> Eliza Carthy > Songs > The Kings of Calicutt: The Buxom Lass / Three Around Three

The Buxom Lass / Three Around Three

[ Roud 833 ; Ballad Index DTthemow ; trad.]

The Buxom Lass and Three Around Three are a song and a tune played by an early incarnation of The Kings of Calicutt; here consisting of Nancy Carr, vocals and fiddle, Eliza Carthy, fiddle, and Saul Rose, concertina. They are joined on this recording by Maclaine Colston on hammered dulcimer and Dan Plews on guitar. This track was published on the 1996 Mrs Casey Records compilation Evolving Tradition 2.

Lauren McCormick and Emily Portman sang The Buxom Lass in 2007 on their privately issued EP Lauren McCormick & Emily Portman.

Lyrics

The Kings of Calicutt sing The Buxom Lass

A labouring lad walk'd out one day and he met with a buxom lass,
Belonging to a dairyman, she had a field of grass,
It grew between two mountains at the foot of a running spring,
She hir'd him out to cut it down while the birds did sweetly sing.

He said, “My handsome fair maid, what wages will you give?
For mowing is hard labour unless your scythe be good.”
She says, “If you should please me well, as I am a lady clear,
I will give a crown an acre and plenty of strong beer.”

He said, “You handsome fair maid, I like your wages well,
And if that I should mow your grass you'll say it done well,
For my scythe is in good order and lately has been ground,
And so, bonny lass, I'll mow your grass till it's down unto the ground.”

With courage like a lion he entered in the field,
But before he had mowed one swathe of grass he was obliged to yield,
Before he had mowed one swathe of grass his scythe was bent and broke.
She said, “My handsome fair man, you're tired of your work.”

She said, “My handsome fair man, you're tired of your work,
Oh, mowing is hard labour and weakening to the back,
yes, mowing is hard labour and it you must forsake,
But around my little meadow, you may use your fork and rake.”

He said, “My handsome fair maid, pray do not on me frown,
For if I stayed the summer long I could not cut it down,
For it is such a pleasant place and grows such crops of grass,
For it is well-watered by the spring that makes it grow so fast.”