Lyr Req: Country Life/Hurrah for the Country Life

Subject: Hurrah for the country life
From: paddymac
Date: 12 May 02 - 05:02 AM

I heard this song for the first time on NPR yesterday. Unfortunately for the song collector in me, I was driving in heavy traffic and had my attention focused there. It was done in the style of a chantey. The chorus had lines like "I love to rise early in the morning, and walk among the new mown hay". I wish I had more details to offer, but I was really taken by the song and would love to know more about. I didn't catch who the recording was by, but the singing was by a male lead, and, I think, two fenale harmony parts. Has anybody else heard this song?

---

See Mainly Norfolk

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 12 May 02 - 05:06 AM

It's GOTTA be The Watersons on their great album "For Pence And Spicy Ale" made back in the 70s.

Which brings me to a question of my own: "So merrily upon the..." what?? Sounds like "laylum". Anybody know what a Laylum is??

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 12 May 02 - 05:13 AM

There has been another thread about this 'what is the laylan' or what ever the spelling, but because I'm a partial technophobe and naturally blonde, I can't find the thread or do a link if I could.

It should be in the Digitrad as it's a very popular song for chorus singing.

LTS

Subject: Lyr Add: COUNTRY LIFE^^^
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 12 May 02 - 05:19 AM

It's called 'The Country Life'

COUNTRY LIFE (from Digital Tradition)

chorus:
I like to rise when the sun she rises,
early in the morning
And I like to hear them small birds singing,
Merrily upon their layland
And hurrah for the life of a country boy,
And to ramble in the new mowed hay.


1. In spring we sow at the harvest mow
And that is how the seasons round they go
but of all the times choose I may
I'd be rambling through the new mowed hay.

2. In summer when the summer is hot
We sing, and we dance, and we drink a lot
We spend all night in sport and play
And go rambling in the new mown hay

3. In autumn when the oak trees turn
We gather all the wood that's fit to burn
We cut and stash and stow away
And go rambling in the new mown hay

4. In winter when the sky's gray
we hedge and ditch our times away,
but in summer when the sun shines gay,
We go ramblin' through the new mowed hay.

5. Oh Nancy is my darling gay
And she blooms like the flowers every day
But I love her best in the month of May
When we're rambling through the new mown hay

6. I like to hear the Morris dancers
Clash their sticks and drink our ale
I like to hear those bells a-ringing
As we ramble in the new mown hay

Recorded by Watersons - For Pence and Spicy Ale
@English @harmony @chorus
filename[ COUNTRYL
TUNE FILE: COUNTRYL
CLICK TO PLAY
DC & SOF

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 12 May 02 - 06:12 AM

The song is in the DT as Country Life.

There is some discussion of laylum in Obfuscatory vocabulary

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 12 May 02 - 09:23 AM

The Watersons only recorded the chorus and verses 1 and 4 of the DT text. I've just trawled through twenty-odd websites that have the song in various forms; only one of them credits any source (surprise). Several have additional verses that also appear in the DT, but none have all (except for one which has just been copy-pasted from the DT without acknowledgement). Since at the moment I can't find any references to traditional examples apart from the Watersons' source (Mick Taylor of Hawes in Wensleydale), I'm assuming that all the other verses are modern additions made up by people who learned the song from the record (directly or at several removes) and thought it wasn't long enough.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 12 May 02 - 10:40 AM

I think it is meant to be "Ley Land"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Noreen
Date: 12 May 02 - 10:55 AM

Agreed, Malcolm, particularly since some of the new additions don't make sense:

In autumn when the oak trees turn
We (...) go rambling in the new mown hay

Huh?

I've not heard any of those verses (apart from 1 & 4) despite hearing the song sung many times at various festivals around the country.

P.S. Liz, yer letting the (blonde) side down, girl- learn yer clickies!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 12 May 02 - 11:09 AM

Ley, lay, lee or lea, all meaning "fallow", are not unlikely readings.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: artbrooks
Date: 12 May 02 - 01:55 PM

Oh, I like big birds, I like small birds
I like birds of every size.
But if they wake me before the sun rises
I'll poke their little birdy eyes out!

Ah, the folk process...with thanks and apologies to the Fredonia, New York folk music community.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 12 May 02 - 05:34 PM

I sing one collected off a Derek and Dorothy Elliot (Yorkshire Relish) album which starts

"Behold in me a jolly farmer, that live in the fields so green
And I like to rise up early, when the pretty little violets are seen"

The remainder of the sentiment is very similar to the one above. Unfortunately I don't have the album any more and cannot remember any details of the writer, arranger or any such.

Can anyone help?

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 13 May 02 - 12:50 AM

Anyone know who contributed:

In autumn when the skies are drear,
We sit in the pub and drink good beer,
But in summer when the skies are clear
We go ramblin' in the new mown hay.

Can't remember from whom I heard it.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: IanC
Date: 13 May 02 - 04:52 AM

Leyland (almost always spelt Ley or Lea) is still the correct term for temporarily sown grassland. As opposed to Meadow (or historically Meadowland) which is permanent pasture.

:-)
Ian

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: rich-joy
Date: 13 May 02 - 05:38 AM

DtG : I have the "Yorkshire Relish" album, but just scanning the credits/contents data does not bring the "Country Life / Jolly Farmer" song into view!! When I've access to my wind-up gramophone, I'll play the tracks and see if I can be of more help!!
Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 May 02 - 07:13 AM

Thanks R-J. Much apprecated.

DtG

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Micca
Date: 13 May 02 - 02:32 PM

and here is a link to the Parody in the other thread
link here

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Ferrara
Date: 13 May 02 - 02:50 PM

I was told, many years ago, (by Ron Davies?) that the laylums in "merrily upon their laylums" referred to standard phrases used in music by church or monastic choirs. Possibly fakelore, who knows?

I assumed it meant to compare the little birdies to singers in church, practicing standard words and tunes, or possibly repeating prayers sung in Latin.

Rita

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 13 May 02 - 08:03 PM

Almost certainly Fakelore, as you suspect. It doesn't appear to be a very old song, and an ecclesiastical reference (particularly one to monastic choirs!) when the obvious meaning presents no difficulties, would seem to be vanishingly unlikely.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Anglo
Date: 14 May 02 - 01:03 AM

The Elliotts' version is from a BBC archive recording of Kit Jones, of Redmire, Yorks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Wolfgang
Date: 16 May 02 - 04:04 AM

...merrily upon the ley lines? click for a not serious contribution

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Desdemona
Date: 16 May 02 - 11:24 AM

It's a wonderful song; I especially like Mike Waterson's singing of it. I've always understood the line to be "merrily upon their laylums", and assumed it must mean branches, or nests, or summat that small birds would sing merrily upon!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Night Owl
Date: 16 May 02 - 12:22 PM

I heard the song as well on NPR......they said it was done by the Jones Family.....but I didn't catch the name of the cd it's on. AWESOME singing!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: GUEST,pelrad
Date: 16 May 02 - 12:51 PM

Desdemona, that is what Mike Waterson told my father when he asked about the word. He made some joke about how they originally thought that laylums were little birdie limbs, but somehow discovered (he didn't say where or how) that the word referred to branches or limbs of a tree.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Desdemona
Date: 16 May 02 - 01:08 PM

Hey, cool; glad to have my "guess" confirmed!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 May 02 - 09:32 AM

Garry Gillard's transcription has "laylum" instead of "leyland."

The Folk File mentions "the mysterious word 'laylum' that is sometimes found in English country folk songs" and says it may be derived from "lea-land."

The only other "laylum" I can find on the Internet is the Westshore Laylum Intermediate Care Home in British Columbia. I wonder how it got its name?

I recall reading somewhere that "laylum" is an old word that means "chorus" or "refrain"—It makes sense in the context of this song—but now I wonder if that wasn't someone's conjecture. I can't find it in any dictionary.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 18 May 02 - 10:32 AM

That interpretation was an earlier guess from the Watersons, this time from Norma. I probably read the same reference as you, but I can't recall where, either. Mike's explanation isn't impossible by any means, but I still think it unlikely when we have a perfectly good -and verifiable- word which makes sense in the context.

Addy's Sheffield Glossary (1888), has the following:

LEY, sb. pasture or grassland. M[iddle] E[nglish] leye*.
"A close of pasture called Lay lands in Darnall." -Harrison.  "New Lays" in Eccleshall, anno 1807. M. E. leilond is equivalent to "New Land." When a field which has hitherto been arable is converted into pasture or grass land it is said to be "laid down to grass".

* y should be the character yogh, but there is no html code for it.

We're rather south of Wensleydale, of course, but Yorkshire nonetheless. Addy also has the following:

LUM, sb. a narrow valley containing a stream of water.
(Goes on to list a number of local placenames deriving from it) ... A[nglo] S[axon] hlimme, a torrent.

And, in the addenda (volume 2):

LUM. A man at Dore spoke of what he called "wood bottoms", growing shrubs and trees, and not fit for mowing, as lums.

If we combine the two words (the second definition being perhaps the more likely in the circumstances) we then have a tract of rough pasture running to scrub and young trees and left alone by the farmer; ideal bird-territory. Of course, this is mere speculation. I shall have to look at the larger dialect dictionaries.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 May 02 - 07:48 PM

Malcolm: You used a word I hadn't heard before, yogh, so I went searching for it. I found an article called Reminder about 4 medieval English Latin characters, which has an illustration near the bottom. Apparently there are specialized fonts, used by medieval scholars, that include the yogh. But it still isn't clear to me how a yogh would be pronounced.

And I might add, this web search was the starting point for one of those marvelous perambulations of the web that led, unpredictably, link by link, to The Fish Wars.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 18 May 02 - 08:42 PM

It's a long time since my student days, but so far as I can remember, yogh is a sort of gutteral y with a trace of g in it, depending on the dialect involved. For example, "gate" is often pronounced more like "yate" in the North of England, the y having a trace of a lead-in sound to it which in other dialects becomes a full-blown g. There really ought to be an html code for it; scribal confusion with g and z led to quite enough misunderstandings in the past!

Subject: Lyr Req: I like to rise when the sun is shining
From: GUEST,ossonflags
Date: 24 Feb 03 - 02:15 AM

Any one help with words to this waterson song please?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I like to rise when the sun is shing
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 24 Feb 03 - 02:43 AM

Click here to find the lyrics of "Country Life". There's also this version, which I learned from Redmond O'Connell at Camp Harmony, the San Francisco Folk Music Club's New Year's campout, one year in the late 80's. I'm not sure if he wrote it, or if it was in fact Holly Tannen. Somebody out there may know.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I like to rise when the sun is shing
From: GUEST,Raggytash
Date: 24 Feb 03 - 04:41 AM

Ossenflags, you should have told me, I think I have a version of this on vinyl sung by Len Berry, formerly of Kirtlington and a damned fine singer to boot. I'll look it up tonight. Enjoyed the weekend in Whitby too, see you soon

Raggy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I like to rise when the sun is shing
From: GUEST,ossonflags
Date: 24 Feb 03 - 05:53 AM

Thanks everyone.
Raggy,was'nt it though! looking forward to moor and coast.

Subject: Lyr Add: Country Boy (2) (Parody)
From: Micca
Date: 24 Feb 03 - 08:08 AM

I like this very much but I felt it was a bit short, so a coupla years ago I added some verses to bring it up to a "song length" I sent the result to Holly Tannen but have had no comment or reply yet.
my version now reads:-

Country Boy (2)
Cat Fox?, Holly Tannen? additional verses by Micca (V2-4)

I hates to rise when the sun she rises
Early in the morning.
I hates to hear them small birds singing
Merrily upon the lyelam
And a pox on the life of a country boy
Who's allergic to the new-mown hay.

I hate larks and I hate thrushes
I hate birds of every size
And when they start their bloody song
I want to poke them in their little eyes
And a pox on the life of a country boy
Who's allergic to the new-mown hay.

We get pollen from trees and grasses
Sticks to skin and sticks to clothes
And it gives me streaming eyes
And green stuff running from my nose
And a pox on the life of a country boy
Who's allergic to the new-mown hay.

I went to see an alternative therapist
Truth is a felt a bit of a prat
she prescribed oil of evening primrose
now I'm bloody allergic to that
And a pox on the life of a country boy
Who's allergic to the new-mown hay.

Acute seasonal rhinitis
is just another fancy name
for this bloody awful condition
but its hay fever just the same
And a pox on the life of a country boy
Who's allergic to the new-mown hay.


In winter when the sky is grey
We sit and watch TV all day
But in summer when the sky is gay
We sit and watch TV all day
And a pox on the life of a country boy
Who's allergic to the new-mown hay.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I like to rise when the sun is shining
From: Compton
Date: 24 Feb 03 - 12:11 PM

A likeable version is by the (old) Watersons..can't remember which LP / CD ..may have been "For pence and spicey ale"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I like to rise when the sun is shining
From: JenEllen
Date: 24 Feb 03 - 12:15 PM

Nice additions, Micca. Do you sing it "poke them in their little eyes-iz"? Enquiring minds,
Cookie

Subject: Lyr Add: COUNTRY LIFE
From: alanww
Date: 15 Jul 03 - 12:04 PM

The version I have sung for several years is as follows:-

COUNTRY LIFE

I like to rise when the sun she rises, early in the morning,
I like to hear them small birds singing, merrily among their ley land,
And hurrah for the life of a country boy,
And to ramble through the new-mown hay.

1        In spring we sow at the harvest mow,
Then we watch the corn as it starts to grow,
But of all the times to choose, I say,
I'll go rambling through the new-mown hay.

2        At the close of day when the work is done,
In the sunset glow of a summer sun,
Me and my true love do sport and play,
And go rambling through the new-mown hay.

3        In autumn when the leaves turn brown,
Its out with the plough to prepare the ground,
The weather gets cold and the skies are grey,
No more rambling through the new-mown hay.

4        In winter the days have a very short span,
So we hedge and we ditch as best we can,
But I'm thinking of the summer when the sun shines gay,
And the rambling through the new-mown hay.

5        We reap and sow, and we plough and mow,
That's how the seasons round do go,
And the trees are fine as we take their shade,
After rambling through the new-mown hay.

          ------

Having recently sung this at a concert to 2000+ people at Baltica 2003 folk festival in Latvia, which had a theme of hay making, I thought I ought to check its origins. Yes, I regretted not having checked in advance!

I have to admit that I initially obtained it from the oral tradition, never having heard the Waterson's version. I then tidied it up somewhat, in order to make it sound a bit more logical. This was particularly in the second line of the 1st verse, which would otherwise have been repeated in the last verse, and in verses 3 and 4.

From what has been said in the thread so far it sounds as though only two verses were originally written by "Mick Taylor of Hawes in Wensleydale" and the rest have developed from the oral tradition.

Has anyone any more info, eg when did Mick Taylor write it and was it for a particular occasion?

"After rambling ...!"
Alan
PS When asked I have always said that ley land is meadowland.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 15 Jul 03 - 01:44 PM

I don't think anyone has suggested that Mick Taylor wrote the song; the Watersons got the set they recorded from him, that's all. Where did you get yours?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: alanww
Date: 15 Jul 03 - 08:03 PM

Well I suppose it was only in 1998 ish that I obtained the song from two separate sources - one from Tony Day who runs the unaccompanied singing session in the Middle Bar of the Anchor Inn, which is a fringe event at Sidmouth Folk Festival, and the other being from Len [I am ashamed to say that I cannot recall his surname] who is a regular singer at the Bideford Folk Club in North Devon. Neither are Mudcatters. Next time I see them I will ask them their sources ...

"So we hedge and we ditch as best we can ...!"
Alan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 19 Jul 03 - 01:42 PM

The connections between English and Low German being one of my hobby-horses, the above discussion reminded me that my grandmother used to speak of a piece of waterlogged land she owned as 'Leegland' (the double e pronounced like a Scottish -ay, i.e. very open, the g almost like a Scottish -ch). Seems to be no connection at all, though, because 'Leegland' meant 'bad land', not usable for grazing or farming. Sorry for the thread creep!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: GUEST,algenon
Date: 19 Jul 03 - 02:16 PM

Laylum means 'chorus' - so "merrily upon their laylum" describes the song the birds are singing. Thats what I was lead to believe anyway.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 19 Jul 03 - 02:24 PM

That was mentioned earlier in the discussion. As I said at the time, it seems very unlikely.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: GUEST,eliza C
Date: 20 Jul 03 - 06:40 AM

Hiya,
They sing "laylum" and take it to mean "chorus". Hope this helps.
x ec

Subject: Origins: Country Life (the trad. one!)
From: GUEST,MurkeyChris
Date: 11 Oct 04 - 12:48 PM

Hi,

I'm writing about the traditional song Country Life as performed by the Watersons for my dissertation. Does anyone know anything about his origins such as how old it might be, who wrote it, if it was a popular song before the Watersons recorded it, etc.

I know there are other threads on it, but no-one seems to have got beyond the bloke that taught it to the Watersons.

Cheers, Chris

'Cool as Folk' - my online folk radio show

Subject: RE: Origins: Country Life (the trad. one!)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 11 Oct 04 - 01:16 PM

Some info with lyrics is at Garry Gillard's site.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Oct 04 - 01:34 PM

No one seems to have looked in the Oxford dictionary.
The words layland, leyland, leland, leylond and leyk-(land) are all synonyms of Lealand.
Lealand is fallow land, or land laid down for grass. The word first appeared in print in the 14th century (glossed into modern English as leylond). I may have missed some of the various spellings. (OED)

Add comments by Malcolm Douglas to round out the definition and its history.

In the sense of the song, 'laylums' is just a corruption.

Subject: RE: Origins: Country Life (the trad. one!)
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 11 Oct 04 - 05:15 PM

Chris, I've nothing to contribute on the early history of the song beyond what has been mentioned (Watersons notes and thread 47543), but my notes include a parody called 'Country Boy'. Haven't checked, but it may have come from the DT or the Forum. As it's short, I'll re-post it here:

[1997:] Parody 'Country Boy' (by Cat Fox?, Holly Tannen?)

I hates to rise when the sun she rises early in the morning
I hates to hear them small birds singing merrily upon the lyelam
And a pox on the life of a country boy
Who's allergic to the new-mown hay

I hate larks and I hate thrushes early in the morning
I hate birds of every size merrily upon the lyelam
And when they start their bloody song
I want to poke them in their little eyes

In winter when the sky is grey early in the morning
We sit and watch TV all day merrily upon the lyelam
But in summer when the sky is gay
We sit and watch TV all day

Subject: RE: Origins: Country Life (the trad. one!)
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 11 Oct 04 - 05:49 PM

Susanne, when I heard that parody (from Redmond O'Connell in 1989 or so), it had a slightly different form. The first verse you gave was sung as a chorus, and the other two were, simply:

I hate larks and I hate thrushes
I hate birds of every size
And when they start their bloody row
I want to poke them in their little eyes

(CHORUS)

In winter when the sky is grey
We sit and we watch TV all day
But in summer when the sky is blue
We sit and watch TV all day

(CHORUS)

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the country life
From: IanC
Date: 12 Oct 04 - 09:06 AM

Q

Perhaps you didn't rad my comment earlier.

:-)

Subject: RE: Origins: Country Life (the trad. one!)
From: MurkeyChris
Date: 29 Oct 04 - 09:46 AM

Hi guys,

Thanks for the help. That website is a great help, thanks masato sakurai.

Chris

Cool as Folk - fresh folk music from England and beyond

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hurrah for the Country Life
From: GUEST,Jake
Date: 21 Jan 08 - 03:06 PM

Fascinating discussion of Layland/Laylum... I'd have to say that it's a matter of verbal tradition and lack of written lyrics until the song had "matured".

I was wondering if there's a commonly known sailor's version of this song. It often sounds like a pully-hauley chanty when I've heard it done a capella. Anyone know if this was ever put down on a broadside somewhere as a song of the sea?

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