Origins: Down on the farm, half past four....

Subject: Origins: Down on the farm, half past four....
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 04:46 PM

Down on the farm, half past four
Pulled on my pants, slipped out the door
Down to the barn, run like the dickens
Milk all the cows and feed those chickens

Cleaned up the backyard, ???????? (unintelligible)
Separate the cream, slop all the pigs
In to my breakfast, eat like a Turk
And then I'm ready for a full day's work

Grease up the wagon, throw on the rack
Put a jug of water in the old rain sack
Harness up the mules and slide down the lane
We gotta get the hay and it looks like rain

Look over yonder, sure as you're born
Sheeps in the meadow and the cows in the corn
......
.....


From the singing of Ian Hoag of Chautauqua County, NY (USA), 1941, to a strange variation of the tune "Turkey in the Straw"

There's about another verse & a half that I haven't had a chance to transcribe yet, but that's the thrust of it. An internet search turned up a few odd references, each credited to a different "author" (Henry Lorang, FB Kouba, etc), or as "anonymous".

Would love to know more about this little piece of folk verse...






An internet search brought up a few different versions of this merry bit of folk verse, each attributing it either as "anonymous" or to a different "author" This bit of folk verse was sung to an odd, melodically ascending version of "Turkey in the Straw"

Subject: RE: Origins: Down on the farm, half past four....
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 05:47 PM

Where did you get the verses you posted?

Brown (1952, vol. 3, p. 210), has a version, but I haven't seen it.

Vernon Dalhart sang a song by that name, but it may not be the same.

Subject: RE: Origins: Down on the farm, half past four....
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 08:47 PM

They're from a Library of Congress recording, made in 1941 by Charles Todd & Robert(?) Sonkin.

Subject: RE: Origins: Down on the farm, half past four....
From: Stewie
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 09:51 PM

With minor changes to what is posted above, John (Seven Foot Dilly) Dilleshaw recorded this as a talking blues under the title 'Farmer's Blues' in Atlanta on 24 March 1930 (Chris Bouchillon had created the 'talking blues' genre a few years earlier). Dilleshaw's recording was issued in November 1930 as Vocalion 5459. It has been reissued on 'John Dilleshaw: Complete Recorded Works' Document DOCD-8002.

I haven't heard it, but judging from the entry in Meade's 'Country Music Sources', the Dalhart piece mentioned above by Q is not related - rather, it is related to an 1889 song titled 'My Boyhood Happy Days'.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Origins: Down on the farm, half past four....
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 26 Oct 05 - 04:56 PM

That's a great reference, Stewie - thanks! Probably doesn't get us any closer to the source, but it will be great to hear another version.

Subject: ADD: Down on the Farm
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Sep 08 - 08:12 PM

Don't know if you are still looking for the lyrics but I just came across an old 78 record cut by an uncle of mine. He worked in radio, broom industry, and farming from the 40's-60's. He made a record for my mother to send to her parents in California during WWII. He says on the record that he will just speak a poem that he knows. And I've tried to transcribe it.
[e-mail]

Down On The Farm

Down on the farm 'bout half past four;
You slip on your pants and sneak out the door.
Out of the yard you just run like the dickens;
To milk ten cows and feed the chickens.

You clean out the barn, curry Nancy and Jigs;
Separate the cream and slop the pigs.
Work two hours and eat like a Turk.
And Lord I'm just fit as a fiddle for a full day's work.

Then I grease the wagon, and throw on the rack;
Put a jug of water and an old grain sack.
And look over yonder just and sure as I'm born;
Them cattle's on the rampage and the cows are in the corn.

I start across the meadow, I run a mile or two;
I'm heaving like I'm wind broke, and I'm wet clear through.
I get back to the horses then I'm recompensed
And old Nancy gets astraddle of the barbed wired fence.
With joints all an aching and muscles in a jerk;
I'm just as fit as a fiddle for a full day's work.

Then when fall rolls round and winters nigh;
I figure up the books and have a big sigh.
I worked all year and didn't make a thang (thing);
I got less cash than I had last spring.
Now some people tell us that there ain't no,
Well they just never did farm, so how could they know.

Then when fall rolls round, I take another chance;
While the fringe grows longer on my old grey pants.
I give my spinners a hitch, my belt another jerk;
And by heck I'm ready for another years work.

Record cut at Southwestern Junior College, Keene, TX
Poem told/recorded by Jackie Johnston, circa 1944.

Subject: RE: Origins: Down on the farm, half past four....
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Sep 08 - 09:14 PM

Click here for the Library of Congress listing for the Ian Hoag recording that Dave found. Dave, how'd you get access to it? Is it available for sale, or did you have to go to the Library of Congress?

Now, I have to say that this is the first time in my life that Stewie has led me astray. Taking his advice, I downloaded the John Dilleshaw recording of Farmer's Blues, thinking it was a talking blues version of this song. It's an instrumental - no talking at all.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Origins: Down on the farm, half past four....
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 05 Sep 08 - 09:32 AM

Thanks GUEST for the extra lyrics!

Joe, I ordered the Todd-Sonkin recordings made in New York State (which include Ian Hoag) directly from the Library of Congress. You can order CD copies of most things from their archives, as long as you are using it for your own research purposes and not publishing it or profiting from it in any way. It's just VERY expensive to do so. There is so much more there I'd like to hear, but alas, I can't afford it.

Colleen Cleveland, granddaughter of noted singer Sara Cleveland, is unfortunately in the same position - - she'd like to have access to, and ultimately work with, the hours of recordings of her grandmother that are housed there, but she can't afford it. There's something very wrong with that picture.

Subject: ADD Version: Down on the Farm
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Sep 08 - 02:10 AM

My desk is covered with a stack of books, marked for songs that need posting. Here's one.

The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, vol. 3, page 241, "Down on the Farm," #210.

Notes:
This song about the good old days of childhood is not properly speaking folk song, though it has approached that status in North Carolina; it appears four times in our collection as traditional song A more compelling evidence of its popularity is the fact that it has prompted a parody.
The four regular texts are:
A From W. Amos Abrams of Boone, Watauga County.
B From O. I. Coffey, Shull's Mills, Watauga County.
C From Mrs. Mary Martin Copley, Durham
D From Miss Clara Hearne, Pittsboro, Chatham County.

Since these texts do not differ significantly (except that D is incomplete) it will be sufficient to give one of them, Professor Amrams's.

#210A
Down on the Farm

While a boy I used to dwell in a home I loved so well,
Far away among the clover and the bees;
Where the morning-glory vind round the cabin porch did twine,
Where the robin-redbreast sang among the trees.

CHORUS
Oh, many weary years have passed since I saw the home place last.
And a memory dear steals o'er me like a charm;
Every old familiar place, every kind and loving face,
In my boyhood's happy day down on the farm.

Oh, there's a father old and grey, there's a sister young and gay.
A mother dear to shield us from all harm;
There I spent life's happy hours running wild among the flowers.
In my boyhood's happy days down on the farm.

And today, as I draw near the old home I love so dear.
A stranger comes to meet me at the door;
'Round the place, there's many a change, and the faces all seem strange,
Not a loved one comes to meet me as of yore.

And my mother dear is laid 'neath the old elm tree's quiet shade,
Where the morning's golden sun shines bright and warm;
And it's near the old fireplace there I see a stranger's face
In my father's old arm-chair down on the farm.


no tune available

Subject: ADD Version: Down on the Farm
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Sep 08 - 02:29 AM

OK, so the song we're talking about may be a parody/answer to the song I just posted. Here's the answer version, as found in Brown:

#210E
Down On the Farm

Down on the farm 'bout half past four
I slip on my pants and sneak out the door.
Out in the yard I run like the dickens
To milk all the cows and feed all the chickens,
Clean out the barnyard, curry Rhoda and Jiggs,
Separate the cream and slop all the pigs.
Hustle two hours, then eat like a Turk,
By heck! I am ready for a full day's work.

Then I grease the wagon and put on the rack,
Throw a jug of water in the old grain sack.
I hitch up the mules, slip down the lane—
Must get the hay in, looks like rain.
Look over yonder! Sure's I am born,
Cows on the rampage, hogs in the corn.
Start across the meadow, run a mile or two
Heaving like I am wind—broken, get wet clean through.

Back with the mules; then, for recompense,
Rhoda gets a-straddle the barb-wire fence.
Joints are aching, muscles in a jerk.
Whoop! fit as a fiddle for a full day's work.
Work all the summer till winter is nigh,
Then figure at the bank and heave a big sigh.
Worked all the year, didn't make a thing;
Less cash now than I had last spring.

Some folks say there ain't no hell.
Shucks! They never farmed; how can they tell?
When spring rolls round and I take another chance,
As fuzz grows longer on my old gray pants
Give my galluses a hitch, belt another jerk,
Gosh! I'm ready for a full year's work.


Contributed by Macie Morgan of Stanly County, North Carolina

The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, vol. 3, page 242, "Down on the Farm," #210E.

no tune available

Subject: RE: Origins: Down on the farm, half past four....
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Sep 08 - 02:37 AM

There are three entries in the Traditional Ballad Index:

Down on the Farm (I)

DESCRIPTION: Susie Slick and Tommy lay on the grass, where she wiggles her ---, as in all such teasing songs.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 216-221, "Down on the Farm" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Teasing Songs" (specifically "Suzanne Was a Lady," "The Ship's in the Harbor," "There Once Was a Farmer," "Two Irishmen, Two Irishmen")
cf. "Butcher Town"
File: RL216

---

Down on the Farm (II)

DESCRIPTION: "When a boy I used to dwell in a home I loved so well, Far away among the clover and the bees." The singer describes the happy life on the farm, the family among whom he worked -- and the changes since his "boyhood's happy days down on the farm."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: farming family father mother home death separation return
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 210, "Down on the Farm" (1 text plus mention of 3 more; also a text of "Down on the Farm (III)")
Roud #4375
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Girl I Left in Sunny Tennessee" (theme)
File: Br3210

---

Down on the Farm (III)

DESCRIPTION: "Down on the farm 'bout half past four, I slip on my pants and sneak out the door" to start the long, hard rounds of farm life. He notes that, despite great labors, he has "less cash now than I had last spring." Farm life proves the existence of hell
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: farming work hardtimes poverty
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 210, "Down on the Farm" (The "E" text is this, appended to "Down on the Farm (II)")
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Farmer Is the Man" (theme)
cf. "The Humble Farmer" (theme)
Notes: The notes in Brown imply that this is a parody of "Down on the Farm (II)." It may perhaps be an answer to that song, but it does not appear to be direct parody; the lyrics are not related and the stanza form different. - RBW
File: Br3210A

---

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Bibiography
Go to the Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2007 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

---

If we're lucky, this link (click) will lead you to the texts for Version 1 in Randolph-Legman. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the other two versions.

Subject: RE: Origins: Down on the farm, half past four....
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 12 Sep 08 - 09:28 AM

Thanks Joe!! Frustrating that there has not been another tune found or notated for it. As I mentioned above, Hoag sang it to a strange ascending version of the B part of Turkey in the Straw.

I guess the Traditional Ballad Index third version entry should be revised to reflect the 1941 date and the fact that it has also been found in the NE.

Subject: RE: Origins: Down on the farm, half past four....
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 12 Sep 08 - 05:46 PM

The song makes me so glad I don't live on farm. Work, work, work!

I have a friend who insists her forbears (sp) left the beauty of Kentucky for the factories of Detroit just to escape the unending drudgery of rural life. This song shows something of that.

Subject: RE: Origins: Down on the farm, half past four....
From: GUEST,Ephram87
Date: 30 Mar 21 - 08:34 PM

A friend of my father (His name was Mr. Sperry) used to stop by our house quite regularly in the 1930's (I was born in 1933) and sing the version Joe Offer provided. I can remember begging him to sing it every time he stopped by.
We lived in Connecticut at the time.
So, the song has to be much older than 1940's.

Subject: RE: Origins: Down on the farm, half past four....
From: GUEST,#
Date: 30 Mar 21 - 09:07 PM

http://eservice.pwcgov.org/library/digitallibrary/News-Archive/MJ-1930-1934/MJ_1934_0315.pdf

That link is to The Manassas Journal, Manassas, Virginia. Thursday, March 15, 1934. p.4 (upper right-hand corner).

I got that link from

https://thefarmhousechronicles.wordpress.com/2014/11/15/as-the-story-is-told-a-farmers-life/

so I hope one or the other works for y'all.

Subject: RE: Origins: Down on the farm, half past four....
From: GUEST,#
Date: 31 Mar 21 - 10:21 AM

Please note that "Down On the Farm" is referred to as a poem in the article.