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> June Tabor > Songs > Silly Sisters: Singing the Travels

The Husbandman and the Servingman / Singing the Travels

[ Roud 873 ; Ballad Index K226 ; trad.]

The Husbandman and the Servingman is part of the medieval mummers play The Seven Champions of Christendom from Symondsbury near Bridport, Dorset, and is a heated discussion about the merits or otherwise of being employed or independent. In Shakespeare's time most English villages had their local amateur acting companies, who on Christmas or Plough Monday performed traditional dramas in the streets or the halls of great houses. This custom has now almost died out. Peter Kennedy recorded on Christmas 1951 in Symondsbury a fragment of revived but genuine version of this play which has been included in the Alan Lomax Collection CD World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: England.

Peter Bellamy starring as the servingman (employed soldier) and Royston Wood as the husbandman (farmer) sang alternate verses of The Husbandman and the Servingman on The Young Tradition's last LP, Galleries; both sang the repeated stanzas of the husbandman. Heather Wood commented in the album's sleeve notes:

There is very limited tradition of harmony singing in England: a notable example is the Copper family of Sussex. This song comes from the Cantwell brothers of Oxford.

Maddy Prior and June Tabor recorded this dialogue as Singing the Travels for their album Silly Sisters. A live recording from the Maddy Prior, Family & Friends Christmas tour of 1999 was published on her CD and video Ballads and Candles.

Lyrics

The Young Tradition sing The Husbandman and the Servingman

Well met, well met, my friend, all on the highway riding,
Though freely together here we stand.
I pray do tell to me of what calling this shall be
And art thou not a servingman?

Oh no, my brother dear, what makes you to inquire
Of any such thing from my hand?
𝄆 Indeed I will not feign but I will tell you plain:
I am a downright husbandman. 𝄇

Well, if a husbandman you be, will go walk with me,
Though freely together here we stand.
For in a very short space I may take you to a place
Where you may he a servingman.

Now still I'm diligence, I give thee many thanks,
But not do I require from thine hand.
𝄆 But I pray now to me show wherefor that I may know
The pleasures of a servingman. 𝄇

Well, isn't it a nice thing to ride out with a king,
With lords, dukes or any such men;
For to hear the horn to blow and see the hounds all in a row,
That's pleasures of a servingman.

But my pleasure's more than that, to see my oxen fat
And a good stock of hay by them stand;
𝄆 With my plowing and my sowing, my reaping and my mowing,
That's pleasures of an husbandman. 𝄇

But then we do wear the finest of grandure,
My coat is trim with for all around;
Our shirts are white as milk and my stockings made of silk:
That's clothing for a servingman.

As to thy grandure give I the coat I wear
Some bushes to ramble among;
𝄆 Give to me a good greatcoat and in my purse a grout,
That's clothing for an husbandman. 𝄇

But then we do eat the most delicate fine meat
Of goose, and of capon, and of swan;
Our pastry's made so fine, we drink sugar in our wine,
That's diet for a servingman.

While you eat ducks and capons, give I my beans and bacon,
And a good drop of ale now and then;
𝄆 For in a farmer's house you will find both brawn and souse,
That's a living for an husbandman. 𝄇

Kind sir, I must confess although it causes me distress
To grant to you the uppermost hand;
Although it is most painful, it is altogether gainful
And I wish I'd been a husbandman.

So now, good people all, both be you great and small,
All know the king of our land;
𝄆 And let us, whatsoever, to do our best endeavor,
For to maintain an husbandman. 𝄇

The Silly Sisters sing Singing the Travels

Well met, my brothers dear, all along the highway riding,
So solemn I was walking along.
So pray come tell to me what calling yours may be
And I'll have you for a servantman.

Some serving men do eat the very best of meat
Such as cock, goose, capon and swan;
But when lords and ladies dine, they drink strong beer, ale and wine
That's some diet for a servantman.

Don't you talk about your capons, let's have some rusty bacon
And aye, a good piece of pickled pork.
That's always in my house, a crust of bread and cheese
That's some diet for a husbandman.

When next to church they go with their livery fine and gay
And their cocked hats and gold lace all around,
With their shirts as white as milk, and stitched as fine as silk:
That's some habit for a servantman.

Don't you talk about your livery nor all your silken garments,
That's not fit for to travel the bushes in.
Give me my leather coat, aye, and in my purse a groat:
That's some habit for a husbandman.

So me must needs confess that your calling is the best
And will give you the uppermost hand.
So now we won't delay but pray both night and day;
God bless the honest husbandman.