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The Pretty Ploughboy

[ Roud 186 ; Master title: The Pretty Ploughboy ; Laws M24 ; G/D 1:170 ; Henry H105 ; Ballad Index LM24 ; GlosTrad Roud 186 ; Wiltshire 50 , 198 , 938 ; Mudcat 58296 ; trad.]

Sabine Baring-Gould, Henry Fleetwood Sheppard: Songs of the West Nick Dow: Southern Songster Gale Huntington, Lani Herrmann, John Moulden: Sam Henry’s Songs of the People Maud Karpeles: The Crystal Spring William Long: A Dictionary of the Isle of Wight Dialect John Ord: Bothy Songs and Ballads Roy Palmer: Everyman’s Book of English Country Songs Folk Songs Collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams Frank Purslow: The Foggy Dew Steve Roud, Julia Bishop: The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs Sam Richards, Tish Stubbs: The English Folksinger

Harry Cox of Catsfield, Norfolk, recorded The Pretty Ploughboy at the Decca Studios, London, for the EFDSS in 1934. It was released on a 78rpm disc then, and was included in 1998 both on the EFDSS anthology A Century of Song and on the Topic anthology My Ship Shall Sail the Ocean (The Voice of the People Volume 2). Another recording, made by Peter Kennedy in London in December 1953, was published in 2000 on Cox’s Rounder CD What Will Become of England?. A third version, recorded by Charles Parker and Ewan MacColl in the mid-1960s, was included in 2000 too on Cox’s Topic anthology The Bonny Labouring Boy. Steve Roud noted on the latter album:

A somewhat conventional story-line of faithful and persistent love has not prevented this being an extremely popular song, with versions collected all over England, Scotland, and Ireland, and others in Canada and the USA. The Edwardian collectors, such as Sharp, Merrick, Greig, and Vaughan Williams noted it often, and more recent recordings include those from Walter Pardon and Fred Jordan. It was equally popular on broadsides, with examples from nearly all the well-known 19^th century printers, including Catnach and Pitts, which prove its existence in the 1820s, but there is no evidence of it being any older.

Caroiline Hughes sang The Pretty Ploughing Boy to Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger and Charles Parker in 1963 or 1966. This recording was included in 2014 on her Musical Traditions anthology Sheep-Crook and Black Dog. Rod Stradling noted:

This was also sung by most of the Brazil Family of Gloucester. Indeed, it’s quite a popular song, with 227 Roud entries—mostly from England. No doubt its popularity stems from the large number of broadside printings it enjoyed.

Daisy Chapman sang The Jolly Ploughboy to Peter Hall at home in George Street, Aberdeen, in 1966. This recording was included in 2000 on her Musical Traditions anthology Ythanside. Rod Stradling noted:

A widely popular song that’s in many of the English collections and a large number of broadsides, and is also found infrequently in Canada, USA and Ireland. There are 19 Scottish entries of the total of 130 in Roud, almost all from Greig-Duncan. Of the ten sound recordings listed, only one other is from Scotland—that of Charles Gillies of Angus, recorded by Séamus Ennis in 1953.

Gavin Greig referred to the song as a “great favourite of the folk singer” but pointed out that the “northern way of the song differs a good deal from the English versions”, and published an eight verse Scottish version in Folk-Song of the North-East. The song was included in Robert Ford’s popular collection Vagabond Songs published in 1899, and this no doubt helped give it wide currency. Daisy, in this fragmentary version, gives her characteristic lilt to a tune that is otherwise similar to others in the Greig-Duncan collection. Walter Pardon sings a fine version called The Pretty Ploughboy with a much fuller text on the new Topic CD A World Without Horses.

Peter Shepheard recorded Lemmie Brazil singing The Pretty Ploughing Boy in May 1966, and Harry Brazil in October 1967. Both versions were included in 2007 on the Musical Traditions anthology of the Brazil Family, Down by the Old Riverside. Rod Stradling noted

This was also sung by Alice [Webb]. Indeed, it’s quite a popular song, with 157 Roud entries—mostly from England. No doubt its popularity stems from the large number of broadside printings it enjoyed.

Royston Wood sang The Pretty Ploughboy in 1967 on The Young Tradition’s second album, So Cheerfully Round. He also sang it on 17 November 1968 at the Young Tradition concert at Oberlin College, Ohio, that was published in 2013 on their Fledg’ling CD Oberlin 1968. He noted on the original album:

I learned The Pretty Ploughboy from an archive recording of that superb old stylist, Harry Cox. This kind of ballad is a challenge to a singer; it dares you to experiment, to decorate, but gives you plenty of scope to accept its challenge. In this sort of ballad you are a narrator and singer; and to tell the story convincingly is as important as to be able to sing. For a busy suburban revivalist singer, material such as this, from singers of Harry Cox’s quality, is a vital part of learning one’s trade.

Packie Manus Byrne sang The Jolly Ploughboy in a recording made by Tony Engle and Mike Yates in London in 1974. It was released in 1977 on his Topic album Songs of a Donegal Man. Mike Yates noted:

Packie Byrne once told me that he recalled seeing broadside sellers in the west of Ireland peddling their sheets at country fairs as late as 1935. The Jolly Ploughboy was one such song which was printed over and over again. Many Irish printers called it The Irish Ploughboy and one version appeared in P.W. Joyce’s Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (1909). Packie’s words are similar to those in Joyce’s book and also to the set which Daniel O’Keefe included in his First Book of Irish Ballads (1955) although his tune, which came from his mother, appears to be unique. Packie’s version of this song, which has always proved popular in the folk clubs, was recently included in a collection of occupational songs, The Iron Man, edited by Michael Dawney in 1975.

Walter Pardon sang The Pretty Ploughboy in a home recording by Bill Leader on 12 February 1977 on his Leader LP Our Side of the Baulk and in another Bill Leader recording from 8 June 1974 on his Topic CD A World Without Horses.

Bob Lewis sang The Pretty Ploughboy to Mike Yates at Patcham, Sussex in 1989. This recording was released in 1990 on his Veteran Tapes cassette A Sweet Country Life, and was included in 2005 on the Veteran anthology of English traditional folk singers, It Was on a Market Day—One. Mike Yates noted:

Bob had this well-known and well-loved song from his mother. It’s one of those songs about true lovers overcoming all that is put in their way, so that the couple can be united at the end. Just about every known 19^th century broadside printer issued the song (the earliest being from around 1820) and versions have been collected from singers throughout Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Canada and America.

Bob Lewis also sang The Pretty Ploughboy at a concert he did with Bob Copper at Nellie’s Folk Club, The Rose and Crown Hotel, Tonbridge, Kent, on 17 October 1999. This concert was released in 2017 on their Musical Traditions CD The Two Bobs’ Worth.

Fred Jordan sang The Jolly Ploughboy on his 1991 VWML cassette, In Course of Time.

Eliza Carthy sang and played an abridged version of Pretty Ploughboy in 2002 on her record Anglicana. She returned to it in 2022 on her album with The Restitution, Queen of the Whirl. She noted on the first album:

I love the fact that she grabs him at the end of the song and doesn’t let go; not only does she go find her true love and rescue him from the press gang, but she pays for him as well, and we all know how girls are with bargains. Harry Cox sang this.

Mike Bosworth sang The Simple Ploughboy in 2004 on his CD of songs from the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould collection, By Chance It Was. He noted:

From the singing of J. Masters of Bradstone, Devon. There were broadside versions of this but Sabine claimed how superior this version was from an unlettered countryman

Bill Whaley and Dave Fletcher sang The Pretty Ploughboy, and Bruce Molsky sang The Simple Ploughboy, in 2005 on the Fellside anthology of English traditional songs and their American variants, Song Links 2.

Malinky sang The Ploughboy and the Maid on their 2009 CD Flower & Iron. They noted:

This song comes from Sam Henry’s Songs of the People collection of Ulster song, and was published in the Coleraine Northern Constitution on 14 November 1925 under the title The Jolly Ploughboy. To avoid any confusion with The Roving Ploughboy that we recorded on 3 Ravens, or indeed the numerous other Jolly Ploughboys out there, we gave it a new title.

Mike [Vass] wrote the last tune [Give It a Wee Try], named after a wonderful phrase that made its way into the band’s road trip lingo, from a recording of the storyteller Davie Stewart on Martyn Bennett’s Grit album.

Stephanie Hladowski sang The Pretty Ploughboy in 2012 on her and Chris Joynes’ CD The Wild Wild Berry. They noted Harry Cox’s recording from 1934 as their source.

TRADarrr sang Simple Ploughboy on their 2015 album Cautionary Tales.

Andy Turner learned The Pretty Ploughboy from Walter Pardon’s albums. He sang it as the 1 April 2025 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week.

Note: The Copper Family’s The Brisk Young Ploughboy, also sung by the Watersons as The Brave Ploughboy, is quite another song with a harvest supper theme.

Lyrics

Harry Cox sings The Pretty Ploughboy

It’s of a brisk young ploughboy, he was ploughing on the plain,
And his horses stood down in yonder shade.
It was down in yonder grove, he went whistling to his plough,
And by chance there he met a pretty maid, pretty maid,
And by chance there he met a pretty maid.

So the song that he sang as they walked along,
“Pretty maid, oh, you are of high degree.
If I should fall in love and your parents they should prove,
O the next thing they would send me to the sea, to the sea,
And the next thing they would send me to the sea.”

So when her aged parents they came for to know
That her love he was ploughing on the plain,
They sent for the press gang and pressed her love away.
And they sent him to the wars to be slain, to be slain,
And they sent him to the wars to be slain.

So she dressed herself up all in that’s her best
And her pockets had been well lined with gold.
You should see her trudge the streets with a tear all in her eye.
She was searching for her jolly sailor bold, sailor bold,
She was searching for her jolly sailor bold.

So the first that she met was a jolly sailor bold.
“Have you seen my pretty ploughing boy?” she cried.
“He’s just across the deep and he’s sailing for the fleet.”
And he said, “My pretty maid, will you ride, will you ride?”
And he said, “My pretty maid, will you ride?”

So she sailed until she came to the ship her love was in
And unto the Captain did complain.
She said, “I’m come in search for my pretty ploughing boy,
Who was sent to the wars to be slain, to be slain,
Who was sent to the wars to be slain.”

So five hundred bright guineas she then did lay down,
And so freely she told them all o’er,
Until she got her pretty ploughboy all in her arms,
And she hugged him till she got him safe on shore, safe on shore.
And she hugged him till she got him safe on shore.

She set those bells to ring and so sweetly she did sing,
Just because she’d saved the lad that she adore, she adore,
Just because she’d saved the lad that she adore.

Caroiline Hughes sings The Pretty Ploughing Boy

O that was not the song, boy, we wrote it going along,
When five horses stood underneath the shade.
My purty ploughing boy, now, I’m come to let you know
That we got to be stowed all in the wars for slaying.

Now T stands for Tom, O, and J spells for John,
And my Willie is the best of all the lot.
Well, I will not cut down, no a feather at a fall,
And get married to the young girl I redore.

O that was not the song, boy, we wrote it going along,
When five horses stood underneath the shade.
O my purty ploughing boy, now, I’ve come to let you know
That you got to be stowed all in the wars for slaying.

Daisy Chapman sings The Jolly Ploughboy

There was a jolly ploughboy, was plooing on his land,
With his horses beneath yon green shade;
And he whistled and he sang as his ploo it slid alang,
And his chance it was to meet a pretty maid, pretty maid,
And his chance it was to meet a pretty maid.

O she dressed herself up in a young man’s array,
With her pockets well lined with gold;
And she’s walked up the street so nimbly and so neat,
That she looks like a jolly sailor bold, sailor bold,
That she looks like a jolly sailor bold.

She went to the captain that ruled o’er the ship,
And to him she did grievously complain;
She says, “I’m a-looking for my jolly plooboy,
They have sent him to the wars to be slain, to be slain,
They have sent him to the wars to be slain.”

Lemmie and Harry Brazil sing The Pretty Ploughing Boy

All for a pretty ploughing boy was ploughing on the plain,
His two horses stood resting in the shade;
And as he went whistling down in yonder’s grove,
There he chanced for to meet a pretty maid.

For this was his song as he walkèd along,
Pretty maid I devy an degree;
If I should fall in love with you my pretty maid,
Your parents they will have me sent to sea.

Now her father overheard it and straight away he goes,
To Johnny the ploughboy on the plain;
He sent for a press gang and pressèd him away,
He was once sent to the wars to be slain.

When she had dressed all in her very best,
And her glove it was lined with gold;
She walked the streets with the tears in her eyes,
In search of her ploughing boy so bold.

Five hundred bright guineas the fair maid she pulled out,
And so merrily she told them all around;
Saying, “All this I will give for my pretty ploughing boy,
That was once sent to the wars to be slain.”

Royston Wood sings The Pretty Ploughboy

It’s of a brisk young ploughboy, was ploughing on the plain,
And his horses stood down in yonder shade.
It was down in yonder grove, he went whistling to his plough
And by chance there he met a pretty maid, pretty maid,
And by chance there he met a pretty maid.

Then this young lad did sing as they walked along,
“Pretty maid, oh, you are of high degree.
If I should fall in love the mind your parents disapprove
And the next thing they would send me to the sea, to the sea,
And the next thing they would send me to the sea.”

And when her aged parents they came for to know
That her love he was ploughing on the plain,
They sent for the press gang and pressed her love away
And they pressed him to the wars to be slain, to be slain,
And they pressed him to the wars to be slain.

So she dressed herself up all in her best
And her pockets had been well lined with gold.
You should see her trudge the streets with a tear all in her eye;
She was searching for her jolly sailor bold, sailor bold,
She was searching for her jolly sailor bold.

So the first man that she met was a jolly sailor bold.
“Have you seen my pretty ploughing boy?” she cried,
“O he’s just across the sea and he’s sailing for the fleet.”
He said, “My pretty maid, will you ride, you ride?”
He said, “My pretty maid, will you ride?”

So she sailed until she came to the ship her love was in
And unto the Captain did complain.
She said, “I’ve come in search for my pretty ploughing boy,
Who was pressed into the wars to be slain, to be slain,
Who was pressed into the wars to be slain.”

So four hundred bright guineas she then did lay down,
And so freely she told them all o’er
Until she got her pretty ploughboy all in her arms,
And she hugged him till she got him safe on shore, safe on shore.
And she hugged him till she got him safe on shore.

And she set the bells to ring and so merry she did sing,
Just because she’s saved the lad that she adore, she adore,
Just because she’s saved the lad that she adore.

Walter Pardon sings The Pretty Ploughboy

It’s of a pretty ploughboy stood gazing on his plough,
And his horses stood underneath the shade,
‘Twas down in yonder meadows he was standing by his plough
When by chance there he spied a pretty maid, pretty maid,
When by chance there he spied a pretty maid.

The song that he sung as he walked along,
“Pretty maid, you’re of high degree.
If I should fall in love and your parents should know it
The next thing they would send me to the sea, to the sea,
The next thing they would send me to the sea.”

And when the aged parents they came for to know
That her love was a-ploughing on the plain,
They sent for the press gang and pressed her love away
And they sent him to the wars to be slain, to be slain,
And they sent him to the wars to be slain.

She went home and dressed herself all in her best
And her pockets she lined with gold.
With tears all in her eyes she trudged along the streets
In search of her jolly sailor bold, sailor bold,
In search of her jolly sailor bold.

The first man she met was a jolly sailor.
“Have your seen my pretty ploughboy"? she cried.
“They’ve sent him on the deep, he’s a-sailing with the fleet.”
And he said,“My pretty maid, will you ride, will you ride?”
And he said, “My pretty maid, will you ride?”

She rode til she came to the ship her love was in,
And unto the captain did complain.
She said, “I’ve come to seek for my pretty ploughboy,
Who they’ve sent to the wars to be slain, to be slain,
Who they’ve sent to the wars to be slain.”

One hundred bright guineas she did then lay down.
So thrilled, her tale she told them o’er,
Until she got her pretty ploughboy into her arms,
And she hugged him till she got him safe on shore, safe on shore,
And she hugged him till she got him safe on shore.

And when she had got her ploughboy safe into her arms,
Where he had oft-times been before,
She set those bells to ring and so sweetly she did sing
Just because she met the lad that she adore, she adore,
Just because she met the lad that she adore.

Bob Lewis sings The Pretty Ploughboy

It’s of a pretty ploughboy stood gazing o’er his team,
His horses stood underneath the shade.
That wild youth goes whistling, goes a-whistling to his plough,
And by chance he used to meet a pretty maid, a pretty maid,
And by chance he used to meet a pretty maid.

“If I should fall in love with you, it’s my pretty maid
And your parents they came for to know,
The very first thing would be, they’d send me to the sea,
They would send me in the wars to be slain, to be slain,
They would send me in the wars to be slain.”

Now when her aged parents they came for to know
That ploughboy was a-ploughing on the plain,
The pressgang was sent and they pressed her love away
And they sent him in the wars to be slain, to be slain,
And they sent him in the wars to be slain.

It was early next morning when she early rose
With her pockets well lined with gold.
See how she traced the streets with the tears all in her eyes,
In search of her jolly ploughboy bold, ploughboy bold,
In search of her jolly ploughboy bold.

Now the very first she met was a brisk young sailor bold,
“Have you seen my pretty ploughboy?” she cried.
“He’s gone unto the deep; he’s a sailing in the fleet;
He’s a sailing on the tide, pretty maid, pretty maid,
He’s a-sailing on the tide, pretty maid.”

Now she rowed until she came to the ship her love was in
And straightway to that captain did complain.
“I’ve come for to seek my pretty ploughboy,
That is sent in the wars to be slain, to be slain,
That is sent in the wars to be slain.”

She took out fifty guineas and she trolled them on the floor,
And gently she told them all o’er,
And when she’d got her ploughboy safe all in her arms,
Then she rowed her pretty ploughboy safe on shore, safe on shore,
Then she rowed her pretty ploughboy safe on shore.

Eliza Carthy sings Pretty Ploughboy

It’s of a brisk young ploughboy, he was ploughing on the plain,
And his horses stood down in yonder shade.
It was down in yonder grove he went whistling to his plough,
And by chance there he met a pretty maid, pretty maid,
And by chance there he met a pretty maid.

And when her aged parents they both came for to know
That her love he was ploughing on the plain,
They sent for the press gang and sent her love away,
And they sent him to the wars to be slain, to be slain,
And they sent him to the wars to be slain.

So she sailed till she came to the very ship she thought her love lay in
And unto the Captain she did complain.
She says, “I’m come in search for my pretty ploughing boy,
Who was sent unto the wars to be slain, to be slain,
Who was sent unto the wars to be slain.”

So four hundred bright guineas with her hand she did lay down,
And so freely she told them out all o’er,
Until she got her pretty ploughboy all in her arms,
And she hugged him till she got him safe on shore, safe on shore.
And she hugged him till she got him safe on shore.

And she set those bells to ring and so sweetly she did sing,
Just because she saved the lad that she adored, she adored,
Just because she saved the lad that she adored.

Acknowledgements

Eliza Carthy’s version was transcribed by Kira White. Thank you!