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Bushes & Briars

Bushes & Briars is one of the most quietly powerful songs in the English folk canon. A ballad of hesitation, emotional risk, and restrained longing, it is best known today as the first folk song ever collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams—an encounter that proved decisive not only for this song’s survival, but for the course of English music itself. The lyrics almost certainly pre-date the nineteenth century and circulated widely on broadsides. At its heart is a subtle psychological drama: the singer overhears their true love lamenting a long wait, yet remains paralysed by fear—afraid that honesty itself might destroy love rather than secure it. Unlike many folk ballads, nothing happens outwardly; the entire tension lies in what may or may not be said. On 4 December 1903, in Ingrave, Essex, Vaughan Williams heard the song sung by Charles Potiphar, a seventy-year-old agricultural labourer and shepherd. Vaughan Williams later described this moment as a personal revelation—a “Damascene conversion.” He felt the melody was something he had “known all his life.” From that day, he went on to collect over 800 folk songs, reshaping British musical culture in the process. Potiphar’s performance also revealed something essential about folk song: its free rhythm, gentle portamento, and speech-like phrasing resisted strict notation. Vaughan Williams noted only the tune and first verse, later reconstructing the text from a broadside—an admission that folk song lives as much between the notes as on the page. This song has since inspired many fine interpretations, including recordings by June Tabor, Magpie Lane, Barry Skinner, and an eight-part a cappella setting by The Swingle Singers. (Note: the well-known song Bushes & Briars by Sandy Denny is an entirely different composition.) This performance was prepared as a listener’s special request. I have set the song within a gentle instrumental frame—accordion, fiddle, guitar, and flute—allowing the vocal line to remain unforced and conversational. The accompaniment supports rather than directs, echoing the song’s inwardness and emotional restraint. The visual setting alternates between a contemporary folk gathering at the Valiant Sailor, Capel-le-Ferne, and a mid-nineteenth-century sheep farm in Alkham Valley, Kent, mirroring the song’s timeless emotional landscape. Lyrics Verse 1 Through bushes and through briars I lately took my way, All for to hear the small birds sing And the lambs to skip and play. All for to hear the small birds sing And the lambs to skip and play. Verse 2 I overheard my own true love, Her voice it rang so clear, Long time have I been waiting for The coming of my dear. Long time have I been waiting for The coming of my dear. Verse 3 Sometimes I am uneasy And troubled in my mind, Sometimes I think I’ll go to him And tell to him my mind. Sometimes I think I’ll go to him And tell to him my mind. Verse 4 But if I go to my true love, What would my love say then? If I show to him my boldness, He’d ne’er love me again. If I show to him my boldness, He’d ne’er love me again. Hashtags #BushesAndBriars #EnglishFolkSong #Roud1027 #RalphVaughanWilliams #TraditionalFolk #FolkMusic #BritishFolk #FolkBallad #AcousticFolk #ListenerRequest #FolkHeritage