Success! Found them online, at this site.

I hope these are the words you wanted. They're the same ones I have at home, I'm sure -- but like those, these don't actually include the word "curly."

I remember coming across this lyric while the morris side I played for were dancing Curly-Headed Ploughboy and thinking that this was clearly set to that tune, but wondering about the absence of "curly." Ought the dance to be called "Flaxen Headed Ploughboy" or simply "The Ploughboy," as this site calls it?

These words are evidently from a Benjamin Britten setting; those I have at home are from some quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore -- in other words, from one of the many vintage "Book of a Thousand Songs" type books I always pick up at flea markets and used book sales. I can't swear that this lyric predates Britten, therefore, but I rather think it does.


THE PLOUGHBOY

A flaxen-headed cowboy, as simple as may be,
And next a merry ploughboy, I whistled o'er the lea;
But now a saucy footman, I strut in worsted lace,
And soon I'll be a butler, and whey my jolly face.

When steward I'm promoted I'll snip the tradesmen's bill,
My master's coffers empty, my pockets for to fill.
When lolling in my chariot so great a man I'll be,
You'll forget the little ploughboy who whistled o'er the lea.

I'll buy votes at elections, and when I've made the pelf,
I'll stand poll for the parliament, and then vote in myself.
Whatever's good for me, sir, I never will oppose:
When all my ayes are sold off, why then I'll sell my noes.

I'll joke, harangue and paragraph, with speeches charm the ear,
And when I'm tired on my legs, then I'll sit down a peer.
In court or city honour so great a man I'll be,
You'll forget the little ploughboy who whistled o'er the lea.


Cheers,
Claire