Farmer's Life For Me, A

DESCRIPTION: "A farmer's, a farmer's, a farmer's life for me. If ever I get married, a farmer's girl I'll/'twill be. The cows in the meadow, they go moo, moo, moo, The dogs in the backyard, they go bow, bow, woo... He won the heart of his sweet Mary Jane As he played"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric)
KEYWORDS: love courting animal music marriage courting
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 127, "The Dogs in the Alley" (1 fragment)
Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric 72, "A Farmer's Life for Me" (1 short text)
Roud #4968
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Soldier Boy for Me (A Railroader for Me)" (lyrics)
cf. "I Had a Little Rooster (Farmyard Song)" (theme of animal noises)
NOTES [93 words]: Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric suggests that his version is a combination of two or more songs. I think he is right, with Brown's "The Dogs in the Alley" being one of them (although that in its turn is little more than a variant on "I Had a Little Rooster (Farmyard Song)" and a second being a farming version of the chorus of "Soldier Boy for Me (A Railroader for Me)." The whole mess might benefit from further study -- but the fragments I know don't give us much to work with; I was sorely tempted to just file Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric's piece as a conflation. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.3
File: Brne072

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography