John Barleycorn
Encyclopedia
"John Barleycorn" is an English
folksong. The character of John Barleycorn in the song is a personification of the important cereal
crop barley
and of the alcoholic beverage
s made from it, beer
and whisky
. In the song, John Barleycorn is represented as suffering attacks, death and indignities that correspond to the various stages of barley cultivation, such as reaping and malting.
(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.
.
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:
An early English version runs thus:
Earlier versions resemble Burns's only in personifying the barley, and sometimes in having the barley be foully treated or murder
ed 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:
Another early version features John Barleycorn's revenge on the miller:
, whose 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, 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.
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".
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
folksong. The character of John Barleycorn in the song is a personification of the important cereal
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
crop barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
and of the alcoholic beverage
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
s made from it, beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
and whisky
Whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and corn...
. In the song, John Barleycorn is represented as suffering attacks, death and indignities that correspond to the various stages of barley cultivation, such as reaping and malting.
Origins
Scholar Kathleen Herbert draws a link between BeowaBeowa
Beowa, Beaw, Beow, Beo or Bedwig is a figure in Anglo-Saxon paganism associated with barley and agriculture. The figure is attested in the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies as they were extended in the age of Alfred, where Beowa is inserted as the son of Scyld and the grandson of Sceafa, in lineages...
(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
We Plough the Fields and Scatter
We Plough the Fields and Scatter is an English hymn commonly associated with harvest festival. The hymn was originally German, by poet Matthias Claudius, 'Wir pflügen und wir streuen' published in 1782, and set to music in 1800, and attributed to Johann A. P. Schulz. It was translated into...
", is often sung at Harvest Festival
Harvest festival
A Harvest Festival is an annual celebration which occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region. Given the differences in climate and crops around the world, harvest festivals can be found at various times throughout the world...
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
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
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.
.
Versions and variants
Countless versions of this song exist. A version of the song is included in the Bannatyne Manuscript of 1568, and English broadsideBroadside (music)
A broadside is a single sheet of cheap paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations...
versions from the 17th century are common. Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
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:
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 murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
ed 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 [h]is horse he fell full low,
He taught him his master Mault for to know
you neuer saw the like sir.
Adaptations
Many versions of the song have been recorded, most notably by TrafficTraffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
, whose album John Barleycorn Must Die
John Barleycorn Must Die
John Barleycorn Must Die is the fourth album by the English rock band Traffic, released in 1970, on Island Records in the United Kingdom, and United Artists in the United States, catalogue UAS 5504. It peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200, their highest charting album in the US, and has been...
is named after the song. The song has also been recorded by Fire + Ice, Gae Bolg, Bert Jansch
Bert Jansch
Herbert "Bert" Jansch was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s, as an acoustic guitarist, as well as a singer-songwriter...
, The John Renbourn Group
John Renbourn
John Renbourn is an English guitarist and songwriter. He is possibly best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo career before, during and after that band's existence .While most commonly labelled a...
, Pentangle
Pentangle
Pentangle may refer to:*another word for a pentagram, a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes*Pentangle , a British folk-rock band*The Pentangle, the 1968 album by the band Pentangle...
, Finest Kind
Finest Kind
Finest Kind is a folk music trio based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It consists of Ian Robb, Ann Downey and Shelley Posen.Finest Kind has released four albums in its own name . Individually, its members have appeared on several solo CDs...
, Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy MBE is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days...
, Roy Bailey
Roy Bailey (folk singer)
Roy Bailey MBE , is a British socialist folk singer. Roy began his singing career in a skiffle group in 1958.Colin Irwin from the music magazine Mojo said Bailey represents "the very soul of folk's working class ideals.....
, Martyn Bates in collaboration with Max Eastley
Max Eastley
Max Eastley is a sound and visual artist. He is part of the Cape Farewell Climate Change project . He studied painting and graphic art at Newton Abbot Art School and then went on to gain a BA in Fine Art at Middlesex University . He is a sculptor , musician and composer...
, the Watersons
The Watersons
The Watersons were an English folk group from Hull, Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies.-Career:...
, Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
, Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
, Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh
Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...
, Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
, The Minstrels of Mayhem, Oysterband
Oysterband
Oysterband is a British electric folk or folk rock band formed in Canterbury in or around 1976.-Early history:...
, Frank Black
Frank Black
Black Francis is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the influential alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Following the band's breakup in 1993, he embarked on a solo career under the name Frank Black...
, Chris Wood
Chris Wood (folk musician)
Chris Wood is an English folk musician and composer who plays fiddle, viola and guitar, and sings. He is an ardent enthusiast for traditional English dance music , including Morris and other rituals and ceremonies, but his repertoire also includes much French folk music and traditional Québécois...
, Quadriga Consort
Quadriga Consort
Quadriga Consort aka Quadriga Early Music Band is an early music ensemble from Austria. Founded in 2001 by harpsichordist Nikolaus Newerkla, the ensemble plays rearranged early British and Irish traditional music....
, Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior
Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...
, Heather Alexander, Leslie Fish
Leslie Fish
Leslie Fish is a filk musician, author, and anarchist political activist.-Music:Along with The DeHorn Crew, in 1976 she created the first commercial filk recording, Folk Songs for Folk Who Ain't Even Been Yet...
, Tim van Eyken
Tim Van Eyken
Tim van Eyken is an English guitarist and melodeon player of Belgian descent.-Biography:Van Eyken first started playing penny whistle after seeing James Galway on television. He graduated to playing for his mother, then a member of the Beetlecrushers clog dance team. There was pressure from the...
, Barry Dransfield
Barry Dransfield
Barry Dransfield is an English folk singer, fiddler, cellist and guitarist. He has appeared as a session musician on numerous albums by other artists, and has released his own albums as well. Lord of All I Behold was voted Melody Maker folk album of the year...
and many other performers. Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
gave the title John Barleycorn
John Barleycorn (novel)
John Barleycorn is an autobiographical novel by Jack London dealing with his enjoyment of and struggles with alcoholism. It was published in 1913. The title is taken from the British folksong "John Barleycorn".- Themes :...
to his 1913 autobiographical novel
Autobiographical novel
An autobiographical novel is a form of novel using autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fiction elements. The literary technique is distinguished from an autobiography or memoir by the stipulation of being fiction...
that tells of his struggle with alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. The song is also a central part of Simon Emmerson
Simon Emmerson
For the experimental music artist, see Simon Emmerson .Simon Emmerson is a Grammy Award-nominated record producer, guitarist, DJ and founder of the group Afro Celt Sound System....
's The Imagined Village
The Imagined Village
The Imagined Village is a folk musical project founded by Simon Emmerson of the Afro Celt Sound System. It is intended to produce modern folk music that represents modern multiculturalism in the United Kingdom and as such, features musicians from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds...
project. Martin
Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy MBE is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days...
and Eliza Carthy
Eliza Carthy
Eliza Carthy is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson.-Life and career:...
perform the song alongside Paul Weller on The Imagined Village album. Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Stephen William Bragg , better known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, and his lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes...
sang in Weller's place on live performances. Rock Guitarist Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh
Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...
covered the song live in 2007 as a tribute to Jim Capaldi.
In Popular Culture
In the 1973 horror film The Wicker Man (1973 film), a Scottish Policeman played by Edward WoodwardEdward Woodward
Edward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE was an English stage and screen actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , Woodward began his career on stage, and throughout his career he appeared in productions in both the West End in London and on Broadway in New York...
searches for a missing child on the west Scottish island of Summerisle, which is populated by modern-day Pagans
Pagans
Pagans may refer to:* Paganism, a group of religions* Order of the Vine, a druidic faction in the "Thief" video game series* Pagans Motorcycle Club, a motorcycle club* The Pagans, a 1970s American punk band...
who engage in various Celtic
Celtic
The words Celt and Celtic can refer to:In ethno-linguistics:*Celts, a people of the Celtic nations*Celts , the modern Celtic identity*Celtic languages...
rituals, one of which is the baking of barley bread into the figure of a man known as John Barleycorn
John Barleycorn
"John Barleycorn" is an English folksong. The character of John Barleycorn in the song is a personification of the important cereal crop barley and of the alcoholic beverages made from it, beer and whisky...
, who is referred to by the baker as "The life of the fields".