Over the garden wall

Oh, my love stood under the walnut tree,
Over the garden wall,
She whispered and said she'd be true to me,
Over the garden wall,
She'd beautiful eyes and beautiful hair,
She was not very tall so she stood in a chair,
And Many a time have I kissed her there,
Over the garden wall.
    
Over the garden wall,
The sweetest girl of all.
There never were yet such eyes of jet,
And you can bet I'll never forget
The night our lips in kisses met,
Over the garden wall.

But her father stamped and her father raved,
Over the garden wall,
And like an old madman he behaved,
Over the garden wall,
She made a bouquet of roses red,
But immediately I popped up my head,
He gave me a bucket of water instead,
Over the garden wall.

One day I jumped down on the other side,
Over the garden wall,
And she bravely promised to be my bride,
Over the garden wall,
But she screamed in a fright, "Here's father, quick,
I have an impression he's bringing a stick."
But I brought the impression of half a brick,
Over the garden wall. 

But where there's a will, there's always a way,
Over the garden wall,
There's always a night as well as the day,
Over the garden wall ;
We hadn't much money, but wedding's are cheap,
So while the old fellow was snoring asleep,
With a lad and ladder, she managed to creep
Over the garden wall. 

The song was written by Harry Hunter (1841-1906) one time leader of the burnt cork-faced minstrels: The Manhattan Minstrels. In Britain there were two main rival blackface minstrel troupes: the Mohawk Minstrels (who performed in residency in London ) and the Manhattan Minstrels (who tended to tour the provinces and only rarely appeared in London). Hunter defected to the Mohawks in 1874, and wrote this song for one of its main performers five years later. The song was subsequently successful in the Halls: it featured in the repertoire of both Vesta Victoria and later in that of the Bristolian who first sang Rawtenstall Annual Fair, Randolph Sutton.

Over the Garden Wall appeared widely in a number of 19th-century songsters and broadsides, on both sides of the Atlantic. It has been adopted as a traditional song on both sides of the Atlantic, appearing in the repertoire of a number of source singers, and recorded in a suitably truncated version by The Carter Family in the 1930s.

There are at least two other folksongs of the same name , one associated with a children’s game RN19232 (first line: Over the garden wall I let my baby fall) and the other a bawdy song RN8382 (first line: I went to pee behind a tree). Its also the title of at least one other comical song – sung by Gracie Fields (in the 1930s?)

Sources:

• Entries in the Roud Indexes at the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library: https://archives.vwml.org/search/all:single[folksong-broadside-books]/0_50/all/score_desc/extended-roudNo_tr%3A3765
• Kilgarrif Sing Us
• US Sheet music: Levy Collection
• Lyrics: courtesy of Artful Codger in this Mudcat thread
• Traditional Ballad Index

As The Carter Family sang it:

Last Updated on October 25, 2020 by John Baxter | Published: August 28, 2020