The Plooman’s Due

On Springthyme SPRCD 1043
Shepheard, Spiers & Watson: Over the High Hills

Pete Shepheard: I learnt this from the singing of Archie Webster of Strathkinness in Fife in 1968 (Springthyme 17.6.68). The song tells of a day in the life of the ploughmen in the Spring of the year as they are called out by the foreman to work their horses on the land. Archie was himself a made horseman and worked on the farm of Denbrae outside St Andrews where the work of the farm was done entirely with horse and man until the 1950s.

The song is in the Greig Duncan collection under the title Harrowing Time where, as here, it is sung to variations of the tune Drumdelgie. (Roud 5587, Greig Duncan 3:421)

Pete (vocal and melodeon) with Tom (fiddle) and Arthur (whistle)

1: Cauld winter now is over an Spring is come again,
The cauld winds o Mairch month has driven awa the rain;
Has driven awa the dreary rain likewise the frost an snaw,
An the foreman in the mornin has ordered oot tae saw.

2: Has ordered oot tae saw my boys an we maun follae fast,
But we’re told by oor hard maister that there’ll be nae time tae rest;
For we maun be intae the yoke each mornin by half five,
An merrily merrily ower the rigs oor horses we will drive,

3: We wander then till twelve o’clock tae dinner then we go,
We scarce hae gotten a half an oor when the foreman cries, “Hallo!
Hallo, hallo, hallo ma lads, it’s yokin time again,
Come let us get it aa harried afore it comes on rain.”

4: We wander then until the sun behind the hill does hide,
'Tis then oor horses we will lowse an hameward we will ride;
Hameward we will ride ma boys an get oor horses fed,
We’ll kame them weel fae hape tae heel an their tails an manes we’ll rade.

5: An after that we supper then an after that we hie,
Tae see oor bonnie lassies a-milkin o their kye;
A-milkin o their kye ma lads an pree their cherry mou,
An tak a daffin oor or twa, shak hands an bid adieu.

6: 'Tis noo ma song I mean tae end and end it up wi this,
Let ploomen get mair wages it is the ploomen’s wish;
Let ploomen get mair wages it is the ploomen’s due,
For he keeps up the rich and grand by the sweat that’s on his broo.
Let ploomen get mair wages it is the ploomen’s due,
For he keeps up the rich and grand by the sweat that’s on his broo.