Singers at the Youth Traditional Song conference. Photo by Lorelei Erisis.
Photo by Lorelei Erisis
Country Dance & Song Society > Publications > Listen > Song of the Month

Song of the Month

Join us each month in song!

Since 2016—our designated Year of Song—CDSS has featured a traditional song each month. Lorraine Hammond spearheaded this effort, and it was such a popular feature that Judy Cook volunteered to continue the tradition in 2017 and beyond. 

Note: Many of these old songs should be looked at as “fairy tales for adults” in that they often address very strong, and sometimes scary, subject matter. They allow us to deal with difficult situations and emotions with the distance afforded by putting it in a song. They are cautionary tales, and had their use as such.

This month’s song:

  • A farmer napping in a barren field June 2023: The Lazy Farmer

    (Young Man Who Wouldn’t Hoe Corn)

    Submitted by Lea Coryell

    This traditional American folksong, perhaps originating in the Midwest, can be traced back to at least 1905. It’s been documented throughout the country, and many different versions exist. I love it because it works well for solo voice and drop-thumb banjo.

    Did the young man fail because of laziness or bad weather? Traditional verses offer conflicting reasons, so perhaps we were meant to wonder. In my shortened version, the farmer has nothing and no one to blame but himself. You may choose to characterize it differently, so I include a longer version with fine traditional verses I chose to omit.

    Listen to Lea performing “The Lazy Farmer.” Recording copyright Lea Coryell; used by permission.

    Sheet music for "The Lazy Farmer"
    Download the sheet music for “The Lazy Farmer.”

    Lyrics (as sung by Lea Coryell)

    The banjo is in modal tuning, capo 4 (bF#BEF#)

    I’ll sing you a song it’s not very long
    About a lazy farmer wouldn’t hoe his corn
    The reason he wouldn’t I cannot tell
    That young man was always well
    That young man was always well

    He went to the field and he looked therein
    The jimson weeds were up to his chin
    The bushes and the grasses had grown so high
    Enough to make that young man cry
    Enough to make that young man cry

    He went down to his neighbor’s door
    Where he had often been before
    Sayin’ “Pretty little miss will you marry me?
    Pretty little miss now what you say?
    Pretty little miss now what you say?”

    “Oh why do you come to me to wed
    When you can’t even raise your own cornbread?
    Single I am and so I’ll remain
    A lazy man I won’t maintain
    A lazy man I won’t maintain

    “Now why don’t you go and court the widow
    And I hope to the dickens that you don’t get her”
    She give him the mitten just as sure as you’re born
    And all because he wouldn’t hoe corn
    All because he wouldn’t hoe corn
    All because he wouldn’t hoe corn
    All because he wouldn’t hoe corn

    Lyrics (as sung by Tom Paley)

    I’ll sing you a song it’s not very long
    About a lazy farmer wouldn’t hoe his corn
    The reason why I cannot tell
    For that young man was always well
    That young man was always well

    He planted his corn on June the last
    In July it was up to his eye
    But in September there came a great frost
    And all that young man’s corn was lost
    All that young man’s corn was lost

    He went to the field and he looked therein
    The bushes and the grass had grown so high
    The bushes and the grass had grown so high
    For to make that young man sigh
    For to make that young man sigh

    His courtship had just begun
    She said “Young man, have you hoed your corn?”
    “I’ve tried, I’ve tried, I’ve tried in vain
    But I don’t believe I’ll raise one grain
    I don’t believe I’ll raise one grain”

    “Why do you come to me to wed
    When you can’t even raise your own cornbread?
    Single I am and I will remain
    A lazy man I won’t maintain
    A lazy man I won’t maintain

    “Now why don’t you try and court the widow
    I hope to the devil that you don’t get her”
    She give him the mitten as sure as you’re born
    And all because he wouldn’t hoe his corn
    All because he wouldn’t hoe corn

    Now his courtship was at an end
    On his way he then began
    Saying “Young miss, I’ll have another girl
    If I have to ramble this whole wide world
    If I have to ramble this whole wide world”

    He hung his head and he turned away
    “Sometime, Miss, you’ll rue the day
    You’ll rue the day that you were born
    For givin’ me the devil cause I wouldn’t hoe corn
    Givin’ me the devil cause I wouldn’t hoe corn”

    Lea Coryell, an Ohio native now living in Lovettsville, Virginia, began folk singing during the late 1970s. He is a retired librarian, a genealogist, and a founding member of the Reston-Herndon Folk Club in Virginia.

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