Gee, there's certainly not much on this song at the Traditional Ballad Index - only a reference to the recording by Tony Wales:Buttercup Joe
DESCRIPTION: Singer prides himself on his plain tastes. In summer the girls like to romp and roll with rustic lads in the hay. His ladyfriend, Mary, a dairymaid, makes fine dumplings; he plans to "ask her if she won't supply/A rustic chap like I am."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1957 (recording, Tony Wales)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer prides himself on being rustic with plain tastes; the gentry laugh at him, but he laughs at them in turn. In summer the girls like to romp and roll with rustic lads in the hay. His young woman, Mary, a dairymaid, makes fine dumplings; he plans to "ask her if she won't supply/A rustic chap like I am." Cho: "Now I can guide a plow, milk a cow, and I can reap and sow/Fresh as the daisies in the fields/and they calls I Buttercup Joe"
KEYWORDS: courting love sex food
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
Roud #1635
RECORDINGS:
Tony Wales, "Buttercup Joe" (on TWales1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Husbandman and the Servingman" (subject, a few phrases)
cf. "Harmless Young Jim" (innuendoes)
cf. "Blackberry Grove" (innuendoes)
Notes: Wales's informant told him the words were being sung in Sussex in 1889, but offered no evidence, so I remain conservative in assigning an earliest date. I strongly suspect a music-hall origin. - PJS
Nonetheless, the song is fairly well established in English tradition, though it hasn't been printed much. I suspect there may have been one or two rewrites along the way; some of the versions vary a great deal. - RBW
File: RcButJoeGo to the Ballad Search form
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Here's the entry from folktrax.org:BUTTERCUP JOE - "Now I be a true-bred country chap and I do come from Wareham" Text & tune from Wm Warmington, Wareham - ROUD#1635 - WILLIAMS #540 (w/o) - PURSLOW WS (Wanton Seed) 1968 p22 Gardiner: Richard Hall, Itchen Abbas, Hampsh 1905 - ED&S 33:2 1971 p61 Tony Wales: P Laker, Brighton, Sussex -- DANDY HUSBAND -- (Albert RICHARDSON: ZONOPHONE (?) "The Old Sow" on reverse side) - Tony WALES (with gtr) 7"RTR-0089 dub from FOLKWAYS FG-3515 1957 from P.Laker, Brighton - (Harry UPTON rec Mike Yates, Balcombe, Sussex 1975-77: TOPIC SP-104) - CASS-0330 Tommy CHAPPLE rec Michael Feist at "The Stag" Rackenford 1972 & Hare Down, Knowstowe 1973 (see letter file) - YETTIES: ARGO ZFB-38 1972/ Radio 2 8/8/90 "War" CASS-60- 1033 - Charlie JOSE, rec by PK, Boscastle, Cornwall 1975: 096 - Carolyne HUGHES (gypsy) rec by PK, nr Blandford, Dorset 19/4/68: 7"RTR-0120/ CASS-45-1245/ 143 - Gwen HANNIS, rec by Gwylim Davies, Cranham, Glos 1987: 417 -- NEIL LANHAM NL-01 Jack TARLING rec by Neil Lanham, Haverhill, Suffolk 30/4/95 (gift) CASS-1357
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