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Right Good Ploughboys

by Traditional Graffiti

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about

I've had this song in my head since Wheezer days. I made a loop up recently and the two ideas became one. The lyrics came to mind when a friend in the UK Morris scene, Danny, used the term '..right good ploughboy' in an email. The song concerns itself with lost labour and associated traditions. It also owes a bit to Fred Archer's books about Bredon Hill on the western edge of the Cotswold Hills, overlooking the Vale of Evesham. Desperate dancing country once upon a time I believe.

lyrics

Right Good Ploughboys.
On Plough Monday as I walked out I heard a Plough bell ringing
'Hey Ho alo-ong we go!' I heard the Plough Jacks singing.
Along the street their hobnailed feet made a mighty noise
"with their traces and their bells, they must be right good Ploughboys!"

'We are the lads who lead the plough, the plough team is our calling,
In wind and rain we never complain, or ever the cold snow falling,
we eats our bait and we leads 'em straight, we sing with hearty voice,
"of every blade in every trade there's none can beat the ploughboys!"'

'The ploughboys life is filled with strife, the ploughman’s an ‘ard master,
his whip he'll crack across our backs, "cum agun, g'straight, go faster!"
But to lead a team through a cloud of steam it fills our hearts with joy.
It takes much worse'n a plough man's curse to hurt a jolly plough boy.

Our plough song fills the morning air, our feet fill every furrow
We’ll work and play but for the day, an’ the devil can take tomorrow
We drink our tea beneath a tree and the old men tell with pride
How they chased a wench round the old plough bench, when they were jolly plough boys

Now in the church upon the hill there's no more plough lights burning
to honour the men behind the plough the clay and black sod turning,
the oxen and the horse have gone the farmer has new toys,
but every year we'll raise a cheer ‘succsess to jolly ploughboys’.

credits

released November 1, 2017
written and performed by The Pump.

license

all rights reserved

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about

Traditional Graffiti image

Traditional Graffiti Sydney, Australia

Formally performing as the Wheeze & Suck Band,
Ian 'The Pump' Macintosh, Johnny 'Red Tips' Milce, and Nigel 'Muddy' Walters formed the Traditional Graffiti Band in 2018 to continue and expand upon the Wheezer's music and performance style. ... more

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