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Cupid the Ploughboy

[ Roud 986 ; Laws O7 ; Ballad Index LO07 ; MusTrad MT241 ; trad.]

Roy Palmer: Folk Songs Collected by Ralph Vaughan William James Reeves: The Everlasting Circle Steve Roud, Julia Bishop: The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs

Charlie Carver of Tostock, Suffolk, sang Cupid the Ploughboy to Desmond and Shelagh Herring at Tostock Gardeners’ Arms in 1960. This recording was included in 1993 on the Veteran Tapes cassette of traditional music making from Mid-Suffolk recorded 1958-1993, Many a Good Horseman, which was reissued on CD in 2009. John Howson noted:

This ballad, which tells of a young lady who spurns the advances of a wealthy man in order to marry her ploughboy sweetheart, was popular in Southern England and is older than many of its sort. Most of the early collectors came across versions including Ralph Vaughan Williams and Cecil Sharp and it appears in the Collinson, Butterworth and Gardiner collections. The Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould noted it down in Devon and he believed that it originated in a black-letter ballad of about 1670 called Cupid’s Triumph. As Cupid the Ploughboy it was published by several broadside printers including Pitts, Disley and Fortey in London, Dalton in York and Walker in Newcastle and it appears in Timothy O’Connor’s manuscript songbook, which was compiled in the 1770s. Although a once common ballad, the only other recording is that of the Norfolk singer Walter Pardon.

Walter Pardon sang Cupid the Ploughboy in a recording made by Mike Yates at home in Knapton, Norfolk on 24 June 1978. It was published in 1982 on his Topic album A Country Life and on 2000 on his Musical Traditions anthology Put a Bit of Powder on It, Father. Mike Yates noted:

Cupid the Ploughboy was one of the songs that Timothy Connor, an American prisoner of war, copied into his notebook in Forton Prison, Portsmouth on 5 June 1778—almost 200 years ago to the day when Walter recorded the song. (See A Sailor’s Song Bag edited by George Carey, Amhurst, 1976). The song appeared on early 19^th century broadsides by Catnach and Pitts of London and Forth of Pocklington and was collected in the early years of the present century by the Hammonds in Dorset, by George Butterworth in Yorkshire and by Ralph Vaughan Williams in Sussex. North American sets have been found in Newfoundland by Elizabeth Greenleaf and in the Ozark Mountains by Vance Randolph. Although there is no direct evidence to link the song with earlier pieces, the image of Cupid, “with his arrows sharp and keen”, did feature in several 17^th century broadsides with titles such as Cupid’s Court of Equity, Cupid’s Courtesie and Cupid’s Victory Over the Virgins’ Hearts, or, Love in its Colours.

Jim Causley sang Cupid the Ploughboy in 2007 on his WildGoose album Lost Love Found. He noted:

I fell for Cupid the Ploughboy kinda by accident when I was looking up another song and he happened to be living on the opposite page. I was most disappointed that in the end the narrator of the song and cupid end up getting married; humans marrying gods is just not the done thing and aside from that it made for a really boring ending so I decided to restore him to the mirage he so obviously is. Which goes for the vast majority of young men who declare their undying love!

Lyrics

Charlie Carver sings Cupid the Ploughboy

Oh as I walked out one May morning, the May was all in bloom,
Just to take the fresh air and smell all the sweet perfume.

There I saw Cupid the ploughboy, cutting his furrows deep and low,
A-cutting the clods to pieces, some barley for to sow.
I wish that pretty young ploughboy mine eyes had never have seen,
For it’s Cupid the pretty young ploughboy that looks so sharp and keen.

Oh and if I write to him a letter, my mind to him unfold,
Do you think he would take it scornfully or say that I’m too bold.
I wish he would take it kindly and turn my heart again,
For it’s Cupid the pretty young ploughboy that looks so sharp and keen.

The ploughboy he consented for to take her for his wife.
He sent to her a neat reply, that darling of his life.
Saying "If you’ll wed with a ploughboy, then forever I’ll prove true,
For it’s you my heart have won, love, and I’ll have none but you.

The lady she consented to be the ploughboy’s bride,
They went unto the church together and there the knot got tied.
And now they live in a plenty, well, they’ve both got gold in store,
The lady and the ploughboy they’re joined for ever more.

Walter Pardon sings Cupid the Ploughboy

As I walked out one May morning, when may was all in bloom,
I walked into some meadows gay to take the sweet perfume.
I walked into some flowery fields, I turned my head awry,
There I saw Cupid the ploughboy, there I saw Cupid the ploughboy,
That did my heart beguile.

As Cupid was a-ploughing those furrows deep and low,
Breaking those clods to pieces, some barley for to sow.
And as he was a-ploughing, these words I heard him say:
“No life is like a ploughboy, no life is like a ploughboy,
In the pleasant month of May.”

A worthy rich young gentleman a-courting to me came.
Because I would not marry him my parents did me blame
Adieu young man for ever and for ever adieu,
It’s Cupid the pretty ploughboy, it’s Cupid the pretty ploughboy,
Who has caused my heart to rue.

Should I write him a letter, my tale to him unfold?
Perhaps he will take it scornful and think it is full hold.
I wish he would take it kindly and return my heart again.
lt’s Cupid the pretty ploughboy, it’s Cupid the pretty ploughboy,
With his arrows sharp and keen.

The ploughboy heard this lady in sorrow and complain,
Said he, “My darling jewel, I’ll ease you of your pain.
If you would wed a ploughboy, forever I’ll prove true.
For you my heart has wounded, for you my heart has wounded,
And I’ll have none but you.”

The lady very soon gave consent to be his lawful bride.
They went into the village church and there the knot was tied.
And now they live in plenty, they have gold in store.
The ploughboy and his lady, the ploughboy and his lady,
Each other do adore.