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John Blunt / Get Up and Bar the Door

[ Roud 115 ; Child 275 ; Ballad Index C275 ; trad.]

Ewan MacColl sang the comical domestic tale with a ring of Aesop, Get Up and Bar the Door, in 1956 on his and A.L. Lloyd's Riverside album The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Volume I. It was reissued with his other songs in this series in 2009 on the Topic CD Ballads: Murder—Intrigue—Love—Discord.

Tony Rose sang this song as John Blunt on his 1971 album Under the Greenwood Tree. He commented in his sleeve notes:

John Blunt has this same wry sense of humour [as Basket of Eggs on the same album -ed]. The song occurs frequently in Scots' versions as The Barring of the Door. It is one of the very few songs to acknowledge the social significance of black puddings—usually goes down well in Bury!

Martin Carthy sang John Blunt on his 1972 album Shearwater and a few years later live at the Folkfestival '76 Dranouter. He commented in the original album's sleeve notes:

Lord Randall and John Blunt must be among the more widespread story-ideas in the folk consciousness, the stories remaining more or less the same and varying according to locale and-or the individual imagination of whoever sings them. Variations on the idea of John Blunt range from the Arabian tale where the new husband wins the argument with his bride when she pleads for his life as he is about to be executed for insolence in refusing to answer police questions, to another which has hemp-eating tomb robbers arguing over who shall shut the gate of the vault in which they habitually gorge themselves. Nothing quite so extreme here, but would-be rapists and burglars might take note.

The Silly Sisters (Maddy Prior and June Tabor) sang this in 1988 as The Barring of the Door on their second album, No More to the Dance. They were accompanied by Dan Ar Braz, guitar, Huw Warren, keyboards, and Patsy Seddon & Mary Macmaster (a.k.a. Sileas), clarsachs.

And Frankie Armstrong sang John Blunt accompanied by John Kirkpatrick in 1996 on her ballads album Till the Grass O'ergrew the Corn. The sleeve notes commented:

The characters who inhabit ballads are a notably wilful lot. In this “domestic” ballad, we are a world away from castle and greenwood, from heroines with milk-white skin and heroes on berry-brown steeds. Yet still the protagonists are involved in a titanic struggle of wills on that most unforgiving battle field of all: married life. Sung by Mrs Seale in Dorchester Union in December 1906, where maybe she had little but her songs to keep her warm. Those who see folksongs as pretty relics from a vanished rural Arcadia should be sobered by how many were collected in workhouses.

Jon Boden learnt John Blunt from the singing of Martin Carthy and sang it as the April 12, 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.

Lyrics

Tony Rose sings John Blunt	Martin Carthy sings John Blunt
There was an old couple lived under a hill, And Blunt it was their name o. And they had a good beer and ale for to sell And it bore a wonderful name o.	There was an old couple lived under the hill, Blunt it was their name o. They had good beer and ale good to sell And it bore a wonderful fame o.
John Blunt and his wife drank free of this ale Till they could drink no more o; Then up to bed the old couple went But forgot to bar the door o.	John Blunt and his wife they drank of the drink Till they could drink no more o; They both got tired and they went up to bed But forgot to bar the door o.
So they a bargain, bargain made, They made it strong and sure o: That which of them should speak the first word Should go down and bar the door o.	So they a bargain, bargain made, Made it strong and sure o: The first of them should speak the first word Should get up and bar the door o.
And there came travellers, travellers three, Travelling through the night o. And no house, no home, no fire had they, Nor yet no candlelight o.	So there came travellers, travellers three, Travelling in the night o. No house, no home, no fire had they, Nor yet no candlelight o.
They came straightway to John Blunt's house And quickly opened the door o, And the devil of a word the old couple said For fear who should bar the door o.
They went to his cellar and drank up his drink Till they could drink no more o; And they went to his cupboard and ate up his meat Till they could eat no more o.	They went to his cellar, they drank up his drink Till they could drink no more o; But never a word did the old couple speak For fear who should bar the door o.
It's first they'd eaten the white puddings And then they'd eaten the black o. The old woman she listened and said to herself, “May the devil slip down with that o.”	They went to his larder, they ate up his food Till they could eat no more o; But never a word did the old couple speak For fear who should bar the door o.
Then quickly they procured a light And quickly went upstairs o, And then they threw the old woman out of her bed And they laid her on the floor.	They went upstairs, they went to his room, They broke down the door o; But never a word did the old couple speak For fear who should bar the door o.
	They hauled his wife all out of the bed, Laid her out on the floor o; Then up got poor John Blunt in his bed For he could stand no more o.
Up spoke John Blunt, “You've eaten my meat, And laid my wife on the floor o.” “You spoke the first word John Blunt, she said, Go down and bar the door o.”	Said, “You've eaten my food and drunk all my drink, Laid her out on the floor o.” “You spoke the first word John Blunt, she said, So go down and bar the door o.”

Silly Sisters' The Barring of the Door

It fell about the Martinmas time
And a gay time it was then o
That our good wife had puddings to make
And she boiled them in the pan o.

The wind blew cold from east and north
And blew into the floor o,
Quoth our good man to our good wife,
“Get up and bar the door o.”

“My hand is in my hussyfskap,
Good man, as you may see o.
If it should be barred this hundred years
It'll not be barred by me o.”

They made the pact between the two
They made it firm and sure o:
Whoever should speak the very first word
Should rise and bar the door o.

Then by and came two gentlemen
At twelve o'clock at night o,
And they could see that in the house
There was coal nor candle light o.

“Oh, have we here a rich man's house
Or have we here a poor o?”
But never a word would the old couple speak
For the barring of the door o.

So first they ate the white puddings
And then they ate the black o;
And muckle thought the good wife herself
But ne'er a word she spoke o.

Then one unto the other did say,
“Here man, take ye my knife o.
Do you take off the old man's beard
And I'll kiss the good wife o.”

“But there's no water in the house
And what shall we do then o?
What ails ye at the pudding broth
That boils in yonder pan o.”

Oh, up then started our good man
And an angry man was he o,
“Well ye kissed my wife before my eyes
And scald me with pudding broth o.”

Oh up then started our good wife,
Gave three skips on the floor o,
“Good man ye have spake the very first word:
Get up and bar the door o.”

Note: hussyfskap (Scottish) = household chores

Acknowledgements

Martin Carthy's version transcribed by Garry Gillard.