Name: All Among The Barley
Duration: P00H02M43S
Description: I first heard this sung by Ann Briggs at the Bay Folk Club in Cullercoats int the early nineties. It was the last song of her set and it was revelatory. Got me right between the eyes, so it did. It was _ages_ before I found a recording though. I ended up getting it from a Johnny Collins recording. Which is no bad place to find a song.

All Among The Barley

from Isolation Sessions #2 by Piers Cawley

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about

I first heard this sung by Ann Briggs at the Bay Folk Club in Cullercoats int the early nineties. It was the last song of her set and it was revelatory. Got me right between the eyes, so it did. It was _ages_ before I found a recording though. I ended up getting it from a Johnny Collins recording. Which is no bad place to find a song.

lyrics

Come in 'tis now September
The hunters' moon begun
And from the wheat and stubble
Is heard the frequent gun
The leaves are turning yellow
And fading into red
And the ripe and bearded barley
Is hanging down his head

Chorus:
All among the barley,
Who would not be blythe
While the ripe and bearded barley
Is smiling on the scythe

The Spring is like a young thing
That does not know their mind
The Summer is a tyrant
Of a most ungracious kind
While Autumn is the old friend
Who as the leaves down fall
Will bring the ripened barley
To glad the heart of all

All among etc.

The wheat is like rich man
All sleek and well to do
The Oats are like a pack of kids
All giggling and dancing too
The rye is like a miser
All sulky, lean, and small
While the ripe and bearded barley
Is monarch of them all

All among etc.

credits

from Isolation Sessions #2, released September 4, 2020
Trad. arr. Piers Cawley

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about

Piers Cawley Doncaster, UK

A singer for as long as he can remember, Piers (he/they) sings Old Songs with a clarity and conviction that makes them as fresh as paint.

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