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The Painful Plough

The Painful Plough (Impact IMP-A 103)

The Painful Plough
Songs and Ballads of the Agricultural Labourer
(Joseph Arch Centenary Celebrations)
Various Artists

Topic/Impact Records IMP-A 103 (LP, UK, 1972)

The songs presented here and additional songs, together with extracts from the writings of Joseph Arch (1826-1919; founder of the National Agricultural Labourers' Union, 1872) and other documents, are included in a book edited by Roy Palmer: The Painful Plough, published by Cambridge University Press.

Recorded by Dick Swettenham in Birmingham in 1971;
Notes and production by Roy Palmer;
Sleeve design by Humphrey Weightman

Musicians

The Singing Tradition (Julie West, Martyn Briggs, Bob Lapworth, Mick Nash), vocals [1, 8];
Bob Lapworth, concertina [1], guitar [5];
John Swift, vocals [2-3, 7], flat-backed lute [2-3, 7], bastard lute [5], guitar [11, 13-14];
John Rose, fiddle [3, 14];
Roy Palmer, vocals [4-6];
Martyn Briggs, vocals [5];
The Broken Consort (Anne Crozier, concertina [6], bowed psaltery [8]; Trevor Crozier, mouth organ [6], pandora [8]; Vic Gammon, whistle [6], concertina [8]);
Mike Herring, vocals [9-10];
Mick Steele, mandolin [9];
Paul Hipkiss, vocals [11, 13];
Julie West, vocals [12]

Tracks

Side 1Side 2
  1. The Painful Plough
  2. The Honest Ploughman
  3. Poor Shepherds
  4. Eight Shillings a Week
  5. My Master and I
  6. The Owslebury Lads
  7. Pity Poor Labourers
  1. We Poor Labouring Men
  2. The Sucking Pig
  3. Rigs of the Times
  4. The Farmers Done Over
  5. Sheep Shearing
  6. The New Fashioned Farmer
  7. Prop of the Land

All tracks trad.