> The Watersons > Songs > The Khaki and the Blue / The Ploughboy

The Khaki and the Blue / The Old Militia Drum / The Ploughboy

There are two completely different songs called The Ploughboy sung by the Watersons. This one, also called The Khaki and the Blue after the first line of the chorus, is on their 1966 album A Yorkshire Garland. Like most of the tracks from this LP, it was re-released in 1994 on the CD Early Days. A live recording of The Khaki and the Blue from Tithe Barn, Laycock, during the Chippenham Folk Festival in July 1977, was published in 2004 on the Watersons' 4 CD anthology Mighty River of Song.

A.L. Lloyd commented in the original album's sleeve notes:

So poor was the existence of oldtime farm labourers, even army life and army pay seemed a golden prospect. The race of treacle-tongued and bloody-minded recruiting sergeants from Farquhar's Sergeant Kite onward exploited the situation by deception and sharp practise, depicting a life of ease, wenching, plunder and quick promotion, to the gullible yokels. The young ploughboy of this song has swallowed the bait readily enough. Yet songs of this sort are rare compared with the large repertory of songs about the farm boys who desert when they realise the realities of military life. This is another song that the Watersons got from Mick Taylor of Hawes in 1965.

Oak sang this song as The Scarlet and the Blue in 1971 on their Topic LP Welcome to Our Fair, and this track was also included on their Musical Traditions anthology Country Songs and Music.

George Spicer sang this song as The Old Militia Drum between 1972 and 1974 in his home in Selsfield, West Hoathly, Sussex, recorded by Mike Yates. This was released in 1974 on his Topic LPBlackberry Fold: Traditiona l Songs and Ballad.

A related song is the Irish The Merry Ploughboy where the ploughboy joins the IRA instead of the British army, and on which Dominic Behan seems to have based Off to Dublin in the Green. This was also recorded by the Dubliners and Wolfe Tones.

The Watersons sang a completely different The Ploughboy at an EFDSS concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London on June 4, 1965, which was released on the LP Folksound of Britain. This recording has also been included in 2004 on the Watersons' 4 CD anthology Mighty River of Song.

Lyrics

The Watersons sing The Ploughboy

Well I once was a merry ploughboy
I was a-ploughing in the fields all day
Till a very funny thought came to me head
That I should roam away
O I'm tired of my country life
Since the day that I was born
So I've gone and joined the army
And I'm off tomorrow morn

Chorus (after each verse):: Hoorah for the khaki and the blue
Helmets glittering in the sun
Bayonets flash like lightning
To the beating of a military drum
And no more will I go harvesting
Or gathering the golden corn
'Cos I got the good king's shilling
And I'm off tomorrow morn

Well I'll leave aside my pick and spade
And I'll leave aside my plough
And I'll leave aside my old grey mare
For no more I'll need her now
For there's a little spot in England
Up in the Yorkshire dales so high
Where we mast the good king's standard
Saying we'll conquer or we'll die

But there's one little thing I must tell you
About the girl I leave behind
And I know she will prove true to me
And I'll prove true in kind
And if ever I return again
To my home in the country
I'll take her to the church to wed
And a sergeant's wife she'll be

Acknowledgements and Links

Transcribed from the singing of the Watersons by Garry Gillard, with significant assistance from Steve Willis.