KEEPER WOULD A HUNTIN GO
There are many similar versions of this song, but due to its content (mild enough to us,
but considered gross by many in those days) these were not published at the time; except
for a set which appeared in Sabine Baring Gould’s Songs of the West. This text was re-
written to make it “safe”, but makes it clear, as the Sharp re-write does not, that the
“does” are actually women. “The earliest known version is a black-letter ballad of fifteen
verses, written by one Joseph Martin, and published in the mid-1680s under the title of
The “Huntsman’s Delight”; or “The Forester’s Pleasure”. In the eighteenth century a
slightly less elaborate version was issued, this time in white-letter, with only six verses,
and entitled “The Frolicksome Keeper”. Unlike its predecessor, it has the dialogue chorus
which is common to versions which have turned up in oral tradition during this century.”
In American Favorite Ballads (1961), Pete Seeger uses the same lyrics as the first three
verses in the DT, but does not include the fourth verse added by the Weavers. All that
Seeger says about the song is that it is “a song from our British cousins, lots of fun as an
answer-back song.” These particular lyrics were sung by the Weavers.
The keeper did a hunting go
Under his cloak he carried a bow
All for a shoot, a merry little doe
Among the leaves so green, oh
Jacky boy
(Master)
Sing me well
(Very well)
Hey, down, ho, down, very, very down
Among the leaves so green, oh
To my head on down, to my whole on down
Hey, down, ho, down, very, very down
Among the leaves so green, oh
The first, oh, she did cross the plain
The keeper fetched her back again
Where she’s now she may remain
Among the leaves so green, oh
Jacky boy
(Master)
Sing me well
(Very well)
Hey, down, ho, down, very, very down
