As welcome as the flowers in May

AKAThe Jolly Miller
The Jolly Old Mill
The miller
I can laugh
First publishedc1870

Writer/composerHarry CliftonRoudRN22067
Music Hall performersHarry Clifton 1860s
JW Rowley 1870/80s
Fred Coyne 1870s
Folk performancesCollected from the singing of:
Edmund Fry, 1892, Devon, England
Raymond Smith, ca1900?, Gloucester, England
William Kimber, 1958, Oxfordshire, England
Arthur Giles, 1959, Bucks, England
Unknown, 1961, Ontario, Canada (Edith Fowke coll)
Unknown, 1961, Sussex, England (Tony Wales coll)
Maurice Wheat, 1970, Derbyshire, England
Jack Beeforth, 1974, Yorkshire, England
I live at the mill, at the foot of the hill,
Where the stream runs rippling by.
For ten miles around, there cannot be found
A merrier fellow than I;
For I laugh and I sing and I drive away a care.
I've enough for my wants and a little to spare.
If a poor old friend should pass my way,
I make him welcome as the flowers in May.

For I laugh and I sing and I drive away a care.
I've enough for my wants and a little to spare.
If a poor old friend should pass my way,
I make him welcome as the flowers in May.

The jolly old mill, it stands there still,
As it did in my father's time,
Who often used to sing to me
This little bit of rhyme:
Remember, my boy, don't turn up your nose
At poorer people in plainer clothes,
But think for the sake of your mind's repose
That wealth is a bubble that comes and goes.

I never saw the pleasure yet
Of dressing very loud.
I think there's little good to get
By looking very proud,
Or crossing over, when you meet,
A poor acquaintance in the street.
I may be wrong, but then, you know,
That's merely the style of the miller—just so.

I think it just as well to try
To pay your tailor's bills,
To pay a wrong or injury
With good instead of ill.
In fact, I think it best to do
As you'd see others do to you.
I may be wrong, but then, you know,
That's merely the style of the miller—just so.

Another uplifting motto song written and performed by Harry Clifton. It was also sung in the Halls by our old friend JW “Over” Rowley and Fred Coyne – follow the links to find out more about these performers.

As Welcome as the Flowers in May appears in many 19th-century broadsides and songbooks and was collected from a significant number of British and Canadian traditional singers from the late 19th century on. It was collected by prominent folksong collectors Sabine Baring-Gould and Alfred Williams, though neither included it in their published folksong collections as far as I can tell. It doesn’t seem to have been taken up by many modern (revival) folk performers, as far as I can tell.

Clifton started singing the song late in 1870, the earliest reference I can find is this notice for a Dublin concert:

Oct. 22, 1870; Freeman’s Journal (Dublin, Ireland)

It may be that sheet music was published a few years later, the earliest ad I have found is for 1872:

The Illustrated London News, Feb. 17, 1872

Clifton’s As Welcome as the Flowers in May is often confused with  a song titled “You’re as Welcome as the Flowers in May“, allocated to Roud 4347. This song, written by Dan J. Sullivan, first line: “Last night I dreamed a sweet, sweet dream...”, has firmly entered the North American and Irish traditional singing repertoire.

Clifton’s song as sung to Ruairidh Greig by Maurice Wheat in 1970:

Sources:

Last Updated on March 16, 2024 by John Baxter | Published: May 1, 2020

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