To the Ploughboy

Conductor Notes:

from Folk Songs of the Four Seasons

Text:

Come all you young ploughboys and help me to sing,

I’ll sing in the praise of you all,

For if we don’t labour how can we get bread?

Let’s sing and be merry withal.

Here’s April, here’s May, here’s June and July,

What pleasure to see the corn grow,

In August we moil, we reap, sheath and tie,

And go down with our scythes, for to mow.

And when we have laboured and reaped every sheaf,

And gleaned up every ear,

We’ll make no more ado but to plough we will go,

To provide for the very next year.