Lyr ADD: Barleycorn (Songwainers)

Subject: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: Anglo
Date: 10 Jul 00 - 08:17 AM

Quite a long time ago (71?) the Gloucestershire group the Songwainers did a version of John Barleycorn to the hymn tune, We Plough The Fields And Scatter. Would anyone happen to have the lyrics. There was a
"Come put your wine into glasses,
Put your cider into old tin cans, VPut Barleycorn in the nut-brown bowl VAnd he'll prove the strongest man"

chorus as I recall. Thanks for any info.

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: Anglo
Date: 10 Jul 00 - 08:20 AM

Oops those were supposed to be line breaks.

"Come put your wine into glasses,
Put your cider into old tin cans,
Put Barleycorn in the nut-brown bowl
And he'll prove the strongest man"

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: Ed Pellow
Date: 10 Jul 00 - 09:07 AM

Sorry, thread drift...

"We plough the fields" whilst having an attributable author, has always struck me as sounding 'traditional'

Does anyone know if it was based on an older song?

Ed

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: Snuffy
Date: 10 Jul 00 - 09:21 AM

I think "We Plough the Fields and Scatter" is a translation of a German Lutheran hymn "Wir pfluegen und wir streuen" and the tune is German too. I'll check it out at home tonight.

Wassail! V

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: Ed Pellow
Date: 10 Jul 00 - 01:22 PM

Snuffy,

Thanks - further investigation suggests that you're coreect. The tune "Wir Pflügen (Dresden)" was apparently written by Johann Abraham Peter Schulz. Mind you that doesn't preclude it from being a 'traditional' tune that Schulz borrowed (Vaughan Williams style) Maybe I just want it to be that way...

Anglo,

Apologies if I've hijacked your thread. I've had a good look round but can't find the lyrics you want. If you have no luck here I'd suggest emailing Gwilym Davies [e-mail] who seems to be something of an authority on Gloucestershire Songs

Ed

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/w/e/p/l/weplowtf.htm

Subject: Lyr Add: JOHN BARLEYCORN
From: Ringer
Date: 11 Jul 00 - 04:16 AM

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

Subject: Lyr Add: JOHN BARLEYCORN
From: Dave Swan
Date: 11 Jul 00 - 08:04 PM

Anglo,

Here's the way we have the song, which is very close to Bald Eagle's version. You'll see minor changes in most verses and the gaps filled in the last verse. I don't pretend that this is definitive, it's just the way we learned it about 25 years ago. Cheers, Dave

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 laid clods o'er his head
And these three men all rejoicing went
John Barleycorn was dead

Chorus: Come and 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

So the sun shone warm and the wind blew strong
And it rained in a day or so
John Barleycorn sought the wind and the rain
And he soon began to grow
But the rye began to grow as well
It grew up strong but tall
John Barleycorn grew short and sweet
And he proved them liars all

Chorus

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

Chorus

Then they hired men with rushes
To beat him high and low
They came smick-smack upon poor Jack's back
Until the place began to blow
Then they put him into a mashing bin
They 'gan to burn his tail
And when he came out they changed his name
For they called him home brewed ale.

Chorus

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: Anglo
Date: 12 Jul 00 - 09:02 AM

Many thanks, Bald Eagle & Dave. Just back from a long weekend and away from the forum, delighted to find _two_ sets of words. Have one on me. Cheers.

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: Ringer
Date: 12 Jul 00 - 10:40 AM

Where and when, Anglo?

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: Anglo
Date: 12 Jul 00 - 03:53 PM

I'd say in the eyrie :-)

But if you get to the Salem Maritime Festival a week from Saturday (July 22) on the waterfront in Salem MA, I'll certainly stand you a pint. Not knowing where you are, that may be a long trip, as the population here seems to come from all over.

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: Ringer
Date: 13 Jul 00 - 09:41 AM

Long way from Derbyshire, England. I'll leave it owing, thanks. Pleasure to help (and I listened to the record again after many years; thanks for that, too).

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: Margaret V
Date: 13 Jul 00 - 07:33 PM

Ed Pellow, I'm no Bible expert, but it's possible that the text of "We Plough the Fields etc" is based on text in the gospel of Matthew. I only suggest this because the song "All Good Gifts" from the musical "Godspell" uses those words and I know that Godspell was based on Matthew. Kind of a reach, but I'm sure someone will know. Margaret

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: Kernow John
Date: 17 Feb 02 - 08:16 AM

I heard this song done this way last night at a session in Stithians in Cornwall. Looked for it on Mudcat this afternoon, found exactly what I was looking for plus a thread from Malcom Douglas with links to other versions.

Thanks all and don't tell me the 'cat isn't a valuable resource for folks like myself wishing to discover more about the music and songs we love.
Thanks again
KJ

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: GUEST,Steve
Date: 28 Aug 03 - 08:40 AM

I use the same tune for "John Barleycorn's a Hero Bold" with the "Come put your wine in glasses, put your cider in an old tin can, put John Barleycorn in a nut-brown bowl and he'll prove the strongest man" refrain.

Bit of a bastardisation, but I like it.

Wassail

Steve

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: GUEST,Tom (former Songwainer!)
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 04:33 AM

Found this thread a bit late by accident so:-

Just to get the lyrics right.....

Then they hired men with thrashes
To beat him high and low.
They came smick-smack upon poor Jack's back
Until the place began to flow.
Then they put him into a mashin' bin
Thinking to burn his tail,
And when he came out they changed his name
For they called him "Home-brewed Ale".

The idea to marry the words with the Hymn tune should be attributed to my old friend and singing colleague Ken (also responsible for "Who's Pigs Are These")... After 20 years apart and the death of our beloved Bass (Steve) we are singing together again to help with the 40th birthday of the Cheltenham Folk Song Club... And intend to continue, possibly to appear at the 50th aniversary of Sidmouth Folk Festival next year... (not really a plug, more of an invitation)
Interesting that we are still getting some "press" after all these years, I don't thing any of us sang together after 1980!!

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 11:56 AM

Tom

Thanks for posting this. I still have an autographed copy of "Songs, Stories and a Mummers' Play from Gloucestershire" published 1972 by Michael David Keane Price, according to which Mike collected "Whose pigs are these" from an old lady in the Slad Valley in 1967. Any chance of getting Mike Price to Sidmouth next year too?

Kitty

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: GUEST,Tony Guest - Cheltenham Glos.
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 06:24 AM

Just looked in by chance for JB words and found thread...
Do not miss the Songwainers at Sidmouth,2004 absolutely marvellous at Cheltenham Folk Club's 40 Birthday party. A wonderful trip down memory lane, great singing from all, thanks Tom/Ron/Ken and the new guys (old guy Barry and young guy Geoff were both superb).

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 07:15 AM

The Songwainers singing again? Where? Tom, please PM me or email [e-mail] with info. You wouldn't know it, but the Songwainers have been an enormous influence on me (especially Ken's wonderful weird harmonies and Ron's voice). Why, in 1976 I slept in an open field in Kettering, having missed the last bus home, just so that I wouldn't miss the last song at a Songwainers gig there! I burned the album onto CD so I can carry it around with me. OK, call me an anorak - but PLEASE let me know more.

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: Ringer
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 07:50 AM

You're an anorak, El Greko.

Hey, Guest Tom. Welcome & wonderful news about Songwainers (but sorry to hear about Steve).

PS I used to be Bald Eagle, but I changed my name because the hair grew back too many people assumed I was American.

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 27 Oct 03 - 09:55 AM

The fifth/sixth lines first verse as I know it (from Kent) is:

They ploughed, they sowed, they harrowed him in,
Threw clods upon his head,

There are usually extra verses at the end to show how people can't manage without him.

Come on you Kentish Men/Maids or Men/Maids of Kent - let's try and get a more definitive Kentish version.

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: GUEST,John
Date: 18 Dec 04 - 06:44 PM

Great to find this version again. I first got it in Canada, from a CBC broadcast on the theme of Folk Songs of Britain, then I lost it for about forty years! Many thanks, Songwainer and Mudcat.

Subject: RE: Barleycorn/Songwainers
From: Tradsinger
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 12:03 PM

Just to add to the thread, as Tom (one of the Songwainers) explained, the marriage of the words and tune were the idea of Ken Langsbury of Cheltenham. As I understand it, the words are those that Fred Jordan used to sing,

Gwilym

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barleycorn (Songwainers)
From: nutty
Date: 02 Feb 05 - 04:03 AM

Browsing in the Bodleian Library Broadside site ,which is a pastime of mine, I unearthed this c1837 broadside of the Barleycorn song,the last verse of which goes .....

Put your wine into a glass, sir
Put claret in a can,sir
Put Barleycorn in a nut brown bowl
And he becomes a nobleman, sir

Sir John Barleycorn


Printer: Wheeler, J. (Manchester)
   Date: c.1837

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barleycorn (Songwainers)
From: Mr Happy
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 08:01 PM

Me memrie's bin jogged!

Started a Req. Thread elsewhere tonight & got pointed here.

Misremembered chorus but now got it again, it goes:

'There's beer all in the barrel & brandy in the glass,
But little Sir John with the nut-brown bowl
proved the strongest man at last!'

[tune: We plough the fiends & scatter]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barleycorn (Songwainers)
From: GUEST,robert
Date: 15 Mar 05 - 09:19 AM

i am a'thinkin', whilst I'm a drinkin', best get me a nut brown bowl. Thanks for all the hard work, people, tippin my bowl to ya'll.
Speakin' bad English can be forgivin', but drinkin bad scotch, no reason to keep livin'.

Subject: RE: Lyr THE BLACKBIRD (Songwainers)
From: Basa
Date: 19 Feb 07 - 07:19 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barleycorn (Songwainers)
From: GUEST,Emily Stephenson
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 04:55 PM

Interestingly enough I have the original broadsheet here in an album and apparently the last verse is written as this: (whether it got sung like this is another matter - I can't make all of it out either!)

Then they hired men with thrashers,
To beat him high and low;
They came smick-smack upon poor Jack's back
Until the blood began to flow;
Then they threw him into a mashing-bin,
Thinking to burn his tails;
And when he came out, they changed his name,
For they called him home-brewed ale.

Oh, and hi Tom! It was good to see you the other month and catch up with some of the old folkies, hope all is well with you :)

-Emily Stephenson

Subject: Lyr Add: WE PLOUGH THE FIELDS AND SCATTER
From: GUEST,Jim Thorpe
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 02:02 PM

Here it is as found on line!


1. WE plough the fields, and scatter the good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand;
He sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes, and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain.

CHORUS: All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord, for all His love!

2. He only is the Maker of all things, near and far;
He paints the wayside flower, He lights the evening star;
The winds and waves obey Him, by Him the birds are fed;
Much more to us, His children, He gives our daily bread.

3. We thank Thee then, O Father, for all things bright and good,
The seed-time and the harvest, our life, our health, our food;
Accept the gifts we offer for all Thy love imparts,
And, what Thou most desirest, our humble thankful hearts.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barleycorn (Songwainers)
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 10:47 AM

I heard the chorus as follows

Come, put your wine into glasses fine
Put your cyder into old tin cans.
Put little Sir John in the nut-brown bowl
For he proved the strongest man.

Note the interpolation of the word 'fine' Folk process in action ? This was at Sidmouth in 1971.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barleycorn (Songwainers)
From: GUEST,Kingsley
Date: 02 Jun 08 - 08:02 AM

Who's pigs are these

does anyone know who did it, and the lyrics?
thanks
Kingsley

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barleycorn (Songwainers)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 02 Jun 08 - 09:07 AM

Guest Kingsley, if you type whose pigs in the Filter box and set the Age drop down to All you'll find 2 threads on the song, with the lyrics. Here's a direct link to one of them: Lyr Req: Title ' Whose pigs are these'.

And, AFAIK, it was in the Songwainer's repertoire.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Barleycorn (Songwainers)
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 05 Aug 23 - 01:48 PM

The Songwainers Argo Records ZFB 31 (LP, UK, 1971)

Musicians: Ron Taylor: tenor; Ken Langsbury: baritone; Dave Stephenson: bass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgl--skKjYM Songwainers

John Barleycorn; This again is our own arrangement, taken from Fred Jordan's text, and set to a popular C19 harvest hymn-tune " "Wir Pflugen und Wir Streuen" and set to a tune attributed to J.A.P. Schulz (1747-1800).

The idea to set the words to this tune came from Ken Langsbury's brother, Lionel.