Origins: All Among the Barley (Elizabeth Stirling)

Subject: Origins: All Among The Barley
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 19 Oct 07 - 03:34 PM

Since All Among The Barley has appeared again I thought I might get round to putting this up. About a year and a half ago nutty asked me a question about this song (to whit: was Walter Pardon's version sung to the same tune as the copy in American Memory) so I did a bit of investigating and I've been sitting on this since.

Although the version of All Among The Barley usually heard these days in England is sung to a tune written by Mike Gabriel (this is the version is the tune in Mudcat Midi's at Allamang.mid (or use Mudcat Midi Browser - Songs starting with A), the song was originally written by an English composer, Elizabelth Stirling.


Elizabeth Stirling
Elizabeth Stirling (1819 - 1895) studied music at Oxford, but wasn't granted a degree (being a woman). The song has been described (Dolmetch bio) as prize-winning, but I haven't been able to verify that yet (and I have few biographical details on her - my subscription to Grove expired just before I started looking at this and I don't intend to renew it until next year when I need it again). I also haven't been able to find out if she wrote the words or only the music. One of the copies at American Memory guves the author of the words as "A.T." in one of the version. "A.T." isn't in the index at American Memory and I could't find anything on a quick look.


Mudcat
There has been some discussion of the song in Mudcat in these threads:

Author Req: All among the barley
Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
RIPE AND BEARDED BARLEY (This thread has a link from Joe to an illustrated fragment of the song, which is no longer active; the site has moved and I can't see anything on the new site).


American Memory
When I looked at American Memory I found 2 versions of the song.

1) Call Number: M2.3.U6A44 Digital Id: sm1871 00667 urn:hdl:loc.music/sm1871.00667 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/sm1871.00667
   
    This version is arranged for 3 women's voices. Author is given as Elizabeth Stirling Words by: "A.T.", published Philadelphia: Lee & Walker, 1871

2) Call Number: M2.3.U6A44 Digital Id: sm1874 10936 urn:hdl:loc.music/sm1874.10936 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/sm1874.10936

    This version is arranged for 4 mixed voices. Author is given as Elizabeth Sterling (note spelling change!), published: New York: Peters, J. L., 1874.
    This is from Living Waters - A Collection of Popular Temperance Songs, Choruses, Quartets etc and given the title All Among The Barley But "Not Among The Rye".

(In fact the first Mudcat thread listed above has the first of these (American Memory (http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mussm&fileName=sm1871/00600/00667/mussm00667.db&recNum=0&itemLink=D?mussm:3:./temp/~ammem_nSpp::&linkText=0) - I think search results from American Memory are temporary, so that's not surprising).

Unlike the usual version sung today, these have the first four lines repeated.


Another Version With Music
I also found another version of Elizabeth Stirling's tune from The Church Bell, 1867 (which according to U.Mich Library was The Ladies' repository: a monthly periodical, devoted to literature, arts, and religion, published by Methodist Episcopal Church [etc.].). This is from UncleJaque's Music Miscellany). arranged for 4 voices. (I haven't checked yet if this is the same arrangement as in American Memory).


Village Music Project
I did look at The Village Music Project to see if the tune had been copied down by anyone, but there are no versions in any of the manuscripts indexed when I checked.


Bodleian
There are at least 3 broadsides of the song at The Bodleian: (and one does include the instruction to repeat the 1st 4 lines)


Collections
The song appeared in a few collections: Williams' Folk Songs of The Upper Thames, and (according to Roud) also in the Baring-Gould Mss and in Tip Top Songs (in VWML).


References to the song
The song was obviously widely known and sung - I've got references to:

1)sung at a church in Shuttleworth in 1856 sung at a wedding by the Church choir

2)in 1876 older children at a school in Box, Wiltshire were taught the song

3)an article in Punch of 1891 refers to the song

4)sung by a choir at Badsey 1900

5)played by a brass-band in Watlington when the Prince of Wales married (details from early 1900s)

6)a music book refers to it as one of the most popular partsongs with a date of 1849 given, so that may be the composition date.

7)Henry Burstow's Recollections gives the song in his list of songs.


English Dance And Song
According to Folktrax
There was some discussion in ED&S: ED&S mag 29/2 1967 Query raised & ED&S 3 p87 & 4 p120; I only have a handful of copies of ED&S, but it would be useful to chase them up.


Conclusion to Nutty's Question
And to answer nutty's question - does Walter Pardon sing the same tune as in American Memory? The answer seems to be that the tunes are not identical, but that Walter Pardon's is obviously a verion of Elizabeth Stirling's tune, much of it being either identical or slightly changed rhythmically. I's say it's either a "remembered" version of the original or he chose deliberately to alter a few bits.


That's a summary of most of what I have. Over the next few days, I'll put in the proper references to all the versions of the song and I'll put in the relevant quotes from the texts referring to the song with their references and I'll try to post the texts and tunes for comparison.

My thanks also go to Malcolm Douglas for providing me with a copy of the Walter Pardon recording of the song.

Mick


(PS For future reference if any of the links above disappear and you want to see the original scans I have copies of them saved).

Subject: Tune Add: ALL AMONG THE BARLEY
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 20 Oct 07 - 09:40 PM

English Dance and Song

I only have the autumn edition for that year (1967: XXIX, 3). Evidently the discussion began with an enquiry from a Bill Crumly of Oxford, who had 'collected' an example and wanted more information.

Dave and Toni Arthur pointed to the text in Williams, Folk Songs of the Upper Thames, and added that the song 'is printed with words and tune in vol 5 of the eight volume Franklin Square Collection published by Harper, 1881-91' and that there is a copy in the British Library.

E Francis Knowlson of Liverpool 'says that the song was published many years ago by Curwens, in a four-part setting. On the music copy it states that the words were written by "A.T." and the tune by Elizabeth Stirling.'

Miss E G Kirk of Hounslow 'remembers the song in a book called Songs from Far and Near, which she used as a schoolgirl about 1920...'

'From Winnipeg 10, Manitoba, Canada, David Williams writes to say that he too remembers singing the song as a schoolboy, about 1946-7-8 at Bideford Grammar School. There they sang a two-part arrangement from, he thinks, a Curwen score. He sent a copy of the tune as he remembers it.'


X:1
T:All Among the Barley
S:David Williams, Manitoba
N:Learnt at school in Bideford, 1946-7-8
N:Note values slightly modified in bars 15 and 27 to fit barring
N:Roud 1283
B:English Dance and Song, XXIX, 3, autumn 1967, 87
L:1/8
Q:1/4=100
M:4/4
K:Bb
HF2 |d2 B2 A2 c2|B4 F3 F|G2 B2 A2 G2|F6
w:Come out tis now Sep-tem-ber the hunt-ers morn be-gun
BB|e2 A2 c2 B2|A2 c4 B2|A2 F2 A2 G2|F6
w:And_ through the wheat-en stub-ble Is heard the fre-quent gun
c2|B2 B2 e2 e2|d2 d4 d2|c2 B2 A2 G2|F6
w:The leaves are fad-ing yel-low and chang-ing in-to red
BB|d2 G2 f2 d2|ee e4 e2|e2 d2 c2 B2|A6 z2||
w:And the ripe and gold-en bar-*ley is hang-ing down its head.
d2 B2 A2 c2|B4 F4|G2 B2 A2 G2|F6
w:All a-mong the bar-ley who would not be blithe
BB|e2 A2 c2 B2|A2 c4 B2|A2 F2 A2 G2|F6 z2||
w:When the free and hap-py bar-ley is hang-ing on the scythe.
"last chorus only"BB|e2 d2 c2 B2|BA B4 c2|d6 z2|B6 z2|G6 z2|A6 z2|B6|]
w:And the free and hap-py bar-*ley is hang-ing on the scythe.


Florence Dennis of Derby 'also wrote to say that she sang it at school about 45 years ago...'

'Lastly, Fred Hamer of Bedford told me recently that he remembers it as a school song. From all this, it would seem evident that it has been a favourite for school use for many years...'

Tony Wales, 'Songs Under the Microscope', English Dance and Song XXIX, 3, autumn 1967.

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among The Barley
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Oct 07 - 12:35 AM

The sheet music to "All Among the Barley," published in 1871 in the United States, differs from the text printed in the DT, in two small but important respects:

Verse 2, line 1:
The Spring, she is a young maid,
That does not know her mind;
(not- he is a young man that does not know his mind)
Young maid is much more apt.

Verse 3, line 11:
But the free and bearded Barley
Is the monarch of them all.
(not- ripe and bearded Barley)

"All Among the Barley," 1871, Words by A. T., Music by Elizabeth Stirling. Published by Lee & Walker, Philadelphia.
Library of Congress, American Memory.

Subject: Lyr Add: ALL AMONG THE BARLEY
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 06:59 PM

Texts

Sheet Music Versions

There are two sheet music versions of the song at the Library of Congress in the Music For The Nation: American Sheet Music collection:

LOC: All Among The Barley - 1871

LOC: All Among The Barley but "Not Among The Rye!" - 1874

I've (I hope temporarily) lost the address of the site I got the Church Bell (1867) scan from; I'll try to post that when I find it again. (I still have the scan on my computer, so I can post the music anyway).


The texts for all the version I looked at show very few differences. The texts from The Church Bell (1867) and the 1871 sheet music for voice with Piano at Music For The Nation: American Sheet Music are identical and I take this as the baseline text:

ALL AMONG THE BARLEY

Come out, 'tis now September, The hunter's moon's begun;
And thro' the wheaten stubble Is heard the frequent gun;
Come out, 'tis now September, The hunter's moon's begun;
And thro' the wheaten stubble Is heard the frequent gun.
The leaves are paling yellow, Or kindling into red,
And the ripe and golden barley Is hanging down its head.
  All among the Barley, Who would not be blithe,
  When the free and happy Barley is smiling on the scythe,
  When the free and happy Barley is smiling on the scythe.

The Spring, she is a young maid, That does not know her mind;
The Summer is a tyrant, Of most unrighteous kind;
The Spring, she is a young maid, That does not know her mind;
The Summer is a tyrant, Of most unrighteous kind.
The Autumn is an old friend, That loves one all he can,
And that brings the happy Barley To glad the heart of man.

The Wheat is like a rich man, That's sleek and well to do;
The Oats are like a pack of girls, Laughing and dancing too;
The Wheat is like a rich man, That's sleek and well to do;
The Oats are like a pack of girls, Laughing and dancing too.
The Rye is like a miser, That's sulky, lean, and small;
But the free and bearded Barley is the monarch of them all.

Source: The Church Bell, 1867. Text identical to 1871 Voice with Piano sheet music



The 1874 version at American Memory comes from a publication called "Living Waters - A collection of popular Temperance Songs, Choruses, Quartets etc. and has made a few changes to fit in with the temperance theme:

  The title has a subtitle appended: All Among The Barley but "Not Among The Rye!"

  The chorus has been changed to:

    All among the Barley, Wander you and I
    Tho' we love the smiling Barley, We shun the dreadful Rye,
    Tho' we love the happy Barley, We shun the dreadful Rye.

  The penultimate line of the third verse has been changed to:

    The Rye is like a miser, That will the soul enthrall

All of these presumably to encourage beer rather than whiskey, as the lesser of two evils! The remainder of the text is the same.



Bodleian
There are broadside versions from the following printers in the Bodleian collection:

Fortey (JohnsonBallads425)
Harkness (Harding B12(221)
Such (Harding B16(3d)

In all three the first lines are not shown repeated, though the copy from Such has a footnote to repeat them. The texts are identical to the 1867/1871 text above,

except in the Such copy, which has the second line of the first verse as:

  And through the wheaten stubble, is heard the dog and gun



Oral Versions

The version from Alfred Williams changes the order of the last two verses and has a few textual changes:

THE RIPE AND BEARDED BARLEY

Come out, 'tis now September, The hunter's moon's begun,
And through the wheaten stubble We hear the frequent gun;
The leaves are turning yellow And fading into red,
While the ripe and bearded barley Is hanging down its head.
  All among the barley, Who would not be blithe,
  While the ripe and bearded barley Is smiling on the scythe,

The wheat is like a rich man, It's sleek and well-to-do;
The oats are like a pack of girls, They're thin and dancing too;
The rye is like a miser, Both sulky, lean, and small,
While the ripe and bearded barley Is the monarch of them all.

The spring is like a young maid That does not know her mind,
The summer is a tyrant Of most ungracious kind;
The autumn is an old friend That pleases all he can,
And brings the bearded barley To glad the heart of man.

Source: Alfred Williams Folk Songs of the Upper Thames "Popular at Stanton Harcourt, where I obtained it of

Henry Sherman, a farm hand"



The version sung by Walter Pardon is also substantially the same as the printed text, without the repeat at the start of the verse, but with several slight differences:

ALL AMONG THE BARLEY

Come out 'tis now September, the hunter's moon's begun
And through the wheaten stubble is heard the frequent gun
The leaves are paling yellow and kindling into red
And the free and golden barley is hanging down its head
  All among the barley, O who would not be blithe
  When the free and happy barley is smiling on the scythe.

The Spring she is an old maid and does not know her mind,
The Summer is a tyrant of most outrageous kind,
The Autumn is an old friend and does the best he can
To bring the golden barley to cheer the heart of man.

The wheat is like a rich man all sleek and well-to-do,
The oats are like a pack of girls laughing and dancing too,
The rye is like a miser all sulky, lean and small
And the free and golden barley is monarch of them all.

Source: Walter Pardon


Mudcatter Tradsinger has noted in another thread (Lyr Req: All Among the Barley) that he collected two versions of the song (one from Hampshire and one from Devon) and I'll see if he can let us know if there are any significant differences from the text above. (As I suspect that the versions collected all derive from the obviously popular Stirling song I don't expect many differences. I'll put up the tunes later, but it's clear that both the tune used by Walter Pardon and the tune posted by Malcolm above are both derived from Stirling's tune).


On the origin of the words I did wonder if "A.T." might be Alfred Tennyson. When I first started looking at the song I did check some online sources (my investigation was definitely more Mycroft Holmes than Sherlock Holmes!) but they were few. If anyone has access to a complete works of Tennyson it would be nice if that could be checked. (Though I would have thought he would be named in full if it were him!).


Mick

Subject: Tune Add: ALL AMONG THE BARLEY (Elizabeth Stirling
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 07:09 PM

Tunes

For comparison with the tune above (btw, thanks Malcolm for posting the English Dance and Song stuff!) here is the tune from the 1871 version. This was sheet music for voice and piano:

X: 1
T:All Among The Barley
M:2/4
L:1/8
C:Music: Elizabeth Stirling Words: A.T.
S:American Sheet Music LOC - 1871
Q:1/4=126
K:Bb
F|d B A c|B F2 F|G B A G|F3
w:Come out, 'tis now Sep-tem-ber, The hunt-er's moon's be-gun;
d|e A B d|G c2 B|A F A> G|F3
w:And thro' the wheat-en stub-ble Is heard the fre-quent gun;
F|d B A c|B F2 F|G B A G|F3
w:Come out, 'tis now Sep-tem-ber, The hunt-er's moon's be-gun;
d|e A B d|G c2 e|d B d> c|B3
w:And thro' the wheat-en stub-ble Is heard the fre-quent gun;
B|_A A G G|c2 B B|_A A G G|F2 z
w:The leaves are pa-ling yel-low Or kind-ling in-to red
B/B/|d B f d|e B2 e|e d c B|A4||
w:And the ripe and gold-en bar-ley Is hang-ing down its head.
d B A c|B2 F2|G B A G|F3
w:All am-ong the Bar-ley, Who would not be blithe
d/d/|e A B d|G c2 e|d B d c|B3
w:When the free and hap-py bar-ley Is smil-ing on the scythe
B/B/|e d c B|(B A) B c|d2 B2|G2 A2|B4-|B3||
w:When the free and hap-py bar_ley Is smil-ing on the scythe_


I'll post the other tunes when I have time (and when I transcribe the Walter Pardon version). The Church Bell and the 1874 version in American Sheet Music are quartet arrangements. There is also All Among The Barley Galop in American Sheet Music. It has composer given as J.C.Beckel (also the publisher), but is really an arrangement of Stirling's tune as a galop (with a trio that seems to be largely Brighton Camp!). I'll try and post that for interest too.

Mick

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among The Barley
From: Folkiedave
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 07:11 PM

What I find interesting about this is that the Hunter's Moon is not in September (as the words say) but in October.

I have not done a lot of research on this so I am happy to stand corrected - but on early research September is "Harvest Moon".

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among The Barley
From: nutty
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 07:17 PM

Thanks Mick ...... you are wonderful
Sorry I didn't reply sooner . This certainly has been worth waiting for.
If only we could get this depth of knowledge on all traditional songs.

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among The Barley
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Oct 07 - 09:43 PM

In September, the Feast of the Hunter's Moon" is celebrated in Indiana at Fort Quietenon on the Wabash River. French Canadian trappers, backwoodsmen, Indians and hunters congregated there to trade at the Fort. The "Rendezvous" was a well-known event in the 18th c., some participants coming long distances and sometimes attending more than one affair.

Timing had to be such that everyone could return safely before heavy snowfall.

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among The Barley
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 03:50 AM

A shining example of the Mudcat at its best.

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among The Barley
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 07:05 AM

Thanks nutty and Richard for the compliments but they aren't really that deserved (Malcolm's putting up stuff like this all the time!).

As I implied above, this was only a bit of armchair (well actually 3-legged carved wooden Ethiopian stool - I use it at the computer) investigation (apart from getting my copy of Williams down from a bookshelf). It was made easy by all those institutions that have digitised their collections and made them available on the net (The Library of Congress, The Bodleian and Levy are my constant friends, but I must have at least 6 other American University digital collections bookmarked, not to mention the National Library of Australia and a several hundred other sites for lyrics and related things). And all those people who've scanned or transcribed parish newsletters, local history documents, books and journals (one of my references is from a family record of someone from Bishops Stortford in Herts who emigrated to New Zealand in 1883, where the song was sung in a concert at Ngaruawahia - it may still exist in the wild there!) and put them online. These, along with the oft-satirised but indispensible search-engines, make finding this stuff a lot easier without having to even leave the house. (I can't wait for VWML to get some of its stuff online!)

And in this case the work is made easier by the fact that Elizabeth Stirling's song seems to have been very popular for a long time (you can still buy the sheet music) and was referred to in a lot of these documents (I'll post some of them later). If only there was so much available for other songs.

If I was really good, I'd get off my wooden stool and go and check Grove in my local library to see if it says when the song was prize-winning, rather than waiting until I renew my online subscription. I'd look for a complete Tennyson to check if he could have been "A.T." and if not try harder to find out who that was (or if it was just a way of saying anonymous.

Richard - you might like to check your family tree, you might be related to Elizabeth Stirling; after marriage she was known as Elizabeth Bridge or Elizabeth Stirling Bridge.


Finally, back to the subject, my missing reference to the music from The Church Bell - I'd actually given the link in my fist post here Uncle Jaque's Musical Miscellany - All Among The Barley in The Church Bell, 1867.


Mick

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among The Barley
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 08:44 PM

I don't have access to the online Grove, but will try to have a look at the nearest print copy when I can. Meanwhile, there is a short entry in The Oxford Companion to Music:

'Elizabeth Stirling. Born at Greenwich in 1819 and died in London in 1895, aged seventy-six. She was a remarkable organist, holding important posts in London and giving fine recitals which exercised much influence. At a time when Bach was little played she included much of his work in her programmes. At forty-four she married a well-known London musician less than half that age, F A Bridge.
Women hold (or should hold) her in grateful remembrance for what she did, by her example, to open to them a wider door into the musical profession, and village choral societies for her legacy to them of a charming part song, "All among the barley".'

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among The Barley
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 05:57 AM

Thanks for that Malcolm.

There are several short bios of Elizabeth Stirling available online. I was particularly interested in the description of the song as prize-winning - I wondered what prize it had won.

There is also a book about her Elizabeth Stirling and the Musical Life of Female Organists in Nineteenth-Century England with what looks like a large appendix (pp 203-212 from the index preview) devoted to the song. That would be interesting to look at (but at £50+ I'm not thinking of buying it!).

Mick

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among The Barley
From: nutty
Date: 23 Jul 08 - 01:14 PM

A little more information to add -

I've just bought a songbook called Near and Far published by McDougal's Educational Company Limited in 1929.

It prints the Elizabeth Stirling song in two parts.

This is what they say about it ...........

This was one of seven prize-songs published by Novello in a Part-Song Book, 1851. The original is in four parts.

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among The Barley
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Aug 08 - 06:17 AM

Sheet music for ALL AMONG THE BARLEY can be viewed (depending on what country you're in, perhaps) in

McCaskey, John Piersol. Favorite Songs and Hymns for School and Home. New York: American Book Co, 1899, page 315.

Tufts, John Wheeler. The Euterpean; A Choice Collection of Popular Choruses, Quartets and Part-Songs.... Boston: Silver, Burdett, 1888, page 84.

In both cases, the song is attributed to Elizabeth Sterling.

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among The Barley
From: Tradsinger
Date: 01 Aug 08 - 09:51 AM

I've just spotted that Mick Pearce asked about the versions I found in Hampshire and Devon. The Hampshire version was 2 verses, i.e., the ones staring "Come out, 'tis now September" and "The Wheat is like a rich man". Nothing about Spring and old maids. The Devon version was one verse, i.e. the September verse. I sing the Hampshire version on my CD
"There's a clear crystal fountain".

Cheers

Tradsinger

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among The Barley
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 27 Sep 09 - 02:44 PM

I've finally managed to have a look at Judith Barger's Elizabeth Stirling and the Musical Life of Female Organists in Nineteenth-Century England (thanks Google books). It devotes a large section to the song (as Stirling's most well-known) which tells us some things about the origin of the song.

First, the composer of the text, A.T. is not further identified; Barger says only: The title 'All Among The Barley' is the opening of the refrain of the poem 'The Ripe And Bearded Barley', its author identified only as 'A.T.'.

The question of the prize-winning is, however, dealt with in detail. The prize was in fact for publication by Novello in a Part-Song Book, as noted by nutty above. Novello provided texts to be set in an open competition (1850) and monthly prizes were awarded (seven prizes were awarded in all). The three judges originally awarded the first, second and third prizes to the same composer, Walter Macfarren. Rather than compromise the scheme in its very infancy, they came to an understanding whereby Miss Elizabeth Stirling was allowed to take the second of the prizes and according to Macfarren's own autobiography and after I had been fortunate enough to win the third prize, I was requested by the publisher not to compete again!

So the origin is well documented, but the author of the text remains unknown. And the interesting origin didn't stop the song being widely taken up.

And now I've reminded myself of the song, I'll try and get round to posting Walter Pardon's tune.

Mick

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among the Barley (Elizabeth Stirling)
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Sep 11 - 09:27 AM

As the nsong is attributed to a writer and composer, are there any royalties payable upon recording?
I've been singing it for years and feel that the lines

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among the Barley (Elizabeth Stirling)
From: GUEST,Nat Case
Date: 01 Sep 15 - 01:28 PM

No, it is well out of copyright and in the public domain in all countries.

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among the Barley (Elizabeth Stirling)
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Sep 18 - 08:42 PM

I first heard All Amongst The Barley when I made my first visit to a Folk Club - The Meadow in Ironbridge, Shropshire in 1973. A couple of years ago I found a fourth verse which does at least, give an opportunity to sing the chorus again:
"The babe knows neither woe nor care safe at its mothers breast.
The working man must strive and toil and seldom can find rest.
The grey-beard sits and takes his ease where care no more holds sway
With a glass from the bearded barley, to pass the time away."

I always found the line:
"While the ripe and bearded barley is smiling on the scythe..."
has

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among the Barley (Elizabeth Stirling)
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 18 Sep 18 - 02:56 PM

Just to complete the picture the query in 1967 in English Dance and Song
was answered in the following 3 editions with similar information already given above with no light thrown on the identity of A. T.

The earliest date given above, 1851, I can't push further back and can only add as far as broadsides go all of the printed broadsides I have are of that same mid-19th century period. The only one dated precisely is by The Glasgow Poet's Box at 1866.

Checking Kilgarriff for A. T. throws up only 2 possibilities. An A. Trail has a single entry of 1865 'You needna come courting o' me' music by W. T. Wrighton. The other is the already mentioned Arthur Tennyson who does interestingly have an entry for c1865 with 'All along the Valley' (music by Claribel), a parody of his own work? Probably not but a strange co-incidence all the same.

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among the Barley (Elizabeth Stirling)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Sep 22 - 04:38 PM

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Fashionable_Song_Book_Edited_by_J_E/9DBYAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22is+heard+the+frequent+gun%22+%22hanging+down%22&pg=PA15&printsec=frontcover

Should be "The National Song Book" - same lyrics were posted above.

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among the Barley (Elizabeth Stirling)
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 05 Sep 22 - 05:44 PM

Alfred Williams collected The Ripe and Bearded Barley from farm hand Henry Sirman of Stanton Harcourt, and printed it in 1923 in his book Folk-Songs of the Upper Thames. Martin Graebe gave an illustrated talk about Alfred Williams and his song collecting to an appreciative audience at Whitby Folk Week last month. The audience joined Martin in singing this song, and Shan Graebe too speculated that A.T. - who wrote the text - might be Alfred Tennyson.

Alfred Williams cycled 13,000 miles around the Upper Thames area between 1914 and 1916, collecting the words of nearly 800 songs sung by the men and women that he met there. More than 400 of these were published in a series of articles in the Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard at the time and, of those, about half were printed in Williams’s book Folk Songs of the Upper Thames in 1923.

Martin’s new book contains the 205 songs that were not included, together with Williams’s original Introduction and Conclusion. For each song there are newly written notes on the song’s origin and other information about it. There are also biographical notes on some of the singers, a later essay on folk song by Williams, and an appendix outlining the correspondence between Williams and the Yorkshire-based collector, Frank Kidson.

The Forgotten Songs of the Upper Thames, Folk Songs from the Alfred Williams Collection (ISBN: 978-1-9161424-3-5) is available from the Ballad Partners website – https://theballadpartners.co.uk – price £15 plus £3.50 postage.

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among the Barley (Elizabeth Stirling)
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 06 Sep 22 - 11:37 AM


Many recordings of All Among The Barley on YouTube     https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=all+among+the+barley+song

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among the Barley (Elizabeth Stirling)
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 07 Sep 22 - 04:52 PM

Thank you, Henry Peacock, for the heads-up about Martin Graebe's new book. I first came across the song when I found a copy of Alfred William's book in a Swindon bookshop, visiting my brother on his first job as a vet nearly fifty years ago (he's still working, in Shetland for now). I believe Stanton Harcourt at the time was a very large Co-op dairy farm.
I have been singing the song ever since, at least when I remember it's September!
Ross