Origins: Oats Peas Beans and Barley

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Origins: Oats Peas Beans and Barley

20 Jan 07 - 01:34 PM (#1942598)
Subject: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: black walnut

I love this version, the one I found in DigiTrad. Can anyone tell me more about the verses?

~b.w.

OATS, PEAS, BEANS AND BARLEY GROW

Oats, peas, beans and barley grow
Oats, peas, beans and barley grow
Can you or I or anyone know
Why oats, peas, beans and barley grow.

Come my love and go with me (3x)
And I will take good care of thee.

You are too young, you are not fit (3x)
You cannot leave your mother yet.

You're old enough, you're just about right (3x)
I asked your mother last Saturday night.

Note: The first verse, as I recall, was in the Original Mother
Goose (late 18th century); the others were encountered (along
with the first) in Kentucky in the 1930s. RG
@playparty @kids

20 Jan 07 - 01:42 PM (#1942607)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Peace

www.agclassroom.org/teacher/pdf/prairie/prek_1/song.pdf

I don't know how to hot-link PDF files. If that doesn't work, try a google of

OATS, PEAS, BEANS AND BARLEY GROW

It's the one at the top of that page.

20 Jan 07 - 01:45 PM (#1942611)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Peace

Oats Peas Beans and Barley Grow

(c)1992, Adapted by Judy and David Gershon (SOCAN)

Oats, peas, beans and barley grow
Oats, peas, beans and barley grow
Can you or I or anyone know
How oats, peas, beans and barley grow

Karen, Sue and Charley grow
Horses teeth and my big toe
Can you or I or anyone know
'Bout all the things that grow and grow

Oats, peas, beans....

Why should I eat them? I am not a horse.

Oats, peas, beans...

Can you or I or anyone know how oats, peas, beans and barley grow.

20 Jan 07 - 01:49 PM (#1942613)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Peace

And another view of the song . . . .

20 Jan 07 - 01:55 PM (#1942617)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Jim Lad

A similar version of this is played as a children's circle song in parts of Scotland.

20 Jan 07 - 02:03 PM (#1942624)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Peace

From the folk index.

20 Jan 07 - 02:23 PM (#1942647)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Goose Gander

Here are some references from the Roud Index, there are 64 total from all over the UK and North America. I can post some more lyrics later on today or tomorrow . . .

OATS PEAS BEANS AND BARLEY GROWS
Arnold, Folksongs of Alabama (1950) p.135

OATS AND BEANS
Broadwood, English County Songs (1893) p.87 (Lincolnshire, England)

OATS AND BEANS
Gomme & Sharp, Children's Singing Games 1 (1909) pp.16-18 (England)

OATS PEAS BEANS AND BARLEY GROWS
Botkin, American Play-Party Song (1937) pp.254-255 (Oklahoma)

THUS THE FARMER SOWS HIS SEED
Wolford, Play-Party in Indiana (Rev. edn.) pp.211-212

Roud 1380

20 Jan 07 - 02:27 PM (#1942652)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Supposed to be an old planting rhyme.
William Wells Newell, 1883, "Games and Songs of American Children," said it is a favorite in France, Provence, Spain, Italy, Sicily, Germany and Sweden but is "unknown in Great Britain." Known to Froissart (b. 1337) and Rabelais (B. 1483).
The game from New York:

The ring circles, singing, about a child in the centre-
Oats, pease, beans and barley grows,
Oats, pease, beans and barley grows;
How you nor I, nor nobidy knows,
Oats, pease, beans and barley grows.

The children now pause, and sing with appropriate gestures-
Thus the farmer sows his seed,
Stands erect and takes his ease,
Stamps his foot, and claps his hands,
And turns about to view his lands.

Waiting for a partner,
Waiting for a partner,
Open the ring and take her in,
And kiss her when you get her in.

The boy selects a girl, and the two kneel in the ring and salute-
Now you're married, you must obey,
You must be true to all you say,
You must be kind, you must be good,
And make your husband chop the wood.

Newell says the basic game is fairly constant, but there is "an amatory chorus," which varies greatly-
And now you're married in Hymen's band,
You must obey your wife's command;
You must obey your constant good,
And keep your wife in hickory wood-
Split the wood and carry it in, (2x)
And then she'll let you kiss her again.

He gives some variant lines, and discusses French, German and other versions.

Black walnut, hope this helps. I hope more are posted.
It does appear in some 'Mother Goose', but apparently only late compilations.

20 Jan 07 - 04:18 PM (#1942726)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Peace

Thus the Farmer Sows (Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley)

You can hear Mrs. Russell Vaughn singing it. Recorded in Memphis, TN. The song requires Windows Media Player. It's 1:07 long.

20 Jan 07 - 04:23 PM (#1942731)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Peace

He repeated other songs reminiscent of work in the fields and of old country games--

We are on our way to Baltimore
With two behind and two before,
Around, around, around we go,
Where oats, peas, beans, and barley grow,

In waiting for somebody. (A kiss)

'Tis thus the farmer sows his seed,
Folds his arms and takes his ease,
Stamps his feet and claps his hands,
Wheels around and thus he stands,

In waiting for somebody. (A kiss)

from

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/rourke/ch02.html

20 Jan 07 - 04:30 PM (#1942738)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Peace

OATS, PEAS, BEANS

A circle is formed. One player stands in the center. After singing the
first four lines, all drop their hands. After this they imitate the
motions suggested by the song. At the end of the verse they turn around
several times, and then, joining hands, sing the chorus, standing
still, for the last two lines. Then the one in the center chooses "one
in," and returns herself to the circle. The game goes on as before.

Oats, peas, beans and barley grows,
Oats, peas, beans and barley grows,
Nor you nor I nor nobody knows,
How oats, peas, beans and barley grows,

Thus the farmer sows his seed, Thus he stands and takes his ease,
Stamps his foot and clasps his hands, And turn around to view his
lands.

A-waiting for a partner, A-waiting for a partner, So open the ring and
choose one in, Make haste and choose your partner.

Now you're married you must obey.
You must be true to all you say.
You must be kind, you must be good,
And keep your wife in kindling wood.

Project Gutenberg

20 Jan 07 - 04:31 PM (#1942741)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Peace

"music: A+A+ B+D

This scheme is found not only in "The Farmer in the Dell" but also in "Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley Grow," "If you're Happy and You Know It," and the second half of "New River Train." In "Who Stole My Chickens and My Hens," the same scheme appears with the single difference that the second A is transposed downward rather than upward (Sally, 6, 41; Ring, 187; Sally, 164). Beyond these five songs, one should note that the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell" is used with the texts of "I With I Wath a Fith" and "AHunting We Will Go" (with the last a of the text replaced by a c) (Sally, 291, 32). It also appears as the melody for "Sally Go Round the Sun," "The Grand Old Duke of York," "Somebody's Under the Bed," and "A Sailor Went to Sea" where the textual form is A + B C + D in each case (Sally, 1, 33, 79, 146). This brings the total of English-Canadian children's songs belonging to the stereotyped pattern to at least eleven. In each instance the implied harmonies are I, IV, and V(7).

As one traces the distribution of this form, one finds some interesting patterns. "The Farmer in the Dell" appears with much the same text and tune (in this case rendered as AABC) in Britain.29 The texts of some songs sung to the Farmer in the Dell tune used in Canada are found in Britain but not necessarily sung to the same tune.30 "Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley Grow" is sung in Britain to much more complex tunes. In one version, a couple of verses have the AA + BC form. The only other use of this form in Britain appears to be for "What Are Little Boys Made Of."3'

In the United States, "The Farmer in the Dell" and "Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow" are sung to the same tune as in Canada,32 and other songs such as Woody Guthrie's "Put Your Finger In the Air" (copyright 1954), "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain," and the song "Happy Birthday To You" (copyright/ 1935) have used a similar form as well.33 In short, though it might have originated in Britain with songs such as "The Farmer in the Dell" and "Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley Grow," the stereotyped form seems to have taken firmer hold in the U.S. and Canada where new texts and tunes have continued to be created according to the mold. Nothing of what is known about the form's distribution and chronology suggests an origin any earlier than the nineteenth century."

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:sZbIMc1qX0kJ:cjtm.icaap.org/content/9/v9art5.html+OATS,+PEAS,+BEANS&hl=en&gl=ca&ct=clnk&cd=9

20 Jan 07 - 04:39 PM (#1942751)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Peace

Oats, peas, beans and barley grow
Oats, peas, beans and barley grow
You nor I but the farmers know
Where oats, peas, beans and barley grow.

Thus the farmer sows his seed,
Thus he stands and takes his ease,
Stamps his foot, and claps his hands,
And whirls around to view his lands.

Sure as grass grows in the field
Down on this carpet you must kneel,
Salute your true love, kiss her sweet,
And rise again upon your feet.

from

here.

20 Jan 07 - 04:43 PM (#1942755)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Peace

Dang, but this song/rhyme is ubiqitis/youbikquitus/ubickwetous/ all ove the place, huh?

20 Jan 07 - 05:23 PM (#1942787)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: black walnut

Quite the song and thanks for all the renditions. I'm especially interested in the ones I posted above however...perhaps I missed it in the middle of the many responses, but I am wondering if anyone knows more perhaps of the origins of the version I mentioned?

~b.w.

20 Jan 07 - 05:24 PM (#1942788)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Joybell

I re-wrote a version of this chant for last year's Pantomime - my version of "Jack and the Beanstalk". Dame trott thew the magic beans into the garden and went to bed. Faerie types circled them chanting:

Peas and Beans and Barley Chant

Where the peas and beans and barley grow.
Where the peas and beans and barley grow.
Ho di hi di ho de ho
Where the peas and beans and barley grow.

Where the magic beans in the moonlight sleep
We'll watch all night and a vigil keep
Where the cows all moo and the chickens cheep
We'll stay awake by counting sheep.

One of the characters then remaked that the last bit seemed "a quaint Cornish custom - how does that work then?"

Cheers, Joy

20 Jan 07 - 05:30 PM (#1942794)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Peace

"27. COME, MY LOVE

Contributed by Robert Berger of Montgomery County, and known to two in the rhetoric class.

1. |: Come, my love, and go with me, :| (three times)
And we'll be married on Friday O.

2. |: I am too young, I am not fit, :| (three times)
I cannot leave my mamma yet.

3. |: Oh, yes, you are, you are just right, :| (three times)
You'll be sixteen to-morrow night.

4. |: If that be so, then I will go, :| (three times)
And we'll be married on Friday O.

5. |: Now you're married, you must be good, :| (three times)
Go and chop your wife some wood.

6. |: Chop it fine and carry it in, :| (three times)
And she will kiss you once again.

Other stanzas are composed spontaneously, all sorts of tasks being assigned."

from

http://missourifolkloresociety.truman.edu/hamilton.html

20 Jan 07 - 05:35 PM (#1942796)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Peace

Maybe what's in the DT is a conflation of two songs.

20 Jan 07 - 05:38 PM (#1942800)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Peace

COME MY LOVE

(1)Come, my love, and go with me,
Come, my love, and go with me,
Come, my love, and go with me,
And I will take good care of thee.

(2)You are too young, you are not fit,
You are too young, you are not fit,
You are too young, you are not fit,
You cannot leave your mother "yit."

(3) You're old enough, you're just about
right, (etc.)
I'll ask your mother next Saturday
night.

Formation: Double circle facing counterclockwise, with boys on inside. Hands may be crossed, skating style. Extra boys (or girls) in the middle.

(1) Partners march in time to music.
(2)Partners drop hands, boys reverse directions and girls continue in the same direction. Extra players join in.
(3)Boys take new partners and swing them. Those without partners go to the center and repeat from beginning with new partners.

from

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:TX8ZcRmosS8J:thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/fa78j.htm+%

20 Jan 07 - 05:55 PM (#1942807)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: black walnut

Holy smokes...this is fantastic stuff. Thank you eversomuch!!

And Joybell, that's pretty darned lovely.
~b.w.

20 Jan 07 - 06:31 PM (#1942841)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Alice B. Gomme, 1894-1898, "The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland," vol. 2, pp. 1-13, gives eighteen examples of the game, collected from eight shires and the Isles of Wight and Man. Newell's comment about the absence of the game in the UK was wrong; especially since some versions are very close to those collected in northeastern U. S.
Not much point in posting the Gomme verses, but two scores are given, one for a Shropshire version, the other from Norfolk. Differences in the conduct of the game also are interesting.

The verses given by black walnut are not in Newell or Gomme. They may be indigenous to the Kentucky area or to the West.

20 Jan 07 - 06:50 PM (#1942855)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Goose Gander

OATS, PEAS, BEANS, AND BARLEY GROWS

Oats, peas, beans and barley grows
Oats, peas, beans and barley grows
You nor I nor anyone knows
Where oats, peas, beans, and barley grows

Thus the farmer sows his seed
Thus he stands and takes his ease
He stomps his feet and claps his hand
And turns around to view the land

I'm waiting for a pardner
I'm waiting for a pardner
So open the ring and choose me in
And kiss her as she enters in

You must be good, you must be kind
You must be good, you must be kind
You must be good, you must be kind
Take your kiss and walk away

Source:
Pansy Richardson, collected by Byron Arnold in Folksongs of Alabama (University, Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1950), p. 135

Notes:
"This is a ring game. The child who is 'It' is in the center of the ring. All go through the motions as indicated in the song. The one in the middle chooses a partner."

20 Jan 07 - 07:22 PM (#1942888)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Crops mentioned in the UK games are: Oats, beans, barley, wheat, groats and hops; pease (peas) not mentioned as such.
Wheat is mentioned in only two counties, Staffordshire and Isle of Wight- in the past, wheat was an exceptional crop, village people living on oatmeal and barley bread.
Gomme's III from Northants is interesting, possibly old, but the spelling is not explained.
III.
Does you or I, or anie one knowe
Where oates and beanes and barlie growe?
Where oates and beanes and barlie growe?
The farmer comes and sowes ye seede,
Then he stands and takes hys ease,
Stamps hys foote, and slappes hys hand,
Stamps hys foote, and slappes hys hand,
And turnes hym rounde to viewe ye land.

Waiting for a partner,
Waitng for a partner,
Open the ringe and take mee in,
Make haste and choose youre partner.

Now you're married you must obey,
Must be true to alle you saye,
Must bee kinde and verle goode,
And helpe your wife to choppe ye woode.

Perhaps a game of the fairs, before it came down to children.

20 Jan 07 - 07:28 PM (#1942893)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Goose Gander

Good stuff, Q.

21 Jan 07 - 12:43 AM (#1943011)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Joe Offer

Here's the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index:

Oats and Beans

DESCRIPTION: Playparty ."Oats, (peas/and), beans, and barley grow... Do you or I or anyone know... How oats and beans and barley grow." The farmer plants the seed and waits for harvest; young couples marry and must obey each other.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1898 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: playparty marriage farming
FOUND IN: Britain(England(All))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Linscott, pp. 46-47, "On the Green Carpet" (1 text, 1 tune, which seems to mix "Green Carpet" and "Oats and Beans)
DT, OATSBEAN (OATSPEAS*)
Roud #1380
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Oats, Peas, Beans
Oats and Beans and Barley Grow
Notes: Gomme has a table (Volume II, p. 11) showing the distribution of the various crops: Oats, beans, barley, wheat, groats, hops. The second Digital Tradition version comes close to the status of parody. - RBW
File: DToatsbe

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

from Joe Offer: For the sake of completeness, here is the other Digital Tradition version, which is quite different:

Peace says he sees two songs "conflated" here - apparently a combination of "Oats: and "Come, my love, and go with me" - I dunno. They seem like more-or-less the same song to me. Now, the Ballad Index says that Linscott 'conflates' "Oats" and "Green Carpet." I can never find Linscott because it's a skinny book. Anybody have it, and can you post the version from Linscott?
Oh, and is the John-and-Tony version available on CD, or could John come over and expain it to us?

As a kid in Detroit in the 1950's, I learned:

That's it - no verses. Who needs verses? Verses are for GIRLS.

-Joe-

21 Jan 07 - 12:53 PM (#1943345)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: black walnut

LOL!

~b.w. (a girl)

21 Jan 07 - 01:13 PM (#1943369)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: oggie

The version I know from Lincolnshire is similar to Joe's but with a shorter refrain;-

Oats and beans and barley grows
As you and I and everyone knows
For oats and beans and barley grows
As you and I and everyone knows
Waiting for a partner

First the farmer sows the seed
Then He stands and takes his ease
Stamps his foot and claps his hand
And turns around to view the land
Waiting for a partner

Do you want a partner?
Do you want a partner?
For if you do, you must be true
And choose him very shortly
Waiting for a partner

Now you're married, you must obey
You must be true to all you say
You must be kind, you must be good
And help your wife to chop the wood.
Waiting for a partner

In the local accent (if you ever see Brian Dawson he does it brilliantly, or used to anyway) the first line becomes

Whuts and bee-yans and barley grow-us

Likewise 'partner' is sung 'par-ten-er' which also helps it scan to the tune.

all the best

oggie

21 Jan 07 - 01:51 PM (#1943410)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: John MacKenzie

Used to be a skipping rhyme when I was a kid that started.

Peas beans and barley brose.

Possibly the same roots?

G.

21 Jan 07 - 04:31 PM (#1943564)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: black walnut

Pun intended?
~b.w.

21 Jan 07 - 04:41 PM (#1943574)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Rasener

I remember having to listen to that song so often by Barney that purple dinosaur.

Mind you it grew on me :-)

21 Jan 07 - 06:57 PM (#1943666)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: The Fooles Troupe

Speak not that name, lest that Devil appear!

21 Jan 07 - 07:22 PM (#1943685)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Oggie, thanks for posting the pronunciations. It's nice to know where at least some of them come from. 'Partener' occurs in the States as well. And of course some southerners are teased because they say be-ans, etc. All just about disappeared, however.

Barney? I still can sing a line or two of Barney Google. Is there another?

22 Jan 07 - 04:49 PM (#1944707)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: black walnut

Yes, Oggie...that's a wonderful post. Details like that are fascinating!

~b.w.

17 Feb 07 - 11:19 AM (#1970681)
Subject: RE: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: black walnut

Read through this post again. Excellent. This is what makes the Mudcat so wonderful. What a resource we all are!

~b.w.

26 Oct 08 - 07:40 AM (#2476357)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: Mr Happy

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=OpnNpohwVn0

22 Apr 12 - 07:16 PM (#3341898)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Oats Peas Beans and Barley
From: GUEST,sarah

from an Sept 7, 1843 article in the Wisconsin Democrat (Green Bay) newspaper:

"A Strong Joke. - A young gentleman named Wise, in Clearfield Co. P. attended a militia training about two months since and in the evening joined the diversions of a "kissing party," which the old plays of "Marching to Quebec" "Oats peas, beans and barley grows," &c &c were part of the innocent entertainment..."