DESCRIPTION:
Note: should SAGA or Heritage Records take issue with my upload here, I'll immediately remove it.

I've always loved this song and here, Heritage Records have done a first-rate job of re-mastering the late John Shirley-Quirk's pretty much definitive performance (among many other works on the Album - see below) from the original SAGA Records tapes recorded in the 1960's.

Here's what Heritage Records say about the entire project:

"As a tribute to the late John Shirley-Quirk (1931 - 2014), Heritage is proud to re-issue the recordings he made of English song for the SAGA label in the 1960s. Three LPs were originally laid down – Songs of Travel, A Recital of English Song and The Songs of John Ireland – and they appear here as a double CD. The performances are considered by many to be definitive and the present collection, re-mastered from the original tapes, appears by kind permission of the SAGA Continuation Trust".

Heck, I now need to buy the entire Album entitled "English Song".

I took these pictures in the Derbyshire Peak District, England - except for the North American red squirrel, which I took in Massachusetts, New England, USA. I regret that I don't have any pictures of apple trees ;)

Here are the words, by William Barnes (1801-1886)

Within the woodlands, flow'ry gladed,
By the oak trees' mossy moot;
The shining grass blades, timber shaded,
Now do quiver under foot;
And birds do whistle overhead,
And water's bubbling in its bed;
And there for me,
The apple tree
Do lean down low in Linden Lea.

When leaves, that lately were a-springing,
Now do fade within the copse,
And painted birds do hush their singing
Up upon the timber tops;
And brown leaved fruit's a-turning red,
In cloudless sunshine overhead,
With fruit for me,
The apple tree
Do lean down low in Linden Lea.

Let other folk make money faster;
In the air of darkened towns;
I don't dread a peevish master.
Though no man may heed my frowns
I be free to go abroad,
Or take again my home-ward road,
To where, for me,
The apple tree
Do lean down low in Linden Lea.

John Shirley-Quirk - baritone
Viola Tunnard - piano
(c) 1963 SAGA/Heritage Records
Album: "English Song"
HTGCD283/4 – 5060332661022