> Folk Music > Songs > Buttercup Joe

Buttercup Joe

[ Roud 1635 ; Master title: Buttercup Joe ; Ballad Index RcButJoe ; GlosTrad Roud 1635 ; DT BUTTRCUP ; Mudcat 80010 ; trad.]

Frank Purslow: The Wanton Seed Steve Roud, Julia Bishop: The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs

Tony Wales sang Buttercup Joe in 1957 on his Folkways album Sussex Folk Songs and Ballads. Kenneth S. Goldstein noted:

This song vies in popularity in Sussex with To Be a Farmer’s Boy (Side 1, Band 8). Such typical country songs concern the activities and life of the average English farm or plough boy, and as such are similar in content to the vast body of Scottish songs known as ‘bothy’ ballads. This version was learned from Mr. P. Laker of Brighton; he says these words were sung in Storrington and Pulborough around 1889. There is also an interesting version of this song called Whistling Joe.

Jim Wilson sang Buttercup Joe on 18 May 1960 at The Cherry Tree, Copthorne. This recording by Brian Matthew was included in 2001 on the Musical Traditions anthologs of songs sung in Sussex country pubs in 1960, Just Another Saturday Night. Rod Stradling noted:

A music-hall song once sung by Harry Garratt, and later and far more famously, by the Sussex singer Albert Richardson—on the reverse of The Old Sow (Zonophone 5178 recorded on 14 May 1928, and later as Regal Zonophone T 5178). It was Zonophone’s best-selling disc of the time. Richardson himself was, of course, a traditional singer—the sexton at Burwash, Sussex.

There are only 17 Roud entries, all from the southern counties of England, with only Jim, P. Laker and Harry Upton being from Sussex. That is hasn’t been more widely collected is astounding, given its popularity. In my youth, in Hampshire, we all knew it … or maybe that was only the local version, which started:

Now I be a pure-bred country chap
Me father come from Fareham
Girls down ’ere wears calico drawers
But I knows how to tear ’em.

… and went downhill from there!

An unknown singer sang Buttercup Joe at Tostock Gardeners’ Arms in 1960. This recording was included in 1993 on the Vereran cassette and in 2009 on the Veteran CD of traditional music making from Mid-Suffolk recorded 1958-1993, Many a Good Horseman. John Howson noted:

Albert Richardson recorded Buttercup Joe on a British Zonophone 78 rpm record in 1928 and it became popular with many rural singers across the south of England. It seems to have been largely ignored by early collectors, although George Gardiner, Alfred Williams and Cecil Sharp each noted it down once. In more recent years though, collectors like Gwilym Davies recorded the song over a dozen times and in East Anglia Neil Lanham recorded it from Jack Tarling of Steeple Bumpstead and Albert Bromley of Shotley.

Caroline Hughes from Dorset sang Buttercup Joe to Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger and Charles Parker in between 1963 and 1966. This recording was included in 2014 on her Musical Traditions anthology Sheep-Crook and Black Dog. Rod Stradling noted:

It seems extraordinary that Mrs Hughes can sometimes completely mangle a ballad with a very clear story-line, yet retain this bit of nonsense with no story at all, in a form very close to the original publication in an 1872 Songster. It was quite well-known, with 43 Roud entries, including 23 sound recordings—though only that by Jim Wilson is available on CD.

Colin Grant-Adams sang Buttercup Joe on Sunday 26 March 1972 at the Stagfolk Folk Club at Shackleford Social Centre, near Godalming. This was released in the same year on the folk club’s album Stagfolk Live Folk.

Harry Upton from Balcombe, Sussex, sang Buttercup Joe to Mike Yates in 1976. This track was included in 1978 on his Topic album Why Can’t It Always Be Saturday? and in 2015 on the Musical Traditions anthology of songs and recitations from the Mike Yates collections, I Wish There Was No Prisons. Mike Yates and Rod Stradling noted:

It seems strange that the origins of this highly popular song remain unclear. Pearson of Manchester printed the words on a broadside c.1870 and the text can also be found in the New Prize Medal Song Book, no.9, which appeared two years later, in 1872. Both printings indicate that the song was sung by one Harry Garratt, though who exactly Garratt was remains a mystery.

Alfred Williams noted a text, without tune, and both Cecil Sharp and George Gardiner collected single versions, both with tunes. In 1928 the Sussex singer Albert Richardson recorded a version for Zonophone Records. Sharp and Gardiner’s tunes were distinct from each other, and from the tune used by Richardson. However, versions of the song collected post-1928 (and there have been quite a few collected sets since then) almost always used Richardson’s tune.

The Millen Family sang Buttercup Joe to Graham Thrussell at Courtfield Recorders, Kennington, in June or December 2000 for their 2001 album Down Yonder Green Lane. George Frampton noted:

A music hall song once sung by Harry Garratt, which entered the family repertoire via Brian Levett (Howard [Millen]’s brother-in-law and Don [Levett]’s father); also via Dave Wickens (Howard’s father-in-law). Howard heard one singer of it described as the “singing Saxon (sexton) of Burwash”: Albert Richardson from Sussex, who recorded it for Zonophone in 1928. Other Kentish singers who had it in their repertoire include Charlie Bridger, who had a fourth verse, Len Pierce from Goudhurst, and Charlie Sloman from Aldington. Frank Collinson also noted down the song from Tim Fidler, one time landlord of ‘the George’ in Bethersden.

Paul Wilson sang Buttercup Joe in 2008 on his Wren Music album Down ’pon Ole Dartymoor.

Lyrics

Tony Wales sings Buttercup Joe

And my mother she’s got lots more like I,
For her knows how to rear ’em;
Some they calls I Bacon Fat,
And others Turnip Head,
But I prove to you I he no mug,
Because I’m country bred.

Chorus (after each verse):
Now I can guide a plow, milk a cow,
And I can reap and sow.
Fresh as the daisies in the fields,
And they calls I Buttercup Joe.

Now they gentry folks they laugh to see
How I eat fat Bacon,
They would not touch a Bit of it
And that’s where they’re mistaken.
On grogs and wine they do rely,
And take them at their ease,
But give I, a rustic chap,
A hunk of bread and cheese.

In Summer time, o aint it prime,
When we goes out haymaking;
The girls they love to tickle us,
And freedom will be taken.
Don’t they like to rump about,
Sit on our knees and play.
And don’t they like us country chaps
To roll ’em in the hay.

Have you seen my young woman,
They calls her our Mary,
She works as busy as a bee
In farmer Jones’ dairy.
And don’t she make they dumplings fine,
By jingo, I mean to try ’em.
And ask her if she won’t supply
A rustic chap like I am.

Jim Wilson sings Buttercup Joe

I be a true-bred country chap
Me father come from Fareham
My mother she’s got some more like I
And he well knows how to rare ’em.
Some pople call I ‘Bacon-fat’
And others ‘Turniphead’
But to prove to you I beyn’t no flat
Although I’m coutry-bred.

Chorus (after each verse):
For I can drive a cow or milk a plough
(For I can drive a plough or milk a cow)
I can reap or mow
I’m as fresh as a daisy that grows in a field
And they call I ’Buttercup Joe’.

Now have you seen my young ’oman
They call her ‘Our Mary’
She works as busy as bumble-bee
Down in St Johns’s dairy
And don’t she make those dumplin’s nice
By Joves, I mean to try ’em
And axed her how she’d like to wed
A country bloke like … I am.

Some people they like hay-makin’
And others they like mowin’,
But all the jobs that I like best
Is a job called tunip hoein’
And don’t I, when I gets wed
To my old Mary Ann
I’ll work for her and do my best
To please her all he can.

Buttercup Joe by an unknown singer on Many a Good Horseman

Oh I’m a fair old country chap.
My father comes from Farer.
My mother she’s got some more like I,
She knows how to rare ’em
Here’s me they call I bacon fat.
Others bacon head.
(But I can prove I ain’t soft?)
Although we be country bred.

Chorus (after each verse):
For I can drive a plough, milk a cow,
I can reap or sow.
Fresh as a daisy in yon field –
Call I Buttercup Joe.

Well you should see my young woman –
They all call her the Mary.
She works as busy as a bee,
In Farmer Giles’s dairy.
Why don’t she make those dumplings nice,
By jove I mean to try them,
And I ask her if she’d like to splice
A country chap like I am.

Caroline Hughes sings Buttercup Joe

Oh, I am a true bred country gent
And my father come from Wareham;
He had a few more in the family
But he couldn’t rear one like I am.

Oh, do thees know my woman
They do call her Our Mary?
She do work so busy as a bumble bee
Down on Johnson’s dairy.

Oh, don’t her make her dumplings nice,
But I would like to try one.
I’m axing her if she would like
To wed a true bred country gent like I am.

Oh, I can reap or I can mow,
Or I can plough or sow
Well I’m as fresh as the daisy growing in the field
And they do call I Buttercup Joe.

Oh, do you know our woman
She called Mary Ann?
She’d do her best to please us all
While I’m out to work.

Oh, I can plough or milk a cow
I can reap or mow;
But the only job that I love best
Is the job of termut hoeing.

Harry Upton sings Buttercup Joe

Now I be a true-bred country chap,
My father come from Fareham
My mother she has some more like I
And well knows how to rare ‘em
Some people call I ‘Bacon Fat’
And others ‘Turnip Ned’
Well I can prove I be’nt no flat
Although I’m country bred

Chorus (after each verse):
For I can drive a plough and milk a cow
I can rip and mow
I’m as fresh as the daisy that grow in the field
And they call I Buttercup Joe.

Now have you seen my young woman,
They call her ’Our Mary’
She works as busy as a bumble bee
Down in St Johnson’s dairy
And don’t she makes those dumplings nice,
By Jove I mean to try ‘em
And asked her if she’d like to wed
A country chap like I am

Some people they like haymaking
And others they like mowin’
But of all the jobs that I like best,
Is a job called turnip hoeing
And don’t I hope when I get wed
To my old Mary Ann
I’ll help her and I’ll try my best
To please her all I can