Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction

Subject: Info The Auctioneer
From: nickr90
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 01:39 PM

I am looking for lyrics and background on The Auctioneer - not the one on TDT about speaking fast. This is a darker song of selling off farm property and land.
Nicky

Subject: RE: Info The Auctioneer
From: GUEST,Chris Lock
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 02:24 PM

Hope this is the one you mean. The song is by Phil Ochs but I don't know the background or history of the song.

Rusting tractor on the hill, fence post with a printed bill
that says the sale goes on, until everythng is gone.

Gold and silver napkin rings, elastic bands round spoons and things
Tiny fingers touch the strings of that old banjo in the case
Coffee pots they never used, silver frames are slightly bruised
around the portraits that amused, in parlour and in hall.

Auctioneer comes here today, privacy upon display
Highest bidder takes away, but they can't take it all.

Firelight and a favourite song, laughter that rings among
the memories that still belong within these empty rooms.
Remember when the lights were low, log fires and misletoe
Morning sunlight on the snow. How much for this old sleigh?

Auctioneer comes here today, privacy upon display
Highest bidder takes away, but they can't take it all.

A jar of nails, a box of tacks, six dining chairs with wicker backs
out in the garden, piled in stacks, being spotted by the rain.
Auctioneer comes here today, strangers' cars that line the way
Children watch the odd display whilst their mothers watch the lots
that are numbered with the coloured tags, books in boxes, clothes in bags
Bought for learning, bought for rags, everything must go.

Auctioneer comes here today, privacy upon dusplay,
Highest bidder takes away, but they can't take it all.

Subject: RE: Info The Auctioneer
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 03:37 PM

Nickr90:

There is also a very similar song called "Bidding America Goodbye" on this thread.

The song posted by Guest, Chris Lock above is truly heart-rending. Those of us who grew up in the wheat country of the Great Plains can certainly empathize.

Lin

Subject: RE: Info The Auctioneer
From: open mike
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 04:56 PM

ooh how sad and what a true commentary about the rural difficulties.
there is anoter auction song about a fiddle...we have discussed that
one here before. The Touch of the Master's Hand it is called.
in this thread Joe says he clumped together a bunch of auction songs:
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=37392#911466
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=57694#910326

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FARM AUCTION (Enoch Kent)
From: delphinium
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 05:03 PM

Yes, that's a great song (posted by Guest Chris Lock) - but it's not by Phil Ochs, it's Enoch Kent's "The Farm Auction", and it's the more moving when you hear it sung in Enoch's lovely gruff voice. The lyrics above are also in another thread, but they are missing a verse. Here are the complete lyrics given in Enoch's "I'm a Workin' Chap" CD:

The Farm Auction
(tune and words by Enoch Kent)

A rusting tractor on the hill
The fence post with the printed bill
That said the sale was on until
Everything was gone

Chorus:
The auctioneer comes here today
Privacy upon display
The highest bidder takes away
But they can't take it all

The letter came on a Wednesday
The bank said that we'd have to pay
Or else they'd take the farm away
And they said they'd take it all

Chorus

There's bone and silver napkin rings
Elastic bands 'round spoons and things
Tiny fingers held the strings
Of that fiddle in the case

And there's coffee pots we never used
Silver frames a little bruised
Around the portraits that amused us
In the parlour and the hall

Chorus

Like fireglow and favorite songs
And laughter, they're the things among
The memories that still belong
Within those empty rooms

O remember when the lights were low
Pies, balloons and mistletoe
Morning sunlight on the snow
Who will buy a broken sleigh?

Chorus

There's a jar of nails and a box of tacks
The dining chairs with the wicker backs
They're in the garden piled and stacked
And being spotted by the rain

The auctioneer comes here today
Cars line the sidewalk black and grey
Children watch the odd display
While their mothers touch the lots

That are numbered now with coloured tags
Books and clothing sold in bags
Bout for learning, bought for rags
Everything must go

Chorus

====

Enoch's notes:
Where I live in Canada, the land near the cities became more valuable and the banks started to call in farm loans and take the land for re-sale. I witnessed this particular sale of a family house, posessions, farm equipment, and the land.

Subject: RE: Info The Auctioneer
From: beardedbruce
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 05:12 PM

A truely successful song- it brings tears to my eyes, and a lump in my throat.

8-{E

Subject: Lyr Add: The Farm Auction
From:
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 05:58 PM

For the Mudcat Harvesters - a Lyr Add:

Subject: RE: Info The Auctioneer
From: GUEST,Chris Lock
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 07:11 PM

Delphinium,

Thanks for putting me right on that. I learned the song about twenty years ago and I thought I had been told it was a Phil Ochs song, but memory plays funny tricks over the years! Good to hear the full version of it.

Chris

Subject: RE: Info The Auctioneer
From: Louie Roy
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 08:09 PM

Subject: RE: Info The Auctioneer
From: Louie Roy
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 08:13 PM

For some reason this message didn't transmit,so will resend it.This is a great song and is a heart wrencher.Does anyone have a midi they could post or is there a webpage we could find it on.Louie Roy

Subject: RE: Info The Auctioneer
From: GUEST,open mike
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 08:24 PM

louie roy, am i correct in remembering that you once got a fiddle at an auction and returned it to the family of origin? no--that was Lew Holt in think. Know him? somehow i connect your names...

Subject: RE: Info The Auctioneer
From: GUEST,Augie
Date: 18 Jul 04 - 10:45 PM

Chris/Lin/Delphinium-Thanks for posting the beautiful lyrics.Here too where I live, in dairy-cow country, farm auctions are a near weekly event as the small family farms either succumb to the giant corporate mega-monstrosities (the Walmarts of dairy farming) or dissolve into subdivisions. That song is so evocative of this 21st century rural American/Canadian malady.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: Louie Roy
Date: 19 Jul 04 - 11:22 AM

Chris Lock I tried to PM you but since you are not a member this is impossible.Please PM me and give me your email address I'd like to pursue this.Louie Roy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: Louie Roy
Date: 19 Jul 04 - 11:24 AM

Yes open mike I know Lew Holt very well Louie Roy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: GUEST,Chris Lock
Date: 19 Jul 04 - 04:20 PM

Louie,
As I am not a member I can't PM you. However, there's not much more I can tell you about the song. As I said before, I learned it about 20 years ago but I haven't sung it for many years as I never perform solo any more. I learned it from the singing of a Scottish singer called Iain MacIntosh. A wonderful song - it was good to be reminded of it.
Chris

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 07 Aug 04 - 06:59 PM

Iain MacKintosh's version plus a few notes can be found at The Farm Auction.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: Louie Roy
Date: 23 Dec 04 - 12:18 PM

My daughter-In -Law up on the Nortwest Territory sent me the CD of Enoch Kent with the following songs on it---I'm a working chap--Jamie Foyer--Green eyes--Van Diemen land--The Farm Action--Floor of Northumberland--The Widow Of War--My Father's Cause--Collier Laddie--A Drunk Man Looks At The Weaving--The Bonniet Lass--Laird Of The Dinty Doom--No More Cod On The Banks--Tales Of A Favorite Lass--I'll Lay You Doon Love---This CD is available from Second Avenue Records
12 Aldergrove Avenue
Toronto,Ontario Canada,M4C 1B2
I can also copy to tape if anyone is interested
Louie Roy

Subject: Lyr Add: TWO FOR A DOLLAR (Bobby Gosh)
From: Francy
Date: 23 Dec 04 - 01:23 PM

Last Saturday morning, I shut off the alarm,
Went out to the valley to old Dan Cook's farm.
Sign on the fence post put up with one nail
Said "Ten a.m. sharp there's a big public sale."
At least forty people were out in the yard.
They were looking for bargains. They were dealing real hard
To buy up the pieces and find out the worth
Of fifty years living so close to the earth.

CHORUS: Who'll give me five? I've got five. Who'll give me ten?
I'll call out the numbers, and you just say when.
For a lifetime of living, some happy, some sad,
Two for a dollar. The price sure ain't bad.

How much for the carriage rotting out in the shed,
The same one they drove the night they were wed?
How much for the brass bed, just a little bit worn?
Not much for the place where the five kids were born.
And that old parlor piano still sounded all right,
Just as good as it did every Saturday night.
And the old round oak table where dinner was made
Cost almost as much as the Tiffany shade. CHORUS

Bobby Gosh (1972) sung by Bobby Bare

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: Francy
Date: 23 Dec 04 - 05:11 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: Alexis
Date: 23 Dec 04 - 05:49 PM

The song posted by Chris Lock is awesome - what is, or where can I find the tune to the words please?
Alex

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: Louie Roy
Date: 23 Dec 04 - 06:44 PM

Look at my post as of dec 23 at 12:18 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Jun 20 - 12:24 AM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 17 Jun 20 - 07:04 PM

Pretty sure I have it on a tape, sung by Garnet Rogers:that's maybe how Iain Mackintosh came by it, via Archie Fisher, who did some collaborations with Garnet. Great, but sad, song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: PHJim
Date: 17 Jun 20 - 11:10 PM

Here's another along the same vein:

Thirty Years of Farming
Fred J. Eaglesmith

There's a little white note on a gate by the road
That a man put up yesterday
And when we saw it we all ran out
Just to see what it had to say
And when we read it our eyes filled with tears
And they fell to the cold hard clay
Something 'bout a mortgage
Something 'bout foreclosure
Something 'bout failing to pay

Oh, and on the post by the general store
They've put up a little sign
An auction sale, day after tomorrow
At the end of the Lincoln Line
Thirty years of farming
Thirty years of heartache
Thirty years of day to day
Oh, my Daddy stopped talking
The day the farm was auctioned
There was nothing left to say

Oh, my mama's tears fell freely down
As she walked amongst the flowers in the yard
And every number the auctioneer called
Was like a blow to her precious heart
And every number the auctioneer called
Meant another thing was sold that day
Till everything was auctioned
And we stood there watching
As they loaded it and drove it away

Oh, and on the post by the general store
They've put up a little sign
An auction sale, day after tomorrow
At the end of the Lincoln Line
Thirty years of farming
Thirty years of heartache
Thirty years of day to day
Oh, my daddy stopped talking
The day the farm was auctioned
There was nothing left to say

At the day's first dawning
We awoke this morning
There was nothing for us to do
Nothing in the granary
No hay in the mow
No cattle, no tractor, no tools
So we loaded up the car
With the clothes that we wore
And the few things we managed to save
Mama read from The Book
We took one last look
And then we drove away

Oh, and on the post by the general store
They've put up a little sign
An auction sale day after tomorrow
At the end of the Lincoln Line
Thirty years of farming
Thirty years of heartache
Thirty years of day to day
Oh, my Daddy stopped talking
The day the farm was auctioned
There was nothing left to say

Oh, my daddy stopped talking
The day the farm was auctioned
There was nothing left to say

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 19 Jun 20 - 07:35 AM

Good one PHJim.
I felt quite sad when a farm very near us was auctioned off some 20 years ago: they used to sell eggs and lovely fresh vegetables and garden plants. The farm buildings were razed to the ground, and several very posh houses were built on the site. Down in the fields below, there are still a few very rusty items of farm machinery that didn't get sold and were left to rot.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: EBarnacle
Date: 19 Jun 20 - 10:35 AM

There is a tale, perhaps apocryphal, of a farm being auctioned off for taxes. The farmer was well respected locally. The local attendees kept the "furriners" from bidding and the farmer was able to recover his property for pennies on the dollar. I seem to recall hearing this one in Maine.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 19 Jun 20 - 12:38 PM

Well Barney...sure sounds like the makings of a Mainiac's "Burt an I" story.

For a view from the other side try:

https://blog.dreamdirt.com/farmland-auctions/our-response-to-the-viral-story-farmers-stay-silent-during-auctions-so-young-man-can-win-the-bid-on-his-long-lost-family-farm


Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Emotions cloud the rational mind

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Jun 20 - 02:05 PM

That's pure fiction, Garg. Never happened, though the story was passed around a lot. Another link.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Auctioneer / The Farm Auction
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 20 Jun 20 - 09:56 PM

SRS - Back off - You and I are crewing on the same ship.

Dream Dirt, url above, is precisly what you referenced.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

ECHO, Echo, echo....anyone hear an echo?