Lyr Req: ChildBallad Farmer Going to Pay His

Subject: ChildBallad Farmer Going to Pay His Rent
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 04 Sep 00 - 05:28 PM

There's a wondereful Child Ballad whose title I'll approximate as "The Old Farmer Going to Pay His Rent." It starts like this:

I'm goin' to sing ye a song
I hope it'll bring ye content.
It's all about an old farmer
Who was goin' to pay his rent.

He's apprehended by a highwayman, but turns the tables and steals the highwayman's horse and money. I know part of this, and thought I had it on a CD, but no. I need from after the highwayman's demand to the end.

Anybody?

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: Lyr Add: THE CRAFTY FARMER (from Ewan MacColl)^^^
From: Bud Savoie
Date: 04 Sep 00 - 08:47 PM

I'm gaun to sing ye a sang,
And I hope it'll gie ye content
At's a' aboot an auld fairmer
Gaun awa' tae pay his rent

CHORUS: Sing fa la la la la la
Sing fa la la la la lee
Sing fa la la la la la
Sing fa la la la la lee

As he was a ridin' alang
A-ridin' upon the highway
A gentleman robber rode up to him
And these words he did say: (CHORUS)

Whaur are ye gaun, kind sir?
This made the auld man tae smile.
"Tae tell ye the truth," the auld man said,
"I'm just gaun twa-tree mile," (Chorus)

A doited auld carle am I
Just rentin' a sma' piece o' grund
And the half yearly rent o' it
Amounts tae forty pund (Chorus)

But my landlord's no been at hame,
I've no sen him a year and more
Which mak's the yearly rent o'it
Amount unto fourscore (Chorus)

"Ye shouldna hae told me this,
When robbers there are so mony,
For if they met you on the way,
They'd rob you of ilka penny" (Chorus)

The auld man winked his e'e.
Said "I don't care a fig.
My money is save intae my bags
Just under my saddle rig." (Chorus)

The gentleman robber then said,
"Deliver up your money,
Or else your life'll be snuffed oot,
For pistols are nae canny." (Chorus)

But the fairmer he was crafty
As in this world are mony.
ge, Sayin' "Fetch it if you'll have ony," (Chorus)

The robber he got off his horse
Wi' courage sae stoot and bold,
Awa' in search o' the saddle he ran,
Gave the auld man his horse tae hold (Chorus)

The auld man pit his fit in the stirrup
And then he got on at the stride,
And syne he set oot at the gallop,
Ye needna hae bidden him ride (Chorus)

The robber, he flew in a passion,
There was naething but straw in the bags.
So he drew oot his rusty auld gully
And hackit the saddle tae rags (Chorus)

As the fairmer wa ridin' hame
And gallopin' through the glen,
He spied auld Maggie his ridin' mear
And shooted "Maggie, coom hame!" (Chorus)

And when that he got hame
And tauld what he had done,
The auld man's wife pit on her claes
And roon' the hoose she ran (Chorus)

When they opened the robber's bags,
A wonderful sicht tae behold,
There was five hundred guineas in siller
An' another five hundred in gold (Chorus)

And aye she danced aroond
And made a muckle commotion.
"If ever our dauchter gets married," she said,
"It'll help tae enlarge her portion." (Chorus)
^^^

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ChildBallad Farmer Going to Pay His
From: MMario
Date: 04 Sep 00 - 08:57 PM

tune?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ChildBallad Farmer Going to Pay His
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Sep 00 - 09:13 PM

Child #283, alrady in DT.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ChildBallad Farmer Going to Pay His
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 05 Sep 00 - 03:38 PM

I feel stupid not to have looked for this in the DT. It's there, along with the tune, although the timing and bounciness of Ewan McColl's version isn't in the MIDI.

This is clearly related to "The Crafty Boy", also in the DT. No tune given for it, though.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ChildBallad Farmer Going to Pay His
From: GUEST,Dave Ruch
Date: 07 Dec 04 - 09:57 AM

Catskill (NY) singer Harry Siemsen sings a version of it called "The Spotted Cow" on the Folkways LP called "Folk Songs of the Catskills", or something similar. I use his tune with the text from the Stevens-Douglass manuscript of 1841-1856, which calls the song "The Kennebec Bite"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ChildBallad Farmer Going to Pay His
From: Snuffy
Date: 07 Dec 04 - 05:55 PM

Quite a few "Highwayman Outwitted" songs in the DT and forum. Often it's the farmer's daughter (or son) who turns the tables. Laws has it as #L2

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ChildBallad Farmer Going to Pay His
From: beetle cat
Date: 07 Dec 04 - 06:02 PM

Hah, wonderful, but I expected one about a scholar of child ballads who is having trouble paying the rent.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: ChildBallad Farmer Going to Pay His
From: Nerd
Date: 08 Dec 04 - 01:52 PM

Yes, Beetle Cat, as a ballad scholar I assure you that your interpretation rings true as well!