![]() Versions Collected from Traditional Singers Ī text of the song is included with other songs sung by members of the National Agricultural Labourers' Union in a contemporary book about industrial agitation in 1874. The Roud Broadside Index lists 20 publishers from all over England and one from Scotland who printed the song. ![]() There are 11 broadside versions of this song in the Bodleian Broadside Collection, with an earliest possible date of 1813. The song ends with an exhortation to other ploughboys not to be afraid of their masters and the narrator tells them "You're all jolly fellows that follow the plough".Įarly Versions Broadsides and early printed versions The farmer laughs at his joke, tells the ploughboys "'It's time to unyoke'" and promises them "a jug of my very best ale" when they've taken care of their horses. The ploughboy narrator stands up to this accusation: "'We've all ploughed our acre, so you've told a damn lie'". ![]() ![]() You're all idle fellows that follow the plough'. You've not ploughed an acre, I swear and I vow. 'What have you been doing, boys, all this long day? ![]()
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