Lyr Req: All Among the Barley

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Lyr Req: All Among the Barley

01 Feb 02 - 01:35 AM (#639846)
Subject: Words req: All Among the Barley
From: Jon Bartlett

Source Req: All Among the Barley

Can anyone provide a provenance for the following piece, heard in Birmingham UK, possibly from MacColl's 'Radio Ballads' collaborator Charles Parker, c. 1969?

All among the barley/ Who would not be blithe/ When the ripe and bearded barley/ Is smiling on the side?

01 Feb 02 - 02:05 AM (#639852)
Subject: Lyr Add: RIPE AND BEARDED BARLEY
From: Amergin

RIPE AND BEARDED BARLEY
Unknown

Come, ye rout, it's now September,
The Hunter's Moon's begun.
And through the wheat and stubble,
We hear the frequent gun.
The leaves are fading yellow,
And burning into red,
While the ripe and bearded barley
Is hangin' down it's head

All amongst the barley,
Who would not be blithe?
When the ripe and bearded barley is
Smilin' on the scythe.
All amongst the barley,
Who would not blithe?
When the ripe and bearded barley is
Smilin' on the scythe.

Wheat is like a rich man,
He's sleek and well-to-do.
The Oats are like a pack of girls,
A thin and dancing crew.
Rye is like a miser,
He's sulky, mean and small,
But the ripe and bearded barley
Is Monarch of them all.

Spring is like a young maid,
who does not know her mind.
The Summer, he's a tyrant
Of the most ungracious kind.
Autumn, he's an old friend,
who pleaseth all he can,
He brings the bearded barley
To glad the heart of men.

The babe it knows no grief nor care.
Safe in its mothers breast.
The grown man, he must strive and strain,
It's seldom he can rest.
The grey beard sits and takes his ease,
Where care no more holds sway.
With pipe, and dog, and clear brown ale,
He dreams the time away.

01 Feb 02 - 04:10 AM (#639869)
Subject: RE: Words req: All Among the Barley
From: nutty

There's a broadside with the words here in the Bodleian Library, printed between 1840 and 1880

ALL AMONG THE BARLEY

01 Feb 02 - 05:22 AM (#639898)
Subject: RE: Words req: All Among the Barley
From: Dave Bryant

You'll also find a version HERE in the DT.

01 Feb 02 - 08:52 AM (#639981)
Subject: RE: Words req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST,MCP

The version commonly heard in the UK is, according to the notes on Johnny Collins' Free And Easy, words from Alfred Williams' Folk Songs Of The Upper Thames and tune put to it by Mike Gabriel.

Mick

01 Feb 02 - 09:40 AM (#640004)
Subject: RE: Words req: All Among the Barley
From: Malcolm Douglas

See also this earlier discussion: Tune Req: All among the barley

Where did you get your text, Amergin? It's longer than the sets I've seen, though Come ye rout is probably a mis-hearing of Come out from somewhere along the line.

A rare traditional set of the song was in the repertoire of the late Walter Pardon of Knapton in Norfolk, and appeared on his posthumous compilation Put a bit of Powder on it, Father... the other songs of Walter Pardon (Musical Traditions MT CD 305-6 )

01 Feb 02 - 12:37 PM (#640090)
Subject: RE: Words req: All Among the Barley
From: nutty

I know of two more verses that have been added but have never heard "the babe" one. Like Malcolm I would be interested in its origins.

01 Feb 02 - 08:14 PM (#640317)
Subject: RE: Words req: All Among the Barley
From: Jon Bartlett

My question is answered - thanks to all who took the trouble to help me! Jon

01 Feb 02 - 08:19 PM (#640318)
Subject: RE: Words req: All Among the Barley
From: Amergin

boy...I don't know...I just got it from doing a google search....the supersearch was not working at the time...i don't think...

01 Feb 02 - 08:22 PM (#640319)
Subject: RE: Words req: All Among the Barley
From: Amergin

Found the site....click here

you'll have to forgive me for anything that may be wrong here....I never heard this song....

18 Oct 07 - 07:38 PM (#2174074)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST,Rodny

Belles of Bedlam do it nice:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/bellesbedlam

18 Oct 07 - 11:09 PM (#2174165)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: mg

-I think it is also on Chris Roe's CD..very nice..mg

19 Oct 07 - 05:16 AM (#2174286)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: Schantieman

I've been singing this song (every September for) a for years now I learned from a Johnny Collins recording..

In V. 1 it must be 'wheaten stubble', not 'wheat and stubble' as by September any farmer worth his subsidy will hare harvested his wheat!

Steve

19 Oct 07 - 05:28 AM (#2174294)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: nutty

The Sheet music is in the Library of Congress Collection dated 1871 and giving credit to Elizabeth Stirling.

The tune is, in places, remarkably similar to the Mike Gabriel one, except that the first two lines of each verse are repeated and the chorus ends ...
"WHEN THE FREE AND HAPPY BARLEY IS SMILING ON THE SCYTHE"

I have "The Fellowship Songbook" printed in 1915 which contains the same version.

19 Oct 07 - 05:47 AM (#2174301)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: Mr Happy

I also do this song in the autumn, September onwards.

I've slightly modified the first line for now we're not in September any more, to ' Come out 'tis gone September, the hunters moon begun'

19 Oct 07 - 05:51 AM (#2174303)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: Mr Happy

I've a tape of a nice version from Len and Barbara Berry - 'Down the Greengroves' [Portway Pedlars]

19 Oct 07 - 08:37 AM (#2174415)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: nutty

Has anyone got a version where the song is sung to the 1871 tune??

19 Oct 07 - 02:50 PM (#2174672)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: Tradsinger

I am not sure what the 1871 tune is but I recorded it on my solo CD, having learnt it from a singing family in Hampshire about 30 years ago. I also collected a Devon version, to a similar tune.

Tradsinger

14 Oct 11 - 07:42 AM (#3238823)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST,Bob the Shantyman

Thanks Amergin for the third verse - a new one on me - although it took a bit of 'fitting and fiddling' to get the tone and the mood right for me to sing. A song with a fascinating history and some interesting notes for the cd liner!

14 Oct 11 - 01:46 PM (#3238965)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST,leeneia

sheet music here:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=sm1870&fileName=sm/sm1871/00600/00667/mussm00667.db&recNum=1&itemLink=S?ammem/mussm:@FILREQ(@OR(@field(AUTHOR+@od1(Stirling,+Elizabeth+))+@field(OTHER+@od1(Stirling,+Elizabeth+)))+@FIELD(COLLID+sm1870))&linkText=0

hope that works!

21 Oct 11 - 09:44 AM (#3242451)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: Jim Dixon

This will also get you there:

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/sm1871.00667

On that page, click "View this item."

21 Oct 11 - 09:50 AM (#3242460)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)

For this and other versions, see my origins thread: Origins: All Among the Barley (Elizabeth Stirling)

Mick

04 Sep 16 - 11:41 PM (#3808400)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST

I've been singing "All Amongst The Barley" every September since 1976. Can someone please give its origin ?

05 Sep 16 - 04:01 AM (#3808417)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan

Hi GUEST

Check out the links in the earlier posts on this thread - they'll bring you to some interesting information on the origins of the song.

Regards

05 Sep 16 - 09:44 AM (#3808452)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST,Julia L

I love how, on the broadside in the LOC, the words are by A.T- good ole Anonymous Trad?
chuckle
J

05 Sep 16 - 12:16 PM (#3808472)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: Jim Carroll

Walter Pardon told us how he learned this when he was at school in the 1910s
Jim Carroll

21 Jan 20 - 03:24 PM (#4029502)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST

I see this answer comes decades too late, but since “nutty“ is interested, I wrote the “the babe, it knows no grief nor care“ verse for “the ripe and bearded barley“ many years ago when I was recording the song with a friend, Christa Burch. We were making an eponymous demo CD (“lintie”) to send out to radio stations to market our duo. It gives me a big kick to see that verse now included with the traditional lyrics on various websites!

Kim Hughes

22 Jan 20 - 08:52 AM (#4029595)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST,patriot

I only looked at this thread because I've just read a wonderful recent book by Melissa Harrison- highly recommended despite Sam Lee being an adviser

25 Jan 20 - 06:56 AM (#4030098)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: Sarah the flute

It's on our Morrigan album Dark Days or Fine

Dark Days or Fine Sample

And another connection is I am good friends with Melissa's sister in the library world!

01 Sep 21 - 07:16 PM (#4118548)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST,Bob the Shantyman

Line 2 of verse 1 seems odd. If there is stubble in the field then the wheat has been cut. Rather than:
"Through the wheat and stubble we hear the frequent gun . . ."
I sing;
"Through the wheaten stubble we hear the frequent gun . . ."
It just makes more sense of the verse.
I first heard the song sung at The Meadow Folk Club in Ironbridge in 1971 - just over fifty years ago, and it has never gone stale. Mind you, given the first line, it only comes out for four weeks of the year.
I thought that it was traditional but sadly it is not.

01 Sep 21 - 08:18 PM (#4118553)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)

If you look at the origins thread I linked above (21 Oct 11 - 09:50 AM ), you'll see that the old printed versions give wheaten.

Mick

04 Sep 21 - 12:39 PM (#4118826)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: leeneia

I glanced at the version posted by Amergin in 2002, and I thought, "Boy, that's a long song!" But actually it isn't. The lyrics print the chorus every time, and the chorus has the same line twice.

I suspect somebody merged two broadsides in it. One broadside talked about barley and the seasons, The other broadside sang of barley and a man's life. If I were singing this to listeners, I would pick one theme or the other.

Little stuff: I think "rout" is correct. A rout is a mob of fleeing soldiers, but I think here is it a playful term meaning "you fellows."
I like the sound of "come out, ye rout"

I agree that that the stubble should be wheaten. I looked up wheat growing, and whether it is planted in the spring or in the fall, wheat is harvested before September.

The barley should be hanging down its head, not it's head.
The baby should be on the breast, not in the breast.

I don't like "smiling on the scythe," but I'm not sure what to do about it.

04 Sep 23 - 06:31 PM (#4180645)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST,Orca the Cat

I heard this song from a couple of girls singing as 'Rowton Cottage' at Bromyard when I was in my early 20's so I have slightly different words to the set with 'kindling' (I have tumbling) I don't know who they were or what happened to them. Among the floor singers we (Silver Myter)hosted at the Falcon were some little known folks like Isla Sinclair, Barbara Dixon and Miriam Backhouse = wonder what happened to them......

04 Sep 23 - 06:31 PM (#4187236)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST,Orca the Cat

I heard this song from a couple of girls singing as 'Rowton Cottage' at Bromyard when I was in my early 20's so I have slightly different words to the set with 'kindling' (I have tumbling) I don't know who they were or what happened to them. Among the floor singers we (Silver Myter)hosted at the Falcon were some little known folks like Isla Sinclair, Barbara Dixon and Miriam Backhouse = wonder what happened to them......

06 Sep 23 - 12:34 AM (#4187237)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST,henryp

Alfred Williams collected The Ripe and Bearded Barley from farm hand Henry Sirman of Stanton Harcourt, and printed it in 1923 in his book Folk-Songs of the Upper Thames. Martin Graebe gave an illustrated talk about Alfred Williams and his song collecting to an appreciative audience at Whitby Folk Week last year. The words of the song are attributed to A.T., and Shan Graebe speculated that A.T. might be Alfred Tennyson.

06 Sep 23 - 12:34 AM (#4180740)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST,henryp

Alfred Williams collected The Ripe and Bearded Barley from farm hand Henry Sirman of Stanton Harcourt, and printed it in 1923 in his book Folk-Songs of the Upper Thames. Martin Graebe gave an illustrated talk about Alfred Williams and his song collecting to an appreciative audience at Whitby Folk Week last year. The words of the song are attributed to A.T., and Shan Graebe speculated that A.T. might be Alfred Tennyson.

06 Sep 23 - 02:16 AM (#4180742)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST,henryp

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among The Barley From: Mick Pearce (MCP) Date: 27 Sep 09 - 02:44 PM

I've finally managed to have a look at Judith Barger's Elizabeth Stirling and the Musical Life of Female Organists in Nineteenth-Century England (thanks Google books). It devotes a large section to the song (as Stirling's most well-known) which tells us some things about the origin of the song.

The question of the prize-winning is, however, dealt with in detail. The prize was in fact for publication by Novello in a Part-Song Book. Novello provided texts to be set in an open competition (1850) and monthly prizes were awarded (seven prizes were awarded in all). The three judges originally awarded the first, second and third prizes to the same composer, Walter Macfarren.

Rather than compromise the scheme in its very infancy, they came to an understanding whereby Miss Elizabeth Stirling was allowed to take the second of the prizes and according to Macfarren's own autobiography and after I had been fortunate enough to win the third prize, I was requested by the publisher not to compete again!

06 Sep 23 - 02:16 AM (#4187238)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: GUEST,henryp

Subject: RE: Origins: All Among The Barley From: Mick Pearce (MCP) Date: 27 Sep 09 - 02:44 PM

I've finally managed to have a look at Judith Barger's Elizabeth Stirling and the Musical Life of Female Organists in Nineteenth-Century England (thanks Google books). It devotes a large section to the song (as Stirling's most well-known) which tells us some things about the origin of the song.

The question of the prize-winning is, however, dealt with in detail. The prize was in fact for publication by Novello in a Part-Song Book. Novello provided texts to be set in an open competition (1850) and monthly prizes were awarded (seven prizes were awarded in all). The three judges originally awarded the first, second and third prizes to the same composer, Walter Macfarren.

Rather than compromise the scheme in its very infancy, they came to an understanding whereby Miss Elizabeth Stirling was allowed to take the second of the prizes and according to Macfarren's own autobiography and after I had been fortunate enough to win the third prize, I was requested by the publisher not to compete again!

07 Sep 23 - 07:54 AM (#4187239)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: Herga Kitty

I finally got round to learning this properly so that I could sing it (to the Mike Gabriel tune, which is how I first heard it, several decades ago) for our first Tuesday song session at the Green Man in Wimborne the evening before last. It always makes me think of Johnny Collins - but then, so do lots of other songs!

Kitty

07 Sep 23 - 07:54 AM (#4180861)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: All Among the Barley
From: Herga Kitty

I finally got round to learning this properly so that I could sing it (to the Mike Gabriel tune, which is how I first heard it, several decades ago) for our first Tuesday song session at the Green Man in Wimborne the evening before last. It always makes me think of Johnny Collins - but then, so do lots of other songs!

Kitty