Subject: RE: Origins: John Barleycorn - But collected from Who
From:
Reinhard
Date: 16 Sep 19 - 05:20 PM
Cecil Sharp, Folk-Songs from Somerset, Second Edition 1911, page 36/37:
JOHN BARLEYCORN.
SECOND VERSION.
There were three kings came from the West,
Their victory to try ;
And they have t!aken a solemn oath,
John Barleycorn should die.
Fol the dol the didiay,
Fol the dol the di-di-a-ge wo*
2. They took a plough and ploughed him in,
Laid clods upon his head ;
And they have taken a solemn oath,
John Barleycorn is dead.
Fol the dol, etc.
3. So there he lay for a full fortnight,
Till the dew on him did fall :
Then Barleycorn sprung up again,
And that surprised them all,
Fol the dol, etc.
4. There he remained till midsummer.
And looked both pale and wan ;
Then Barleycorn he got a beard,
And so became a man.
Fol the dol, etc.
5. Then they sent men with scythes so sharp,
To cut him off at knee ;
And then poor Johnny Barleycorn,
They served him barbarously.
Fol the dol, etc.
6. O Barleycorn is the choicest grain
That e'er was sown on land ;
It will do more than any grain,
By the turning of your hand.
Fol the dol the didiay,
Fol the dol the di-di-a-ge wo.
And at the end:
No. 90. JOHN BARLEYCORN.
(second version).
Tune sung by Mr. John Stafford at Bishops Sutton.
I have related the circumstances, which led to the collection of this song, in The Musical Times for Jan., 1907. I have found it very difficult to express satisfactorily in musical notation the exact way in which Mr. Stafford sang this song. He dwelt, perhaps, upon the double-dotted notes rather longer than their written value, although not long enough to warrant their being marked with the formal pause. The tune, with its curious refrain, is a very characteristic one and justifies me, I think, in including it in this collection as a second version. I have noted down six different tunes to this same song, in addition to the two printed in these volumes.
Mr. Stafford told me that he heard the song solemnly chanted by some street singers, who passed through his village when he was a child. The song fascinated him and he followed the singers and tried to learn it from them. For several days afterwards he was unable to recall the air, when one day, to his great delight, the tune suddenly came back to him, and since then he has constantly sung it. He gave me the words of the first verse only. The remaining verses in the text have been taken from Bell's Songs of the Peasantry of England.
By way of experiment, I have harmonized this song rather elaborately. Those who prefer a simpler setting can repeat the harmonies of the first verse.
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