Ye Blood Red Roses

Song Information

Composer: Traditional

Lyric Author: Traditional

Published: 19th Century

Country of origin: England

General Interest

For a halyard shanty this one is unusually well evolved. Stan Hugill thinks it probably started life early in the nineteenth century. I'd have thought later, by its shape. Its first mention in print is 1879. Old Cape Horners have been unable to suggest the meaning of the refrain. In some Napoleon ballads the British army is referred to as “the bunch of roses.” More probably it's an image garbled from a scrap quoted by Hugill:

Come down with your pretty posy

Come down with your cheeks so rosy

Source: Mainly Norfolk

Here's a link to the Lyric:

Ye Blood Red Roses Lyric

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