Lyr Req: comic song about farming

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: comic song about farming
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 22 May 14 - 02:15 PM

You'll find plenty of comic songs about farming in the Bothy Ballad tradition, tho' you might need a translator!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: comic song about farming
From: Snuffy
Date: 22 May 14 - 03:06 AM

Back around 1970 we used to sing:

Old MacDonald had a farm, EIEIO
And on that farm he had some cows, EIEIO
And the cows were cowing it here
And the cows were cowing it there
Cowing it here
Cowing it there
Cowing it everywhere, Oh
Old MacDonald had a farm, EIEIO

followed by bulls bulling it here, etc (and suitable actions)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: comic song about farming
From: Mo the caller
Date: 18 May 14 - 06:56 PM

The EFDSS journal had an article a year or so back about a song which I knew as a dance, but turned out to be the original Old Macdonald.
"In the fields in Frost and Snow" Tune and dance instructions here
There are 2 versions of the words, one cleaner than the other.
E.g.one verse about hens
"...with a cackle cackle here and a cackle cackle there
Here a cack, there a cack, here and there a cack
Oh how free from care and strife is a pleasant country life"

(As a hen keeper I know the truth of that)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: comic song about farming
From: fantum
Date: 18 May 14 - 01:40 PM

Thank you Doc Tom.
Between you and Tradsinger I have the bare bones of the sog and possible tunes. Like a lot of these things it needs to be taken carefully if it becomes too explicit it becomes unusable. What I want is funny either because the words make it funny or the delivery can make it so. Theres more work to do, get a complete song together and a tune that works and then decide if it's worth further effort.

Much obliged   Fantum

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: comic song about farming
From: doc.tom
Date: 18 May 14 - 06:46 AM

Used to be sung in the Swan in Wadebridge back in the sixties buy the local Cornish-Irish-Welsh tenor [as Mervyn Vincent used to call him] - I think his name was Ted Roberts: one of the old 'Skeeters' crowd - all with actions.

When I was a lad, a farmer's lad,
I looked after the farmer's rams.
With a ram a-ramming here, and a ram a-rammining there
Here a-ramming, there a-ramming, ramming everywhere
For to plough and sow and reap and mow
And to be a farmer's boy, to be a farmer's boy.

Pig: [snort - rather like Susanna's a funiful man] OR:
Pig: a-screwing...
Duck: a-ducking...
Hens: a-laying...
Bull: a-bulling...
Cow: tits a-flopping here...
Wife: Well I had her over here, and I had her over there...

etc... you had to understand the style of different animals copulation characteristics to appreciate the actions that went with the [relevant] verses - particularly the pig! Don't remember rabbits though - as tradsinger said, verses could be added ad lib. Quite popular amongst us farmer's boys - and I'd almost forgotten it! Thanks for the reminder - but I don't think it'll go back into the repertoire.

TomB

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: comic song about farming
From: Tradsinger
Date: 17 May 14 - 01:42 PM

I am surprised that a song which I thought was quite well-known should get so little response from this forum. It has been collected several times and there are a dozen or more references in Roud. Can't find any trace of it through Google.

Tell you what, PM me your email address and I will send you mp3s of 2 incomplete versions that I have collected.

Regards

Tradsinger

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: comic song about farming
From: fantum
Date: 16 May 14 - 12:38 PM

Thanks Tradsinger thats the one
I am a bit futher on

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: comic song about farming
From: Tradsinger
Date: 16 May 14 - 07:24 AM

It's known as the farmyard version of "The Farmer's Boy" and is (or used to be) popular with rugby clubs.

From memory:

Oh I am a farmer, a farmer's boy.
I look after my father's (rams - or whatever)
And the rams were ramming here, the rams were ramming there
Here, there, ramming everywhere
Chorus - for to plough and sow and reap and mow
And to be a farmer's boy, to be a farmer's boy.

It is a cumulative song, with animals added ad lib. I hope that this info will help you track down a fuller version.

Tradsinger

Subject: Lyr Req: comic song about farming
From: fantum
Date: 15 May 14 - 06:43 PM

Some years ago there was a folk group in the N E of England called Cunla and one of the singers had a party piece about farm animals.
The rabbits were bucking here and the rabbits were bucking there and the bulls were ramming it here and the bulls were ramming it there.
The piece finished up with the farmers missus. It sounds quite disgraceful though I don't remember it as such.
Sadly Cunla (of fond memory)disappeared years ago so going back to a source is impossible. I know this is thin on information but if anyone can give me a clue about lyrics or tune I would be most grateful.

Regards
Fantum