I can see the relationship between "The Mower" (a) and "One Man Shall Mow My Meadow," (b) and I can also see how "One Man Went to Mow" is related to "One Man Shall Mow" -but without the (b) link in the middle, it would be hard to see any relationship between (a) and (c). I guess we'd call them distant cousins, if that.
The Traditional Ballad Index has a couple of entries.
-Joe Offer-One Man Shall Mow My Meadow
DESCRIPTION: Singer states that various numbers of men shall mow her meadow and gather it together, as well as shear her sheep. The song is cumulative, hypnotic, and loaded with symbolism.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909
KEYWORDS: cumulative nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South)) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Sharp-100E 100, "One Man Shall Mow My Meadow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 291, "The Counting Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, ONEMANMW
Roud #143
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Mower" (imagery)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Me One Man
Mowing Down the Meadow
One Man Shall Shear My Wethers
Notes: It's hard to decide whether there's a ritual element here, or whether the song itself is the ritual. -PJS
File: ShH100Mower, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a young woman; she has a small meadow needing mowing, it hasnever been mowed before. He mows all afternoon, but the grass remains standing; she tells him to sharpen his scythe, for the work's not finished
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (recording, Warde Ford)
KEYWORDS: sex virginity farming harvest work
FOUND IN: Britain(England) US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, THEMOWER
Roud #833
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "The Mowing of the Hay" (AFS 4200 B2, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
A.L. Lloyd, "The Mower" (on Lloyd 1) (on BirdBush1, BirdBush2)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Next Market Day" (plot) and references there
cf. "One Man Shall Mow My Meadow" (imagery)
cf. "The Wanton Seed"
Notes: Lloyd remarks that the song "often appeared on 19th century broadsides," but as he gives no further dates I've refrained from citing that as earliest date. - PJS
File: DTthemowGo to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index InstructionsThe Ballad Index Copyright 2003 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.
The Plymouth song Index lists "One Man Went to Mow" in several songbooks:I saw that "Buskers" book in England last year, but somebody else got to it before I did.
- 101 children's songs for buskers, piano/organ ed
- Strum-a-song, book 1, arr. by dick sadleir
- Sing together!: 100 songs for unison singing (1967)
- Sonsense nongs (1992)
- Songs that won the war, ed. s. louis gerard
I think Bert's post up top is a complete version of the song that Leadfingers is looking for. I saw it listed as a rugby or football song on a couple of Websites. Can anybody send me a tune?
-Joe Offer-
joe@mudcat.org