Shall I Show You How the Farmer

DESCRIPTION: "Shall I show you how the farmer (x3) Sows his barley and wheat?" "It is so, so, that the farmer... Sows his barley and wheat." "Shall I show you how the farmer... Hoes his barley and wheat?" "Shall I show... Now will dance and be gay?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1864 (Mann and Peabody)
KEYWORDS: nonballad farming playparty food
FOUND IN: US(MA,NE)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 50-51, "Shall I Show You How the Farmer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie/Opie-TheSingingGame 70, "The Peasant" (1 text, 1 tune)
Korson-PennsylvaniaSongsAndLegends, pp. 96-98, "Willst du weizen? (Do You Want to Know?)" (1 German text plus non-poetic English translation, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Mrs Horace Mann and Elizabeth P. Peabody, Moral Culture of Infancy (Boston, 1864 ("Digitized by Google")), #7 p. 4, "The Peasant" (1 text, 1 tune)
J.P. McCaskey, Franklin Square Song Collection No. 1 (New York, 1881 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 20, "The Farmer" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Lins050 (Partial)
Roud #12865
NOTES [107 words]: The "peasant" version, which I have lumped with the "farmer" version, seems just to replace "farmer" with "peasant." For example, "Would you know how does the peasant, (3x) Sow his barley and wheat?" "Look, 'tis so, so does the peasant, (3x) Sow his barley and wheat." (Mann and Peabody) - BS
I would guess the change went the other way; "farmer" sounds like a much more high-class occupation than "peasant." But the relationship seems clear.
I am not sure that Korson's Pennsylvania Dutch song is actually the same as the English song; the idea is so easy that it could well have arisen independently. But it's not worth a separate listing. - RBW
Last updated in version 3.2
File: Lins050

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