Green Grow the Rushes - Oh

[alisonbayne]

Does anyone know the meaning behind the words to the above traditional English folksong, which goes 'I'll sing you one-oh, Green grow the rushes-oh, What is your one-on? One is one and all alone and ever more shall be so. It's a counting song.

[_josie_]

one is one and all alone, forever more shall be so.

[mikewith]

I've found a page answering this and setting out 12 (!) verses:
http://www.acronet.net/~robokopp/english/greengro.htm
I'l l sing you twelve-o
Green grow the rushes-o
What are your twelve-o?
Twelve for the twelve apostles,
Eleven for the eleven who went to heaven, and
Ten for the Ten Commandments,
Nine for the nine bright shiners,
Eight for the April rainers,
Seven for the seven stars in the sky, and
Six for the six proud walkers,
Five for the symbols at your door, and
Four for the gospel-makers,
Three, three arrivals!
Two, two lily-white boys
Clothed all in green-o
One is one, and all alone,
And ever more shall be so
The page also includes a glossary wwhich tends to the Christian.
Incidentally, there's a Scottish folk song of the same name - different words and and tune - with words that may have been written by Robert Burns: http://mysongbook.de/msb/songs/r_clarke/greengro.htm

[lodekka]

Another link that may help... http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/pages/tiG
RNRUSH4.html

[les2]

Some of the explanations don`t really convice. Could the nine bright shiners be the "curse of scotland"? the nine of diamonds? Could the "rivals" be the three rival prayer books? (16th century?) If walkers is a corruption of waters why are they proud?

[Klara]

It's a rote learning of the bible 1.God 2 texts by Moses
3 Trinity 4 Gospel makers 5 symbols door (fish) 6 chosen for Ark Look at the rest and see the logic

[Firth]

The Robert Burns one Is actually called Green Grow the Rashes, O & is, of course, about his experiences with the ladies