The Traditional Ballad Index has two Items for songs with this title, and they're confusing to me: Country Life (I), The DESCRIPTION: The singer describes the joy of living and working in the country, reporting "I like to rise when the sun she rises, Early in the morning... And hurrah for the life of the country boy." He describes the work done on the farm in each season
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1976
KEYWORDS: home farming nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, COUNTRYL*
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Country Life (II)" (chorus lyrics)
cf. "A Sweet Country Life" (theme)
cf. "The Brisk and Bonny Lass (The Brisk and Bonny Lad)" (theme)
cf. "The Contented Countryman" (theme)
cf. "I Like to Be There" (form, lyrics)
File: DTcountr
Country Life (II), The DESCRIPTION: "Behold in me a farmer's son so jolly." The singer tells what he likes about farming: fields and flowers, birds singing, "milking the old dun cow," hearing the cock crow early, his Mary, ... "I do not like a city life." "A country life's the best"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (Greig)
KEYWORDS: farming nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber),England(North))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #169, p. 2, "The Country Life" (1 text)
Palmer-ECS, #20, "The Old Cock Crows" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6297
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Country Life (I)" (chorus lyrics)
cf. "A Sweet Country Life" (theme)
NOTES: The chorus is close to "The Country Life" (I) but this song has no seasonal verses. Each verse of "The Country Life" (I) is a variation on "rambling in the new-mown hay," which appears here only in the chorus. Greig says it "seems to hail from the south." - BS
Last updated in version 3.7
File: Grg169b
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Barbara posted this second song in a thread titled The Old Cock Crows, the only title she and I found for the song.
Version I refers only to the Digital Tradition lyrics for the song, which I believe are a transcription of the Watersons recording:
COUNTRY LIFE
chorus:
I like to rise when the sun she rises,
early in the morning
And I like to hear them small birds singing,
Merrily upon their layland
And hurrah for the life of a country boy,
And to ramble in the new mowed hay.
1. In spring we sow at the harvest mow
And that is how the seasons round they go
but of all the times choose I may
I'd be rambling through the new mowed hay.
2. In summer when the summer is hot
We sing, and we dance, and we drink a lot
We spend all night in sport and play
And go rambling in the new mown hay
3. In autumn when the oak trees turn
We gather all the wood that's fit to burn
We cut and stash and stow away
And go rambling in the new mown hay
4. In winter when the sky's gray
we hedge and ditch our times away,
but in summer when the sun shines gay,
We go ramblin' through the new mowed hay.
5. Oh Nancy is my darling gay
And she blooms like the flowers every day
But I love her best in the month of May
When we're rambling through the new mown hay
6. I like to hear the Morris dancers
Clash their sticks and drink our ale
I like to hear those bells a-ringing
As we ramble in the new mown hay
Recorded by Watersons - For Pence and Spicy Ale
@English @harmony @chorus
filename[ COUNTRYL
TUNE FILE: COUNTRYL
CLICK TO PLAY
DC & SOF
The DT also has a parody from an uncertain source:
COUNTRY BOY (2)
(Cat Fox?, Holly Tannen?)
I hates to rise when the sun she rises
Early in the morning.
I hates to hear them small birds singing
Merrily upon the lyelam
And a pox on the life of a country boy
Who's allergic to the new-mown hay.
I hate larks and I hate thrushes
I hate birds of every size
And when they start their bloody song
I want to poke them in their little eyes
In winter when the sky is grey
We sit and watch TV all day
But in summer when the sky is gay
We sit and watch TV all day
from singing of Lani Herrmann
@parody @country
filename[ CNTRYBY2
TUNE FILE: COUNTRYL
CLICK TO PLAY
RG
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