09 Sep 01 - 05:46 AM (#545550) Subject: HELP-origin of THE FARMER IS THE MAN? From: nutty Last night at the Folk Club someone sang the Farmer is the Man with the introduction that it was a Woody Guthrie song I have been searching the web this morning but can't find any evidence that Guthrie wrote this song ... although I have no doubt that he sang it I would appreciate some help ....THANX |
09 Sep 01 - 07:32 AM (#545565) Subject: RE: HELP-origin of THE FARMER IS THE MAN? From: Fiolar It is a Great Plains folksong dating from the Populist Movement of the 1890s when it first appeared in the "Farmers Alliance" songbook. Hope that helps. |
09 Sep 01 - 08:21 AM (#545573) Subject: RE: HELP-origin of THE FARMER IS THE MAN? From: wysiwyg I believe Ry Cooder has recorded it. ~S~ |
09 Sep 01 - 09:56 AM (#545610) Subject: RE: HELP-origin of THE FARMER IS THE MAN? From: masato sakurai The Traditional Ballad Index says:
Farmer Is the Man, TheDESCRIPTION: A description of the life of the farmer, "the man who feeds them all." He comes to town "with his wagon broken down" and "lives on credit till the fall." At last he comes to town with his crop -- and loses the profit to the bankAUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (recording, Fiddlin' John Carson) KEYWORDS: farming work poverty commerce money FOUND IN: US(MW) REFERENCES (11 citations): Randolph 492, "The Farmer, He Must Feed Them All" (1 text) Sandburg, pp. 282-283, "The Farmer" (1 text, 1 tune) Scott-BoA, pp. 267-269, "The Farmer is the Man" (1 text, 1 tune) Lomax-FSNA 66, "The Farmer is the Man" (1 text, 1 tune) Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 879-880, "The Farmer Comes to Town" (1 text, 1 tune) Arnett, pp. 120-121, "The Farmer Is the Man" (1 text, 1 tune) Darling-NAS, pp. 360-361, "The Farmer Is the Man" (1 text) PSeeger-AFB, p. 57, "The Farmer Is The Man" (1 text, 1 tune) Greenway-AFP, p. 213, "The Farmer Is the Man" (1 text) Silber-FSWB, p. 118, "The Farmer Is The Man" (1 text) DT, FARMERIS* Roud #5062 RECORDINGS: Fiddlin' John Carson, "The Farmer Is The Man That Feeds Them" (Okeh 40071, 1924) Frank Wheeler & Monroe Lamb, "The Farmer Feeds Them All" (Victor 23537, 1931; Montgomery Ward M-4334, 1933) Pete Seeger, "The Farmer is the Man" (on PeteSeeger13) (on PeteSeeger23) CROSS-REFERENCES: cf. "Down on the Farm (III)" (theme) cf. "The Humble Farmer" (theme) SAME TUNE: Fiddlin' John Carson, "Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All" (Montgomery Ward M-4848, 1935) New Lost City Ramblers, "Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All" (on NLCR09) Notes: Although there is no firm authorship information, this song is thought to date from the populist movement of the 1890s. - (PJS) Sounds logical to me. Greenway, however, dates it to the period after the Civil War. - RBW "Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All" is a variant form of "Farmer is the Man"; the message and words are close enough that I have lumped them as one song. - PJS File: San282 Go to the Ballad Search form The Ballad Index Copyright 2004 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle. Masato |
09 Sep 01 - 10:24 AM (#545630) Subject: RE: HELP-origin of THE FARMER IS THE MAN? From: Stewie Since Fiddlin' John Carson recorded it in 1923, the earliest date in the Traditional Ballad Index is wrong. Gene Wiggins, Carson's biographer, says the song appears to be a 19th century outgrowth of the Grange Movement. The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, formed in 1867, was a network of local organisations, employing cooperative practices and advocating 'granger' laws. The movement petered out in the late 1870s. In 1934, the song was revised by Fiddlin' John to fit Gene Talmadges's ideas about too much taxation and too much welfare and became 'Taxes on the farmer feeds them all'. --Stewie. |
09 Sep 01 - 11:12 AM (#545653) Subject: ADD: The Farmer Feeds Us All (Knowles Shaw) From: Malcolm Douglas Earliest dates at the Traditional Ballad Index are just the earliest known at the time of compiling, and are intended as a rough guide only.
THE FARMER FEEDS US ALL |
12 Oct 04 - 03:26 PM (#1295436) Subject: RE: HELP-origin of THE FARMER IS THE MAN? From: GUEST,katie@cherryvalley.com look in the 19th century Patrons of Husbandry Songbooks - or Grange Melodies from 1911 and you will see the Knowles Shaw version of The Farmer Feeds Us All. Probaby sung with great gusto at Grange meetings across the US. |
13 Oct 04 - 08:14 AM (#1296052) Subject: RE: HELP-origin of THE FARMER IS THE MAN? From: masato sakurai "The Farmer Is The Man That Feeds Them All" : Fiddlin' John Carson is at Honkingduck. |
13 Oct 04 - 04:58 PM (#1296362) Subject: RE: HELP-origin of THE FARMER IS THE MAN? From: GUEST,Wesley S at Home I just picked up a new CD by Don Edwards - a cowboy singer from Texas. It's called "Last Of The Troubadours". It contains version of the song called "The Rancher Feeds Us All". I havn't had a chance to compare the lyrics side by side but my memory tells me there were very few changes made to "westernize" this song. He lists the author as Trad. This is a great CD by the way. If you've even thought you might be interested in cowboy music this would be a great place to start. Thirty two songs - twenty of them trad. On four of the songs he's assisted by Norman and Nancy Blake. The rest of them are just Don and his guitar. Highly recommended. |
13 Oct 04 - 05:27 PM (#1296391) Subject: RE: HELP-origin of THE FARMER IS THE MAN? From: GUEST,denise :^) --cookieless at work! I had that song on a Pete Seeger album of "Folksongs for Children" (Folkways -- 1950's? 60's?) I bought it from an educational catalog, when I first started teaching kindergarten (1984). Yep, we still had *albums* back then. I know Smithsonian has taken over Folkways; wonder if this recording is still available? denise :^) |
14 Oct 04 - 05:24 PM (#1297216) Subject: RE: Origins: The Farmer Is the Man From: GUEST,MurkeyChris Julie Murphy has rewritten this song as 'The Farmer (A Love Song)' on her stunning album, 'Black Mountains Revisited' (Beautiful Jo). It's great. (he he this sounds like a poorly concealed plug, but I'm just a fan!) |
15 Oct 04 - 07:39 AM (#1297719) Subject: RE: Origins: The Farmer Is the Man From: Splott Man Funnily enough I sang it last night at a Resonator gig. My source was Ry Cooder, but I know Dave Burland also used to do it. It's a song that's been changed and adapted many times over the years to suit the changing (or not) fortunes of farmers. |
26 Sep 05 - 03:28 PM (#1571019) Subject: RE: Origins: The Farmer Is the Man From: GUEST,Larry L. Stout Knowles Shaw, the writer of "The Farm is the Man that Feeds Us All," grew up and preached his first sermon in our church, Big Flatrock Christian, Rushville, Indiana, before going on to world fame as "The Singing Evangelist". Several years ago I located the sheet music of this song without the chorus. Then I came across this site and found the chorus as well as the words. Reference is made that they were found in "The Century of Song," Vol. II, comp. Adam Geibal (Philadelphia 1897). I lucked out and found Vol. 1 & II on eBay and purchased them. I was disappointed today when they arrived and this song was not in either book. And these are the original books in great condition but worthless to me without this song included. What gives? |
26 Sep 05 - 04:43 PM (#1571045) Subject: RE: Origins: The Farmer Is the Man From: Malcolm Douglas What gives, I'm afraid, is that I mis-read the title page when I posted the words four years ago. The printers had evidently used the volume II block, adding an extra "I" to re-use it for volume III. It was out of line with the "II", though, and I think I must have taken it at the time for a printing glitch. I haven't seen the other two volumes. Although I'm sure you'll grow to appreciate the other two volumes in time (and it's always wisest to check contents listings with ebay sellers before committing, to be on the safe side), I can appreciate your disappointment. If you'd like to send me your email address, I'll happily send you scans of the two pages concerned. I can be reached at webmaster@folk-network.com |
28 Oct 09 - 12:50 PM (#2754198) Subject: RE: Origins: The Farmer Is the Man From: GUEST,Cathy Statz You might be interested to know that this song (or a version of it) is still sung at Farmers Union (www.nfu.org) meetings around the country, especially at our summer camp programs which teach kids about the values of family farm agriculture, rural sustainability and cooperative endeavors. |
28 Oct 09 - 01:06 PM (#2754208) Subject: RE: Origins: The Farmer Is the Man From: IanC It would be interesting to look at the parallels between this song and the English traditional song The Painful Plough. :-) |
28 Oct 09 - 01:11 PM (#2754210) Subject: RE: Origins: The Farmer Is the Man From: meself "around the country" Always nice to know which country ... ? |
28 Oct 09 - 01:18 PM (#2754213) Subject: RE: Origins: The Farmer Is the Man From: Q (Frank Staplin) Gee, meself. You should know- THE country is meant! (Ducking the swinging cricket bats) |
28 Oct 09 - 01:21 PM (#2754215) Subject: RE: Origins: The Farmer Is the Man From: doc.tom And even more interesting to look at the paralels with The Three Alls (or The Five Alls, or The Seven Alls). Pub names from the same sentiment. 3-alls recorded by George Dunn a four hundred-year old rhyme with a music-hall tune? |
28 Oct 09 - 01:37 PM (#2754226) Subject: RE: Origins: The Farmer Is the Man From: doc.tom Damn it! - can't spell "parallels" |
19 Oct 10 - 11:02 PM (#3011202) Subject: RE: Origins: The Farmer Is the Man From: GUEST,Cathy Statz Revised message: You might be interested to know that this song (or a version of it) is still sung at Farmers Union (www.nfu.org) meetings around the United States, especially at our summer camp programs which teach kids about the values of family farm agriculture, rural sustainability and cooperative endeavors. (forgive me for not stating *which* country earlier; most prior postings were to US references, so I was simply following suit). |
19 Oct 10 - 11:13 PM (#3011204) Subject: RE: Origins: The Farmer Is the Man From: GUEST,Babypix Great, informative thread, Gentle Colleagues. Mudcat at its best. Bravo! Deborah |