S.O.D. "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" by Orchard Halliwell

8/22/2017     The origin of this traditional folk tune goes back to the mid 19th century and perhaps even further, with the first tree lyric used was the bramble bush.  One possible interpretation comes from Stanley, Wakefield, England where female prisoners at HMP Wakefield would exercise around a mulberry tree in the moonlight.   This prison is now the highest security men's prison in the UK and was built in 1594.  

     Another story has to do with Britain's production of silk in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Mulberry tree being a key factor in the cultivation of silkworms.  A version of the song also exists in the Netherlands, and in Scandinavia  where it is a juniper bush.  

     Halliwell was an author and scholar who lived from 1820-1889.  Mulberries do not grow on bushes.