Song information On this page you can find the lyrics of the song John Barleycorn, artist - Jethro Tull.
Date of issue: 13.09.1992
Song language: English
John Barleycorn |
There were three men came out of the West |
Their fortunes for to try |
And these three men made a solemn vow: |
John Barleycorn must die |
They’ve ploughed, they’ve sown, they’ve harrowed him in |
Threw clods upon his head |
And these three men made a solemn vow: |
John Barleycorn was dead |
They’ve let him lie for a very long time |
Till the rains from heaven did fall |
And little Sir John sprung up his head |
And so amazed them all |
They’ve let him stand till midsummer’s day |
Till he looked both pale and wan |
And little Sir John’s grown a long, long beard |
And so become a man |
They’ve hired men with the scythes so sharp |
To cut him off at the knee |
They’ve rolled him and tied him by the way |
Serving him most barbarously |
They’ve hired men with the sharp pitchforks |
Who pricked him to the heart |
And the loader he has served him worse than that |
For he’s bound him to the cart |
They’ve wheeled him around and around the field |
Till they came unto a barn |
And there they made a solemn oath |
On poor John Barleycorn |
They’ve hired men with the crab-tree sticks |
To cut him skin from bone |
And the miller he has served him worse than that |
For he’s ground him between two stones |
And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl |
And his brandy in the glass; |
And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl |
Proved the strongest man at last |
The huntsman, he can’t hunt the fox |
Nor so loudly to blow his horn |
And the tinker he can’t mend kettle nor pot |
Without a little Barleycorn |