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All of a Row
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All of a Row
All of a Row
[ Roud 1474 ; trad.]
Martin Carthy recorded All of a Row with the Albion Country Band in 1973 for the at that time shelved album Battle of the Field. When it finally came out in 1976, this track had been replaced by another one, Reaphook and Sickle. In the meantime, Martin recorded All of a Row solo for his 1974 album Sweet Wivelsfield. This track was also included on the 1993 compilation Rigs of the Time: The Best of Martin Carthy. He sang it live at the Sunflower Folk Club, Belfast, on October 20, 1978; a recording of this concert was published in 2011 on the CD The January Man. And he finally sang All of a Row with the Albion Band on their and Keith Dewhurst's theatre production and album Lark Rise to Candleford.
Martin Carthy commented in the Sweet Wivelsfield sleeve notes:
Both John Barleycorn and All of a Row are, in their separate and different ways, songs about the cycle of seasons. One has the idea that the corn spirit is indestructible no matter what, and alive in all things remotely touched by it, and the other the idea that the cycle of planting and reaping is of necessity never ending. In a way one idea cannot survive without the other.
Jim Causley sang this song as Harvest Song in 2005 on his WildGoose album Fruit of the Earth.
Jon Boden learned All of a Row from Martin Carthy's singing on Lark Rise to Candleford and sang as the September 30, 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.
Lyrics
Martin Carthy sings All of a Row on Sweet Wivelsfield |
Martin Carthy sings All of a Row on Lark Rise to Candleford | |
---|---|---|
As the harvest comes on and the reaping begins |
When the harvest come on and the reaping begin | |
Then early next morning our hooks we do grind, |
Then early next morning our hook we do grind, | |
Oh then says our foreman behind and before, |
Oh then says our foreman behind and before, | |
When the night it comes on to the farm we will steer | ||
Our wheat's all in, oats and barley abound, |
Our wheat is all in, oats and barley abound, |
Acknowledgements
Transcribed from the singing of Martin Carthy by Garry Gillard