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There were three men came out of the west, their fortunes for to try
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn must die
They've plowed, they've sown, they've harrowed him in
Threw clods upon his head
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn was dead
They've let him lie for a very long time, 'til the rains from heaven did fall
And little Sir John sprung up his head and so amazed them all
They've let him stand 'til midsummer's day 'til he looked both pale and wan
And little Sir John's grown a long long beard and so become a man
They've hired men with their scythes so sharp to cut him off at the knee
They've rolled him and tied him by the way, serving him most barbarously
They've hired men with their sharp pitchforks who've pricked him to the heart
And the loader he has served him worse than that
For he's bound him to the cart
They've wheeled him around and around a field 'til they came onto a pond
And there they made a solemn oath on poor John Barleycorn
They've hired men with their crabtree sticks to cut him skin from bone
And the miller he has served him worse than that
For he's ground him between two stones
And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl and his brandy in the glass
And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl proved the strongest man at last
The huntsman he can't hunt the fox nor so loudly to blow his horn
And the tinker he can't mend kettle or pots without a little barleycorn
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn must die
They've plowed, they've sown, they've harrowed him in
Threw clods upon his head
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn was dead
They've let him lie for a very long time, 'til the rains from heaven did fall
And little Sir John sprung up his head and so amazed them all
They've let him stand 'til midsummer's day 'til he looked both pale and wan
And little Sir John's grown a long long beard and so become a man
They've hired men with their scythes so sharp to cut him off at the knee
They've rolled him and tied him by the way, serving him most barbarously
They've hired men with their sharp pitchforks who've pricked him to the heart
And the loader he has served him worse than that
For he's bound him to the cart
They've wheeled him around and around a field 'til they came onto a pond
And there they made a solemn oath on poor John Barleycorn
They've hired men with their crabtree sticks to cut him skin from bone
And the miller he has served him worse than that
For he's ground him between two stones
And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl and his brandy in the glass
And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl proved the strongest man at last
The huntsman he can't hunt the fox nor so loudly to blow his horn
And the tinker he can't mend kettle or pots without a little barleycorn
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IMO, the reference to "barley" refers to young people & the hope the 3 men (adults in modern parlance) had refers to their outlook on their children growing up. WHen they see just how their "plan" isn't working they decide "John Barleycorn must die", but it's not that easy. Even in worst-case scenarios, potential can be found & the men takle a different path & cultivate the "barley" (youth) for another purpose. Their plan works, as least as far as they can see, and now accept/tolerate/deal with whatever they produced in their children. However, all is not "right" with the World in their "eyes" & they swear the next time, they'll do things differently.
Of course I may be reading too deeply into this, but HEY, I grew up in that era, so maybe I'M the one that isn't "right" in the head.........
Scholar Kathleen Herbert draws a link between Beowa (a mythical figure stemming from Anglo-Saxon paganism that appears in early Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies whose name means "barley") and the figure of John Barleycorn. Herbert says that Beowa and Barleycorn are one and the same, noting that the folksong details the suffering, death and resurrection of Barleycorn, yet also celebrates the "reviving effects of drinking his blood."
Barleycorn, the personification of the barley, encounters great suffering before succumbing to an unpleasant death. However, as a result of this death alcohol can be produced; therefore, Barleycorn dies so that others may live. Finally his body will be drunk as the alcohol. A popular hymn, "We Plough the Fields and Scatter", is often sung at Harvest Festival to the same tune.
On the other hand, in their notes to the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs (London, 1959), editors A L Lloyd and Ralph Vaughan Williams ponder whether the ballad is "an unusually coherent folklore survival" or "the creation of an antiquarian revivalist, which has passed into popular currency and become 'folklorized'". It is in any case, they note, "an old song", with printed versions dating as far back as the sixteenth century.
Countless versions of this song exist. A Scottish poem with a similar theme, Quhy Sowld Nocht Allane Honorit Be, is included in the Bannatyne Manuscript of 1568 and English broadside versions from the 17th century are common. Robert Burns published his own version in 1782, and modern versions abound. Burns's version makes the tale somewhat mysterious and, although not the original, it became the model for most subsequent versions of the ballad.
Burns's version begins:
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
John Barleycorn
There was three kings into the east,
Three kings both great and high,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should die.
An early English version runs thus:
There was three men come out o' the west their fortunes for to try,
And these three men made a solemn vow, John Barleycorn must die,
They ploughed, they sowed, they harrowed him in, throwed clods upon his head,
And these three men made a solemn vow, John Barleycorn was dead.
Earlier versions resemble Burns's only in personifying the barley, and sometimes in having the barley be foully treated or murdered by various artisans. Burns' version, however, omits their motives. In an early seventeenth century version, the mysterious kings of Burns's version were in fact ordinary men laid low by drink, who sought their revenge on John Barleycorn for that offence:
Sir John Barley-Corn fought in a Bowl,
who won the Victory,
Which made them all to chafe and swear,
that Barley-Corn must dye.
Another early version features John Barleycorn's revenge on the miller:
Mault gave the Miller such a blow,
That from his horse he fell full low,
He taught him his master Mault for to know
you neuer saw the like sir.
Many versions of the song have been recorded, most notably by Traffic, whose 1970 album John Barleycorn Must Die is named after the song. The song has also been recorded by Fire + Ice, Gae Bolg, Bert Jansch, The John Renbourn Group, Pentangle, Finest Kind, Martin Carthy, Roy Bailey, Martyn Bates in collaboration with Max Eastley, the Watersons, Steeleye Span, Jethro Tull, Joe Walsh, Fairport Convention, The Minstrels of Mayhem, Galley Beggar, Donnybrook Fair, Oysterband, Frank Black, Chris Wood, Quadriga Consort, Maddy Prior, Heather Alexander, Leslie Fish, Tim van Eyken, Barry Dransfield and many other performers. Jack London gave the title John Barleycorn to his 1913 autobiographical novel that tells of his struggle with alcoholism. The song is also a central part of Simon Emmerson's The Imagined Village project. Martin and Eliza Carthy perform the song alongside Paul Weller on The Imagined Village album. Billy Bragg sang in Weller's place on live performances. Rock Guitarist Joe Walsh covered the song live in 2007 as a tribute to Jim Capaldi.
In the 1973 horror film The Wicker Man (1973 film), a Scottish Policeman played by Edward Woodward searches for a missing child on the west Scottish island of Summerisle, which is populated by modern-day Pagans who engage in various Celtic rituals, one of which is the baking of barley bread into the figure of a man known as John Barleycorn, who is referred to by the baker as "The life of the fields".
It was traditional for one person to sing the verses (or a different person each time singing a verse) then all join in with the rousing Chorus.
Because of its length it was most often sung in the interval on 'non-open mike nights' when the club had a single headline act, such as Tim Hart and Maddie Prior (before they became part of Steeleye) or Noel Murphy (the first person I ever heard say the line to a young girl in the room: 'If I said you have a beautiful body would you hold it against me',long before it was made famous as a song. He also sang the shortest recorded song in the world, but that's another story)or The Yetties (before they too became too big an act for a small folk club to afford to book them).
The verses tended to be sung in quite doleful fashion whilst in complete contrast the chorus would be sung with great gusto. All the verses, plus the chorus in between, would usually take up all or most of the interval, so always proved a very popular way to 'fill the gap' before the headline act returned for their closing set.
They have worked their will on John Barleycorn
But he lived to tell the tale;
For they pour him out of an old brown jug,
And they call him home-brewed ale!
Here's Little Sir John in a nut-brown bowl,
And brandy in a glass!
And Little Sir John in the nut-brown bowl
Proved the stronger man at last!
For the huntsman he can't hunt the fox
Nor loudly blow his horn,
And the tinker can't mend kettles nor pots
Without John Barleycorn!
Presuming this is a "traditional" tune, it's a good example of a folk tune with cosmic significance.
At the heart of it is the view that the world we inhabit is an interplay of life and death. Even the cultivation of grain involves death; the slashing down of the grain, bundling and transport, then grinding. And, of course, making alcohol/bread/porridge and so forth.
So the song takes a long look at life on Earth and sort of laments death as a status quo part of the process. The willingness to apply this interpretation to something as eldrich and honorable as working the land for vegetable food is a clever device, and not a little melancholic; a sort of admission that, try as you might, there's no escape. The minor mode for the tune sort of helps drive this subtle sadness home.
They have worked their will on John Barleycorn
But he lived to tell the tale;
For they pour him out of an old brown jug,
And they call him home-brewed ale!
Here's Little Sir John in a nut-brown bowl,
And brandy in a glass!
And Little Sir John in the nut-brown bowl
Proved the stronger man at last!
For the huntsman he can't hunt the fox
Nor loudly blow his horn,
And the tinker can't mend kettles nor pots
Without John Barleycorn!