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The Long Pegging Awl
The Pegging Awl
[
Roud 2126
; Ballad Index RL280
; DT LNGPGAWL
; Mudcat 73581
; trad.]
A.L. Lloyd: Folk Song in England
Harry Cox of Catfield, Norfolk, sang Long Peggin’ Awl on 2 December 1953 to Alan Lomax. This recording was included on the anthology Songs of Seduction (The Folk Songs of Britain Vol. 2, Caedmon 1961, Topic 1968). The album’s boolet noted:
Harry Cox, a farm labourer from the flat country of Norfolk, is one of the most remarkable folk song informants found in the British Isles in this generation. He has furnished fine texts and tunes for more than two hundred pieces, including many Child ballads, and his repertoire of sexualia is extraordinary. Here he sings, in the classic fashion of the Norfolk balladeer, one of the many ballads concerning the amorous adventures of cobblers and the sexual symbolism of their tools.
A.L. Lloyd sang The Pegging Awl, accompanied by Alf Edwards on concertina, in 1966 on Topic’s theme album on traditional erotic songs, The Bird in the Bush. He noted:
A rich category of erotic folklore concerns tradesmen and their tools: the miller and his grinding stones, the tinker blocking holes in pans, the itinerant weaver with his to-and-fro shuttle, the cobbler with his awl. Perhaps the while-you-wait aspect of these occupations allowed special opportunity for chatting-up the lady customers. This version was made known by the good old Norfolk singer, Harry Cox.
Ewan MacColl sang The Long Peg and Awl in 1968 on his Argo album The Wanton Muse. He noted:
Nearly every male country singer in southern England has such songs as this in his repertoire, although hardly ever do such songs as this appear in print or get sung in mixed company. The symbol is, of course, too obvious to ignore, too common in communities where the small craftsman plying the tools of his trade is a commonplace. This particular piece has chiefly been collected in southern England, in eastern Canada and northern United States. (Source: from the singing of Harry Cox, Catfield, Norfolk.)
Peter Bellamy sang The Long Pegging Awl in 1969 on his second LP, Fair England’s Shore. He noted:
Both The Long Pegging Awl and The Green Bed come from Harry Cox, the former being a short and amusing song with very thin disguise to its eroticism, and the latter being a very pleasing song, […]
Benji Kirkpatrick sang Long Pegging Awl in 2003 on Magpie Lane’s Beautful Jo album Six for Gold, and Magpie Lane’s Andy Turner sang in as the 27 September 2020 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week.
Ron Taylor and Jeff Gillett sang Long Peggin’ Awl in 2013 on their WildGoose CD Buy It, Try It (and Never Repent You). Jeff Gillett noted:
Long Peggin’ Awl is from the singing of Harry Cox. The central metaphor here is really too obvious to be called double entendre, but the song is not particularly lewd or salacious. Ultimately, it is a rejoinder to parents who require their children to conform to a morality which does not reflect their own behaviour. This song has been in our repertoire longer and more consistently than any other. I regard it as seminal to my discovery of how to accompany traditional folk-song.
Lyrics
Harry Cox sings Long Peggin’ Awl
As I was a-walking one morning in May,
I met a pretty fair maid, her gown it was gay.
I stepped up to her and back she did fall.
She want to be played with the long peggin’ awl.
I said: Pretty fair maid, will you travel with me
Unto foreign countries strange things for to see?
And I will protect you whate’er may befall.
And follow your love with his long peggin’ awl.
Then home to her parents she then went straightway.
And unto her mother these words she did say:
I’ll follow my true love, whate’er may befall,
I’ll follow my love with his long peggin’ awl.
O daughter, o daughter, how can you say so?
For young men are false, you very well know.
They’ll tell you fine things and the devil and all.
And leave you big-bellied with the long peggin’ awl.
O mother, o mother, now do not say so.
Before you were sixteen you very well know.
There was father and mother and baby and all.
You followed my dad for his long peggin’ awl.
A.L. Lloyd sings The Pegging Awl
As I was a-walking one morning in May
I met a young maid and her gown it was gay.
I step-ped up to her and back she did fall,
She want to be played with a long pegging awl.
I said, “Pretty fair maid, will you travel with me,
On to foreign countries, strange things for to see?
And I will protect you whate’er may befall
If you’ll follow four love with the long pegging awl.
It was home to her parents she then went straightway
And unto her mother these words she did say:
“I’ll follow my true love whate’er may befall,
I’ll follow my love with his long pegging awl.”
“Oh daughter, oh daughter, how can you say so?
For young men are false as you very well know;
They’ll tell you fine things and the devil and all,
And leave you big-bellied with the long pegging awl.”
“Oh mother, oh mother, now do not say so.
Before you were sixteen, you very well know,
There was father and mother and baby and all,
You followed my dad for his long pegging awl.”
Peter Bellamy sings The Long Pegging Awl
As I was a-walking one morning in May
I met a pretty fair maid, her gown it was gay.
I stepped right up to her and back she did fall,
She want to be played with my long pegging awl.
Then it’s home to her parents she then went straightway
And unto her mother these words she did say:
“I will follow my true love whate’er may befall,
I’ll follow my love with his long pegging awl.”
“Oh daughter, dear daughter, how can you say so?
For young men are false as you very well know;
They will tell you fine stories, the devil and all,
And they leave you big-bellied with their long pegging awl.”
“Oh mother, dear mother, how can say so?
For before you were sixteen, you very well know,
There was father and mother and baby and all,
You followed my dad for his long pegging awl.”