JOHN BARLEYCORN^^

There were three men came out of Kent
Their fortunes for to try.
And these three men made a solemn vow:
John Barleycorn should die.
So they ploughed him deep into furrows
And they throwed clods o'er his head;
And these three men home rejoicing went.
John Barleycorn was dead.

CHORUS:
Come, put your wine into glasses,
Put your cider into old tin cans.
Put Barleycorn in the nut-brown bowl
For he's proved the strongest man.

For the sun shone warm and the winds blew strong
And it rained in a day or so.
John Barleycorn saw the wind and the rain
And he soon began to grow.
But the rye began to grow as well
It grew both strong and tall.
John Barleycorn grew strong and sweet
And he proved them liars all.

So they hired men with scythes
For to cut him off at the knee,
And, worse than that, poor Barleycorn
They served him barbarously.
And they hired men with pitchforks
To toss him into the barn.
And when they'd tossed John Barleycorn
They tied him down with thorns.

Then they hired men with brushes
To beat him high and low.
(unclear) They came smick-smacken from poor Jack's backen (?)
Till the place began to flow.
Then they put him into a mashing bin
(?) And gimped upon his hale (?)
And when he came out they changed his name
And they called him "Home-brewed Ale".

Sorry about the last verse, which I can't make out properly. The sleeve-notes to this 1971 LP say, concerning JB:

"Surely one of the most popular songs of the Folk Music 'revival' both with singer and listener. This again is our own arrangement, taken from Fred Jordan's text and set to a popular C19 harvest hymn-tune, 'Wir Pflügen und Straüen', attributed to J A P Schulz (1747 - 1800)"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgl--skKjYM