John Barleycorn (Must Die)

Lyrics

[Verse 1] There were three men came out of the west Their fortunes for to try And these three men made a solemn vow: John Barleycorn must die [Verse 2] They've ploughed, they've sown, they've harrowed him in Threw clods upon his head And these three men made a solemn vow: John Barleycorn was dead [Verse 3] They've let him lie for a very long time Till the rains from heaven did fall And little Sir John sprung up his head And so amazed them all [Verse 4] They've let him stand till Midsummer's Day Till he looked both pale and wan And little Sir John's grown a long, long beard And so become a man [Verse 5] They've hired men with the scythes so sharp To cut him off at the knee They've rolled him and tied him by the way Serving him most barbarously [Verse 6] They've hired men with the sharp pitchforks Who pricked him to the heart And the loader he has served him worse than that For he's bound him to the cart [Verse 7] They've wheeled him around and around the field Till they came unto a barn And there they made a solemn oath On poor John Barleycorn [Verse 8] They've hired men with the crab-tree sticks To cut him skin from bone And the miller he has served him worse than that For he's ground him between two stones [Verse 9] And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl And his brandy in the glass; And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl Proved the strongest man at last [Verse 10] The huntsman, he can't hunt the fox Nor so loudly to blow his horn And the tinker he can't mend kettle nor pot Without a little Barleycorn