Author Topic: Add: The Good Old Leathern Bottle


dmcg

Posted - 04 Apr 03 - 06:05 pm

Good Old Leathern Bottle , The [Reaphook and the Sickle]

Come all you lads and lasses, together let us go
Into some pleasant cornfield, our courage for to shew,
(Chorus:)
With the good old leathern bottle, and the beer it shall be brown,
We'll reap and skip together, boys, till bright Phoebus does go down.

With reaphook and the sickle so well we'll clear the land,
The farmer says, "Well done, my lads, here's liquor at your command."
(Chorus:)
With the good old leathern bottle, and the beer it shall be brown,
We'll reap and skip together, boys, till bright Phoebus does go down.

By daylight in the morning, when birds do sweetly sing,
They are such charming creatures, they make the valley ring,
(Chorus:)
With the good old leathern bottle, and the beer it shall be brown,
We'll reap and skip together, boys, till bright Phoebus does go down.

Then in comes lovely Nancy, the corn all for to lay,
She is my charming creature, I must begin to pray;
(Chorus:)
With the good old leathern bottle, and the beer it shall be brown,
We'll reap and skip together, boys, till bright Phoebus does go down.

She how she gathers, binds it, she folds it in her arms,
Then she gives it to some waggoner to fill the farmer's barns.
(Chorus:)
With the good old leathern bottle, and the beer it shall be brown,
We'll reap and skip together, boys, till bright Phoebus does go down.

Now harvest's done and ended, the corn secure from harm,
All for to go to market, boys, we must thresh in the barn.
(Chorus:)
With the good old leathern bottle, and the beer it shall be brown,
We'll reap and skip together, boys, till bright Phoebus does go down.

Here's a health to all you farmers, likewise to all you men,
I wish you health and happiness till harvest comes again.
(Chorus:)
With the good old leathern bottle, and the beer it shall be brown,
We'll reap and skip together, boys, till bright Phoebus does go down.




Source: Broadwood, Lucy, 1893, English Country Songs, Leadenhall Press, London


Notes:

Lucy Broadwood's notes are:

[Oxfordshire]
The tune, first verse and part of second, from Mr Bennell; the remainder from Mr Heywood Sumner, a "Besom Maker." The words are given again as "The Reaphook and the Sickle"


Database entry is here.




Malcolm Douglas
Posted - 04 Apr 03 - 06:24 pm

Roud 1375.

That's "Mr Heywood Sumner, The Besom Maker" (1888), incidentally; a rather nice little book of nine folk songs collected and illustrated by Heywood Sumner. It can be had in facsimile from Llanerch Press.

Another version of the song was noted by H.E.D. Hammond from J. Pomery of Bridport, Dorset, in 1906; it appears in Frank Purslow, The Constant Lovers (EFDS 1972). A broadside example of the early 19th century can be seen at  Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:

The Industrious Farmer



dmcg

Posted - 04 Apr 03 - 06:32 pm

I thought it sounded slightly odd - I'll have to look for that book from Llanerch. Database updated to fix the reference.

Edited By dmcg - 04/04/2003 18:39:39




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