eventual death and resurrection."

The story is derived from the apocryphal Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, which combines many earlier apocryphal Nativity traditions; however, in Pseudo-Matthew, the event takes place during the flight into Egypt and the fruit tree is a palm tree (presumably a date palm) and not a cherry tree. In the apocryphal Gospel, Jesus has already been born and so Joseph's truculence is unrelated to any dismay over Mary's pregnancy, but has to do with an inability to reach the fruits of the palm and a concern over the family's lack of water.

The song has been recorded by Peter, Paul, and Mary, Pentangle, Joan Baez, Mary Hopkin, the King's College Choir, José Feliciano, John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers, and Colin Meloy.
Thanks to Wikipedia for the insight into the song's background. As for our arrangement, I think it works well on both dulcimer and autoharp but, if you want to try an F# (major) chord at that one spot where I've put the F#m, it will sound great too ... happy holidays!

Click Here for an Adobe Acrobat version of the Mountain Dulcimer TAB. 
Click Here for an Adobe Acrobat version of the Autoharp TAB.
Click Here to listen to a midi file.

More Tunes from the Doofus Archives in Adobe Acrobat and MIDI Formats

Mountain Dulcimer Autoharp MIDI Files

Rochester Schottishe
Avalon Quickstep
Still, Still
Victory Rag (C)
Victory Rag (D)
Mud Fence
Coleman's March
Roving on a Winter's NIght
Grand River Whiskey
My Country 'Tis of Thee
Grasshopper Sittin'
Sally in the Garden
Crann Ull
Row Your Boat
Rose in the Mountain
Winds through the Olive Trees
Ring Out the Old

Snowbird
Sally's Got Mud Between Her Toes
Brightest and Best
Jenny's Gone to Ohio
Only Remembered
Sunshine in the Shadows
Bye and Bye (Capo 4 in DAD)
Bye and Bye (AEA for Baritone)
The Coo Coo
Cradle Hymn
Lueget vo Berg
Sam and Daisy
Lady of the Lake

Pig Ankle Rag
Stream of Time
Who Broke the Lock
One More Is Just Enough
Cherry Tree Carol

Rochester Schottische
Avalon Quickstep
Still, Still
Victory Rag
Mud Fence
Coleman's March
Roving on a  Winter's Night
Grand River Whiskey
My Country "Tis of Thee
Grasshopper  Sittin'
Sally in the Garden
Crann Ull
Row Your Boat
Rose in the Mountain
Winds through the Olive Trees
Ring Out the Old
Snowbird

Sally's Got Mud Between Her Toes

Brightest and Best
Jenny's Gone to Ohio
Only Remembered
Sunshine in the Shadows
Bye and Bye
The Coo Coo
Cradle Hymn
Lueget vo Berg
Sam and Daisy
Lady of the Lake

Pig Ankle Rag
Stream of Time
Who Broke the Lock
One More Is Just Enough

Cherry Tree Carol

Rochester Schottische (AH)
Rochester Schottische (MD)
Avalon Quickstep
Still, Still
Victory Rag
Mud Fence
Coleman's March
Roving on a  Winter's Night
Grand River Whiskey
My Country 'Tis of Thee
Grasshopper Sittin'
Sally in the Garden
Crann Ull
Row Your Boat
Rose in the Mountain
Winds through the Olive Trees
Ring Out the Old
Snowbird
Sally's Got Mud Between Her Toes

Brightest and Best
Jenny's Gone to Ohio
Only Remembered
Sunshine in the Shadows
Bye and Bye
The Coo Coo
Cradle Hymn
Lueget vo Berg

Sam and Daisy
Lady of the Lake
Pig Ankle Rag
1

Pig Ankle Rag 2 (w/ boogie piano)
Stream of Time
Who Broke the Lock
One More Is Just Enough
Cherry Tree Carol



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