> Folk Music > Songs > I’d Sooner Go Hedging / Hedging Song

I’d Sooner Go Hedging / Hedging Song

[ Roud - ; Frank Mansell (1918-1979)]

I’d Sooner Go Hedging is a poem from Frank Mansell’s book Cotswold Ballads (Richard Courtauld, 1974).

Peter Tatham sang I’d Sooner Go Hedging in 1975 on Frank Mansell’s, his and Celia Carroll’s Saydisc album of the poetry of Frank Mansell, Cotswold Ballads.

Ian Woods and Charley Yarwood sang Hedging Song in 1984 on their Traditional Sound album Hooks & Nets. Charley Yarwood noted:

Originally a poem written by the Gloucestershire poet and given to me by Sylvia Mehta together with her own tune, for which many thanks. In the event, I have added a chorus and used a slowed down Morris tune called Swaggering Boney collected in Longborough, Gloucestershire. It just happened to be irritatingly lodged in my head at the time—and still is! Remedies on a post card please.

Melrose Quartet with Richard Arrowsmith in lead sang Hedging Song on their 2023 album Make the World Anew. They noted:

Rich learnt this song from the singing of his Dad. Written by Frank Mansell, the renowned Cotswold poet, it tells the story of a blackthorn hedge layer and his search for a quiet, simple life. The tune Swaggering Boney was put to the poem in the 1970s.

Lyrics

Frank Mansell’s poem I’d Sooner Go Hedging

I’d sooner go hedging than build a stone wall,
All pick up and place it and hope it don’t fall;
When east winds blows bitter and keen in the trees,
I’d sooner lay blackthorn than dry-wall and freeze.

I’d sooner go hedging—the best thing I know
For anger and anguish and woman-made woe.
No matter how hurt or insulted I feel,
A tussle with blackthorn will help it to heal.

I’d sooner go hedging than read in a book,
For more you get thinking the darker things look;
Since study and weeping are hard on the eyes,
I’d sooner lay blackthorn than learn to be wise.

I’d sooner go hedging than writing of verse,
And weaving and rhyming as if by a curse;
For little men care what a poet may scrawl,
But a blackthorn well-laid is a pleasure to all.

I’d sooner go hedging than seek all my days
For wealth or position or other men’s praise;
Plain bill-hook and axe are the tools of my trade,
Six shillings a chain is the rate I am paid.

I’d sooner go hedging than lie in my bed
With a wench that grows sourer the longer she’s wed;
And much as I grieve for our loving when young,
I’d sooner lay blackthorn than suffer her tongue.

I’d sooner go hedging, but come the next spring,
I’ll be up and be gone like a bird on the wing,
And all I shall miss when I reach my new home
Will be hedges to slash at and blackthorn in bloom.

Melrose Quartet sing Hedging Song

I’d sooner go hedging than build a stone wall,
All pick up and place it and hope it don’t fall;
When the east wind blows bitter and keen through the trees,
I’d sooner lay blackthorn than dry-wall and freeze.

Chorus (after each verse):
I’d sooner lay blackthorn, sooner lay blackthorn,
Sooner lay blackthorn all the rest of my days.

I’d sooner go hedging—the best thing I know
For anger and anguish and woman-made woe.
No matter how hurt or insulted I feel,
A tussle with blackthorn will help it to heal.

I’d sooner go hedging than read in a book,
For the more you get thinking the darker things look;
Since study and weeping are hard on the eyes,
I’d sooner lay blackthorn than learn to be wise.

I’d sooner go hedging than seek all my days
For wealth or position or other men’s praise;
Plain bill-hook and axe are the tools of my trade,
Six shillings a chain is the rate I am paid.

I’d sooner go hedging, but come the next spring,
I’ll be up and be gone like a bird on the wing,
And all I shall miss when I reach my new home
Will be hedges to slash at and blackthorn in bloom.