> Peter Bellamy > Songs > The Honest Labourer

The Honest Labourer / The Nobleman and the Thrasherman

[ Roud 19 ; Ballad Index R127 ; trad.]

Ron Copper sang Honest Labourer in a 1963 recording by Peter Kennedy on the EFDSS LP Traditional Songs from Rottingdean, which was reissued in 2001 on the Topic CD Come Write Me Down: Early Recordings of the Copper Family of Rottingdean; and Bob Copper recorded it in May 1995 for the CD Coppersongs 2: The Living Tradition of the Copper Family.

Frank Hinchliffe sang this song as The Nobleman and the Thrasherman in a recording made by Mike Yates in 1976 on his 1977 Topic album In Sheffield Park: Traditional Songs from South Yorkshire.

Peter Bellamy sang The Honest Labourer in 1985 on his EFDSS album Second Wind. He commented in the album's sleeve notes:

The folksongs of the genuinely disadvantaged tell us a great deal about their aspirations; Big Bill Broonzy song of the Big Black Cadillac he probably never got to own; how many Gypsy-girl fortune-tellers snared their rich young lords? Anyway, I doubt it it was an everyday occurrence for an Honest Labourer to luck into “fifty acres of good land” simply by being honest, working hard and for saying nice things about his wife. But who could blame them for putting their wishful fantasies into song? My version is an amalgam of two, one from the beloved Copper Family of Sussex, the other from Yorkshire's splendid Frank Hinchliffe.

Lyrics

The Copper Family sings Honest Labourer

It was of an honest labourer as I've heard people say,
He goes out in the morning and he works hard all the day.
And he's got seven children and most of them are small,
He has nothing but hard labour to maintain them all.

A gentleman one morning walking out to take the air,
He met with this poor labouring man and solemnly declared,
“I think you are that thresher-man.” Said he, “Yes, sir, that's true.”
“How do you get your living as well as you do?”

“Sometimes I do reap and sometimes I do mow,
At other times to hedging and to ditching I do go.
There is nothing comes amiss to me from the harrow to the plough,
That's how I get my living by the sweat of my brow.

“When I go home at night just as tired as I be
I take my youngest child and I dance him on my knee.
They others they come around me with their prittle-prattling toys
And that's the only comfort a working man enjoys.

“My wife and I are willing and we join both in one yoke,
We live like two turtle doves and not one word provoke.
Although the times are very hard and we are very poor
We can scarcely keep the raving wolf away from the door.”

“Well done, you honest labourer, you speak well of your wife,
I hope you will live happy all the days of your life.
Here is forty acres of good land which I will give to thee
Which will help to maintain your sweet wife and family.”

Peter Bellamy sings The Honest Labourer

It is of an honest labourer as I've heard people say,
He goes out in the morning and he works hard all the day.
And he's got seven children, most of them are small,
𝄆 He has nothing but hard labour to maintain them all. 𝄇

It is of a noble gentleman walked out to take the air,
He met this honest labouring man and solemnly declared,
“I think you are that thresher-man.” “Yes, sir,” said he, “that's true.”
𝄆 “How do you get your living just as well as thou do?” 𝄇

“Well, sometimes I do reap, sometimes I do mow,
At other times to hedging and to ditching I do go.
There is nothing come amiss to me from the harrow to the plough,
𝄆 That is how I get my living by the sweat of my brow. 𝄇

“When I come home at evening just as weary as can be
I take my youngest child and I dance him on my knee.
My children gather round me with their prittle-prattling toys
And 𝄆 that is all the pleasure a poor man enjoys. 𝄇

“And my wife she is willing, we both join in one yoke,
We live just like two turtle doves and not one word provoke.
Although the times are very hard and we are very poor
𝄆 Yet still we keep the raving wolf away from the door.” 𝄇

“Well done, thou honest labourer, you speak well of your wife,
I'll make you to live happy all the days of your life.
Here is fifty acres of good land I'll give to thee
𝄆 To maintain your wife and your love family.” 𝄇