I did search the DT & Forum but I should know by now that a search on a specific title often gets no hits. The song sung by Johnny Collins is close to what Tom & Barbara Brown call Cornish Ploughboys but their chorus is a bit different as well as are some of the lyrics. But once I saw the names written out I was able to hear what Browns were singing a bit clearer. The names of the oxen are virtually the same with the order being different in the first two names:
CORNISH PLOUGHBOYS Tom & Barbara Brown, Where Umber Flows
Come all you fair maids and hark to my lays Saying what can compare to the ploughboy's sweet voice Who cheerin' his oxen so gaily do sing For he makes both the hills and the valleys to ring
Chorus While still you are sleeping we rise in the morn To plough for the farmer that he may grow corn With Beauty, Spark, Berry, Goodluck, Speedwell, Cherry Come [hoop?] along, chip along, hark to us now For we are the lads that can drive on the plough
All the tradesmen they stand so grim and so grand As if 'twer the trades that supported the land Oh but let the plough stand for a very short space And you'll soon see those tradesmen to pull a long face
Had the miller no corn, no meal could he sell The mill must stand idle and the miller as well The baker no bread for the poor could provide Poor farmer and miller must all starve beside
And now that my song's almost at it's end Let us hope that the ploughboys will ne'er want a friend Here's a health to all ploughboys so sweetly they sing Here's a health to our farmer and God save the King