"I gave my love a cherry that had no stone..."

[3girls1boy]

Does anyone out there sing this song with their kids?

It starts, "I gave my love a cherry that had no stone. I gave my love a chicken that had no bone..."

Then in then in the next verse, "How can there be a cherry that has no stone, etc."

And then in the third, as I know it, "A cherry that is blooming, it has no stone. A chicken that is pippen, it has no bone..."

Does anyone else know the line about the chicken that way? What the heck is a "chicken that is pippen" anyway? That is the way I remember it from when I was young, and almost every time I sing it, my kids ask me what that means and I have no idea.

Jeanne

[JessicaS]

From Merriam Webster

Main Entry: 2pip
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): pipped; pip·ping
Etymology: imitative
Date: 1598
intransitive senses
1 : 1PEEP 1
2 : to break through the shell of the egg
transitive senses : to break open (the shell of an egg) in hatching

[juicylucy]

I always sang 'a chicken that is picking' .. never really thought about what it meant when I was singing it!!!

[ladylee]

Now, why do I have an image of John Belushi in a toga bashing someone's guitar :LOL?

[flutemandolin]

You're not alone Ladylee--that was the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title!!!

[3girls1boy]

Thank you, abimommy!

Jeanne