 sj |
||
|
||
Songs about farm folk
|
|||||||
|
Songs about farm folk |
Share Thread | ||||||
|
Subject: Lyr Add: TWO FOR A DOLLAR^^ From: GUEST,Frank of Toledo Date: 16 Feb 00 - 12:45 AM This is taken from a Bobby Bare RCA Victor LP called Hard Time Hungries Last morning I shut off the alarm - Drove out in the valley to old Dan Cook's farm. Sign on the fence post put up with one nail Said ten a.m. sharp there's a big public sale. At least 40 people were out in the yard. They were lookin' for bargains, lookin' real hard. To buy up the pieces and find out the worth Of 60 years livin' so close to the earth. (Chorus:) Who'll give me 5? I got five. Who'll give me 10? I'll call out the numbers and you just say when. For a lifetime of memories, some happy, some sad. Two for a dollar, the price sure ain't bad. How much for the carriage rotting out in the shed? The one they drove on the night they were wed. Five bucks for the brass bed, just a little bit worn. Not much for the place where the five kids were born. That old parlor piano still sounded all right. Just as good as it did, every Saturday night. And that old round oak table where dinner was made Brought almost as much as the Tiffany shade. Repeat the chorus. Around 1972, written by Bobby Gosh. HTML line breaks added & changed from all upper case. -JoeClone 13-Mar-01. |
|
Subject: RE: Help: Songs about farm folk From: Sandy Paton Date: 16 Feb 00 - 02:21 AM Gordon Bok sings "Return to the Land" on the CD of the same title (CD-118). Harry Tuft sings Dick Weissman's "Harvest Song" on his Folk-Legacy CD titled Across the Blue Mountains (CD-63). Bill Staines' song "Ol' Jack" on Whistle of the Jay (CD-70) describes a man's affectionate appreciation of a faithful mule. Check out "Aroostook" on Larry Kaplan's Worth All the Telling (CD-122). All of these can be found on the Folk-Legacy website: CLICK HERE. Sandy |
|
Subject: RE: Help: Songs about farm folk From: alison Date: 16 Feb 00 - 03:17 AM Kilkelly (it's in the database)... letters from the father left at home on the farm ....
"your brothers have all gone to find work in England slainte alison |
|
Subject: RE: Help: Songs about farm folk From: folk1234 Date: 16 Feb 00 - 05:18 PM Here is an excerpt from a presentation at a recent rural technology conference I attended. It refers to Oklahoma, but it is equally descriptive for much of rural America. "The Oklahoma farmer finds life a little confusing. He gets up at the alarm of a Connecticut clock, buttons his Chicago suspenders to his Taiwan overalls, washes his face with Cincinnati soap in a Pennsylvania pan, sits down to a Grand Rapids table to eat Battle Creek cereal, Chicago meat and Tennessee flour cooked with Kansas lard on a St. Louis stove. Then he puts a New York bridle on a Missouri mule, fed with Iowa corn and plows a farm covered with an Ohio mortgage with a Moline plow. At the end of the day he says a prayer written in Jerusalem, crawls under a blanket made in Indonesia, only to be kept awake by an Oklahoma dog - the only home product on his land. But things may be getting better now ......" |
|
Subject: RE: Help: Songs about farm folk From: Wolfgang Date: 17 Feb 00 - 04:41 AM Horses and Plough Wolfgang |
|
Subject: RE: Help: Songs about farm folk From: GUEST,margaret Date: 18 Feb 00 - 12:27 AM Sort of moody and only indirectly about farming but nevertheless of interest is James McMurtry's "Angeline." More about a guy who ends up farming even though he's not really suited to it, just drifted into it. Think it's on "Too Long in the Wasteland." |
|
Subject: RE: Help: Songs about farm folk From: Sandy Paton Date: 18 Feb 00 - 02:10 AM Eric Bogle's "Now I'm Easy" can break your heart. I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned; it's about a farmer. Sandy |
|
Subject: RE: Help: Songs about farm folk From: pastorpest Date: 18 Feb 00 - 01:16 PM Sandy Paton, I want to thank you for your help with this thread! I had thought of putting Bogle's "Now I'm Easy" in my initial examples and was surprised it did not come up before this. "Leaving the Land" is another great Bogle song that fits. You created a direct link to Folk-Legacy which is good. For myself, Folk-Legacy is and was already a bookmarked site. And I have spent my money there and no doubt will again! Without the kind of work you do we folk musicians would have hungry souls. As a member of the Windsor Folk executive you are probably also interested in knowing that Rick Fielding is booked for a concert on Saturday, May 6, and a guitar workshop the following day (www.cs.uwindsor.ca/users/c/cibor/winfolk.htm) Sorry I am only semi-literate in computerese. Anyone who can do the blue clicky thing, please go ahead. |
|
Subject: RE: Help: Songs about farm folk From: GUEST,wotcha Date: 18 Feb 00 - 03:51 PM For the joys of farming, see an earlier thread on "What is a Grange Song?" and the delights of the song "Let Union Be in All Our Hearts ..." On the theme of "Hal an Tow" check out anything about Cornwall posted by BAZ. Cheers, Brian |
|
Subject: RE: Help: Songs about farm folk From: GUEST,Arkie Date: 18 Feb 00 - 06:50 PM For another list of songs about farming try this site. It lists songs, artists, title of recording and label. Even lists 80 Acres by a fellow named Art Thieme. http://www.topsoil.net/farmsongs.htm |
|
Subject: RE: Help: Songs about farm folk From: Mary G Date: 19 Feb 00 - 11:44 AM there is a great song that was a poem someone found and I think I heard Jill King put the tune to it but I am not sure of that....I will just put the fragments here... the tune is great....I have woods I have bowers I have fields I have flowers... in planting and sowing, in reaping and mowing all nature affords me with plenty.... and the sun is my only alarmer...so good people now here is god speed the plow long life and success to the farmer... mg |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: FARMER NEEDS THE RAIN ^^ From: flattop Date: 14 Oct 00 - 10:10 PM I was wondering if pastor John had a subtext to his message on the Song for the Mira thread so I looked through his messages to see what he's been writing and found this thread. One of my favourite farming song is Roy Forbes' the Farmer Need the Rain. Farmer Needs The Rain Ooh the farmer needs the rain And the farmer needs the heat Needs it in the proper order To grow a field of wheat But when the wind keeps a blowin' Blowin' everything away You can bet your boots the farmer's gonna pay Ah, the government is helpful They tell you what to plant You take it into town They turn around and say, "No thanks." And then the cops pull you over Right in front of the bank Just wanna see if you've got Purple gas in your tank Well it's another dry sundown Navy blue and red Linda's out sellin' Tupperware and the kids are tucked in bed Ah the radio is cracklin' And the tractor's in the shed and I'm thinkin' 'bout some things my father said He said the farmer needs the rain And the farmer needs the heat Needs it in the proper order To grow a field of wheat But when the wind keeps a blowin' Blowin' everything away You can bet your boots the farmer's gonna pay And then the credit man comes to see you At the break of day He might have to take the truck Cos you can't pay right away And you look towards the sky All your praying in vain We got a lotta bills to pay When do we get a break The farmer needs, the farmer needs the rain ROY FORBES (SOCAN) http://www.festival.bc.ca/royf/almost.html#Farmer^^ |
|
Subject: RE: Help: Songs about farm folk From: flattop Date: 14 Oct 00 - 11:37 PM A couple of mudWriter have mentioned Fred Eaglesmith. I see that you have Fred coming to Windsor on November 3rd, Pastorpest. I bought an early CD that he did with the Flying Squirrels because I liked the song, Sweaburg General Store. It's about the Sweaburg General Store closing, the role the store played in the past, and the loss to the country community. "Better fill 'er up on your way home, it's a sign of the times, I suppose. Up and down the concessions everybody knows, the Sweaburg General Store is closed." On the same CD, Eaglesmith has a song Thirty Years of Farming with the line, "Oh, my daddy stopped talkin' the day the farm was auctioned, there was nothin' left to say."
|
|
Subject: Lyr Add: FARMER (Kristin Lems) From: Jim Dixon Date: 21 Jan 25 - 09:14 PM This may be the song that Susan A-R quoted from back on 11 Feb 00. It was published with musical notation for the melody line and chords, in Broadside #142, July-December, 1979, page 9. You can see a PDF at the Singout.org website. FARMER Kristin Lems, ©1979. 1. I am a farmer; been one all my life. Call me a farmer, not a farmer's wife. The plough and hoe left their pattern on my hand And now they tell me this is not my land. 2. We raised two children; they are farmers too. A crop and garden every year we grew. Two hundred acres ain't no easy haul, But it's a good life; no regrets at all. 3. When Joe turned 50, his back was acting up. We three took over, so's he could rest up. My Joe was buried where his daddy lies And soon some men came, askin' for my price. 4. I said: “I live here; here I'm gonna stay. What makes you think I wanna move away?” They smiled real sly, said: "Now your farmer's dead. The farm ain't yours 'til you pay the overhead." 5. I know we women ain't been in the know, But we're no fools as far as farmin' goes. The crop don't know no woman's work or man's. There ain't no law can take me from my land. 6. ’Cause I'm a farmer; been one all my life. Call me a farmer, not a farmer's wife. The plough and hoe left their patterns on my hand. No one can tell me this is not my land. This is my land. |
|
Subject: RE: Songs about farm folk From: Acorn4 Date: 23 Jan 25 - 05:12 AM Those Who Grow the Corn |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: THE WHITBY FARMER From: GUEST,henryp Date: 23 Jan 25 - 05:55 AM The Whitby Farmer [also here] A farmer he goes to the Martinmas Fair To see the farm workers who all gather there. Lad, ista for hiring? Hasta got a strong arm? Says the lad, I can deea onny thing on a farm. Chorus; Well you may be a farmer or follow the plough But in this rough world, we must rub along now. Wherever you go and whatever you do, In all of your dealings be honest and true. Well thoo looks a good lad. Wheer were yer last year? Says the lad, Wi’ t'feller as stands over theer. Now if he will put in a good word for thee, Then I’ll hire thee this year, tha can come wham with me. Then the lad he goes over to ask for a good word. Nay, says his old master, Lad, have yer not heard? Yer deean’t want to go wi' him to make yer new home. He’ll hunger thee and work thee reet dahn to the bone. So the lad he goes back to the farmer again. Have yer got a good word, lad? the farmer says then. Nay, says the lad, I've not got one for me, But he’s told me to never go workin' for thee! For the tune - The Man in the Moon - see the Full English performance on YouTube. Adapted from a story published in The Sound of History by Roy Palmer; told by Jack Beeforth of Wragby Farm near Whitby to Dave Hillery in 1974. As Roy Palmer wrote, hiring was a very speculative and hazardous enterprise for both parties. Henry Peacock 2020 |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: HORKSTOW GRANGE From: GUEST,henryp Date: 23 Jan 25 - 06:30 AM Horkstow Grange [also here] In Horkstow Grange there lives an old miser, You all do know him as I've heard tell, It was him and his man that was called John Bowlin', They fell out one market day. Pity them what see him suffer, Pity poor old Steeleye Span, John Bowlin's deeds they will be remembered, Bowlin's deeds at Horkstow Grange. Horkstow is one of the low villages in the Ancholme Valley, situated at the foothills of the Lincolnshire Wolds. From Percy Grainger's notes: Mr. George Gouldthorpe, the singer of Harkstow [sic.] Grange (born at Barrow-on-the-Humber, North Lincolnshire, and aged 66 when he first sang to me, in 1905) was a very different personality. In spite of his poverty and his feebleness in old age it seemed to be his instinct to shower benefits around him. Once, at Brigg, when I had been noting down tunes until late in the evening, I asked Mr. Gouldthorpe to come back early the next morning. At about 4:30 I looked out of the window and saw him playing with a colt, on the lawn. He must have taken a train from Goxhill or Barrow, at about 4.0 a.m. I apologised , saying 'I didn't mean that early, Mr. Gouldthorpe.' Smiling his sweet kingly smile he answered: `Yuh said: Coome eearly. So I coom'd.' |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: CHICKENS IN THE GARDEN (Watersons) From: GUEST Date: 23 Jan 25 - 06:40 PM The Watersons: Chickens in the Garden [also here] When first I came down Yorkshire not many years ago. I met with a little Yorkshire lass and I’d have you know, That she was so blithe, so buxom, so beautiful and gay, Now listen while I tell you what her Daddy used to say, Chorus (repeated after each verse): “Oh treat my daughter decent, don’t do her any harm. And when I die I’ll leave you both my tiny little farm. My cow, my pigs, my sheep, my goats, my stock, my field and barn. And all the little chickens in the garden.” Well first I came to court the girl she was awful shy. She never said a blooming word when other folks was by. But as soon as we were on our own she bade me to name the day, Now listen while I tell you what her Daddy used to say. Well at last I wed this Yorkshire lass, so pleasing to me mind, And I did prove true to her so she’s proved true in kind. We have three bairns, they’re grown up now, there’s a grandbairn on the way. And when I look into their eyes I can hear their grandaddy say. |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: POOR POOR FARMER (Stompin' Tom Connors) From: GUEST Date: 23 Jan 25 - 06:43 PM Poor, Poor Farmer Stompin' Tom Connors I came from the city many months ago Sold almost everything and it gave me quite a stake ya know I bought meself a section of the finest farmin' land But how they make a fortune I don't understand I bought new machinery, the very best to see But always buying new parts and half me crop is weeds The weasel took me chickens, while arsenic killed me cow The wife went home to mother; the black earth got me sow I'm a poor, poor farmer; what am I gonna do? A poor, poor farmer full of rabbit stew A poor poor farmer always on the go Prayin' to get my farm work caught up before the snow The rabbits ate me garden; the hail took all me wheat It seems I'm working round the clock; I'm really gettin' beat Grasshoppers came the other day just like a million goats Before I knew just what to do they cut down all me oats
Well I loaded up the grass seed and started off to town
But still I got me freedom; my credit rating is high |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: THE SALT (Malcolm Bray) From: GUEST Date: 23 Jan 25 - 06:47 PM THE SALT (Malcolm Bray; originally learned from Francis Brolly [also here] Come all you romantic young fellows who think for to work on a farm, Come listen a while to my story; it may serve to keep you from harm: When I was a smashing young fellow, my age it was just seventeen, I hired myself to a farmer at the horse fair at Ballinascreen. His family was way up in the mountains in among heather and bog, And the stock that I had to look after was a donkey, a goat and a dog. The master turned out an old skinflint; his heart was as hard as a stone. He worked me from daylight to darkness: in a month I was just skin and bone. We never ate nothing but porridge: he said it would make me a man. It very near made me a dead one; we supped it straight out of the pan. The master and me and his mother, we lived in a tumble-down shack The old woman was well over ninety: her bones were beginning to crack. She sat on a chair by the fire, she never would go to her bed, And when I arose every morning, she was sitting there nodding her head. We had three old hens and a rooster, one day they all died from the croup; He plucked them and boiled them salted them, lived for a week on the soup. Misfortunes may never come single for then the old nanny-goat died, He skinned her and boiled her and salted her; made himself shoes from the hide; I thought that his mind was affected, I thought that his mind was insane; Poor Fido he died from distemper - I was sent for the salt once again. When I saw what happened the dog not a wink did I sleep all that night, And when I arose the next morning I got the most terrible fright The old woman was lying by the fire as I raced for the door he cried «Halt!» Saying «Where are you going so early? Come back here and fetch me the salt» I went out through the door like a rocket, down the mountain I ran like a hare I never stopped running for a fortnight and I never been since at a fair! |
|
Subject: RE: Songs about farm folk From: GUEST Date: 23 Jan 25 - 06:49 PM 'Maggie's Farm' by Bob Dylan |
| Share Thread: |
| Subject: | Help |
| From: | |
| Preview Automatic Linebreaks Make a link ("blue clicky") | |
