IV. Farmer; Young Man Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn; Wayfaring Stranger

American Songs for American Children
Benjamin A. Botkin
Music Educators Journal, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Sep. - Oct., 1944), pp. 39+66

American Songs for American Children

UNITED STATES FOLK-SONG SERIES-NO. 4

MOST of us are familiar with American songs of occupations that complain of the hardships of this, that, or the other life-the sailor's, the lumberjack's, the cowboy's, the miner's. Less well known but often still harder-hitting are the songs of the hardworking farmer. The three farmers' songs reproduced here are all characterized by homely humorousness-a quality which, although not present in the original Wayfaring Stranger, has been attracted into the parody. All three are as American as a cornfield. Carl Sandburg heard The Farmer Comes to Town from a milkman in Galesburg, Illinois, in the early
1890's. This was the period of the Farmers' Alliance,
which produced many songs of protest and propaganda,
like Will Carleton's But the Mortgage Worked the
Hardest. But W. W. Delaney told Sandburg that The
Farmer Comes to Town dates from the 1860's, following
the Civil War. Besides being a lively document, it is a
good song-quizzical in mood and sprightly in tune.
Young Man Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn is more in the
vein of Springfield Mountain. The humor is as dry as
the moral.
The noble white spiritual, Wayfaring Stranger, lately
popularized by Burl Ives, has lent itself nicely to adaptation
by the farmer in describing his plight. Here religious
resignation has muted the social criticism.
-B. A. BOTKIN

EXTRA STANZAS
The Farmer Comes to Town
When the lawyer hangs around,
While the butcher cuts a pound,
Oh, the farmer is the man who feeds them all.
And the preacher and the cook
Go a-strolling by the brook,


Oh, the farmer is the man who feeds them all.
Chorus:
The farmer is the man,
The farmer is the man,
Lives on credit till the fall;
With the int'rest rate so high,
It's a wonder he don't die,
For the mortgage man's the man who gets it all.
When the banker says he's broke,
And the merchant's up in smoke,
They forget that it's the farmer feeds them all.
It would put them to the test
If the farmer took a rest;
Then they'd know that it's the farmer feeds them all.
Chorus:
The farmer is the man,
The farmer is the man,
Lives on credit till the fall;
And his pants are wearing thin,
His condition it's a sin;
He's forgot that he's the man who feeds them all.
Young Man Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn
He planted his corn in the month of June
And in July it was knee high;
First of September came a big frost
And all this young man's corn was lost.

The Farmer Comes to Town
When the far-mer comes to town, With his wag-on bro-ken down, Oh, the
far - mer is the man who feeds them all. If you'll
on - ly look and see, I am sure you will a - gree That the
C HORUS
far - mer is the man who feeds them all. The
far - mer is the man, The far - mer is the man,
Lives on cred - it till the fall; Then they
takehim by the hand And they lead him from the land, And the
mid - die man's the man who gets it all.

Young Man Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn
I'll sing you a song and it's not ver - y long, It's a -
bout a young man who would - n't hoe corn; The rea -son why,
I can't tell, This young man was al - ways well.

Wayfaring Stranger
I'm just a poor way - far - ing stran - ger, a - trav'- ling
through this world of woe; But there's no sick - ness, toil nor
dan - ger in that bright world to which I go. I'm go - ing
there to see my fa-ther, lin go- ing there no more to roam, I'm just a -
go - ing o - ver Jor - dan, I'm just a - go - ing o -ver home.

Young Man Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn
He went to the fence and there peeped in,
The weeds and the grass came up to his
chin;
The weeds and the grass they grew so high,
They caused this young man for to sigh.
So he went down to his neighbor's door,
Where he had often been before:
"Pretty little miss, will you marry me?
Pretty little miss, what do you say?"
"Here you are, a-wanting for to wed
And cannot make your own cornbread!
Single I am, single I'll remain,
A lazy man I'll not maintain.
"You go down to that pretty little widow
And I hope by heck that you don't get her."
She gave him the mitten, sure as you're
born,
All because he wouldn't hoe corn.
ITayfaring Str anger
I'm just a poor wayfaring stranger,
A-trav'ling through this world of woe;
But there's no sickness, toil nor danger
In that bright world to which I go.
I'm going there to see my mother,1
I'm going there no more to roam,
I'm just a-going over Jordan,
I'm just a-going over home.
The following modern verses from Virginia
and Florida, respectively, have been
received:
Our fathers dear fought for our liberty,
Across the ocean they did roam,
They suffered pain and many hardships,
For in this land to build a home.
We've lived here many generations,
And many dear ones here have died,
But still our lives are filled with trouble,
In vain a helping hand we've cried.
I'm just a poor and lonesome traveler,
Behind a mule that's powerful slow,
A-creaking on to debt and worry,
The only place that I can go.
My father lived and died a farmer,
A-reaping less than he did sow;
And now I travel in his footsteps,
A-knowing less than he did know.
1And so on for brother, sister, etc.

NOTE: The texts and tunes of these three songs have been reproduced from A Treasury of American Folklore: Stories, Ballads,
and Traditions of the People, edited by B. A. Botkin (copyright, 1944, by B. A. Botkin), by special permission of Crown Publishers.