We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

An Ivy Song (Kelly​/​Hadaway)

from Dancing Day: songs for Christmas and Yule by Merry Hadaway

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £0.75 GBP  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

  • Dancing Day - Limited Edition CD
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    The physical CD, with gorgeous cover artwork by Somhairle Kelly.

    **CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE DUE TO COVID-19 QUARANTINING**

    Includes unlimited streaming of Dancing Day: songs for Christmas and Yule via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • Dancing Day - songbook
    Sheet Music

    A pretty A5 book, with artwork by Somhairle Kelly, containing lyrics and sheet music (the tune, and chords where relevant) for all the songs on the EP.

    I've sold out of the existing paper copies of this, but I'd love to get a new edition printed if there is a demand!

    Sold Out

  • Full Digital Discography

    10
    releases

    Get all 10 Merry Hadaway releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Soul-Cake, Rosebud in June, The Donkey, The Lady of the Woods, Down in Yon Forest, Tell Me Where the Ocean Went, Sigh No More, Ladies, Dancing Day: songs for Christmas and Yule, and 2 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      £13.80 GBP or more (20% OFF)

     

about

My lovely partner Sam and I were discussion a few months ago how sad it was that we have lost the traditional English ivy songs, the counterpoints to the holly songs. So, Sam being a lyricist along with his other fine qualities, decided to write me one to set. :-)

I love that, while in “The Holly and the Ivy”, the holly winning against the ivy appears to be grounded on fairly flimsy evidence (it has botanical attributes that vaguely resonate with the story of Jesus?), Sam has given some comparison here between the two plants that really do have the ivy coming off best. Holly is isolationist, stand-alone and strong, but the ivy is clever, adaptable, patient, and the proper adornment for the mead-drinker.

In great enthusiasm for the second verse especially, I decided that the ivy is also symbolising the traditional female activist qualities of companionship, adaptability, patience and solidarity, quietly undermining the establishment, while the holly is more like a solitary male (and misogynist) activist who makes the female activists all make the tea. Sam thought this was an excellent reading, but actually he just wrote it to be about plants. This is how we know that, while Sam is a poet and better-read than I am, I'm the one with the English literature degree. ;-)

lyrics

1.
Oh will ye sing of carven stone,
That masons build so high?
And will ye sing of oak and ash,
That reach across the sky?
I will sing of holly-trees
That take no note of snow,
And I will sing of ivy leaves
That climb and twine and grow.

Chorus.
For ivy she grows patiently,
On oak and ash and stone
While holly springs up by himself
And holly grows alone.

2.
Oh will ye sing of office-blocks
Where thousands trudge along?
And will ye sing of public bars,
Where voices lift in song?
I will sing of holly-trees
Sufficient to themselves,
And I will sing of ivy leaves,
And roots that twine and delve.

3.
Oh will ye sing of garden beds
That careful workmen tend?
And will ye sing of paths and roads
That wander, twist and bend?
I will sing of holly-trees
That need no careful hand
And I will sing of ivy leaves
That never straight-wise stand.

4.
Oh will ye sing of moss so dark
That grows in woodland shade?
And will ye sing of honey bright
Of which is braggot made?
I will sing of holly-trees
That grow whereso they will
And I will sing of ivy leaves
That crown each drunkard still.

5.
Oh will ye sing of gentle death
And snow so quiet and cold?
And will ye sing of life renewed
And crocus red and gold?
I will sing of holly-trees
That stand so strong and green
And I will sing of ivy leaves
The fairest tree we've seen.

credits

from Dancing Day: songs for Christmas and Yule, released December 6, 2014

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Merry Hadaway image

Merry Hadaway Stonehaven, UK

Folk singer, ukulele player and songwriter. Queer, disabled, trans, Christo-Pagan, powered by waves and mountains. :-)

contact / help

Contact Merry Hadaway

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Merry Hadaway, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring Riley Pinkerton (aka The Rat Queen) from the theatrical NYC rockers, Castle Rat.
listen now