The Farmer and the Gun

This song has an interesting history. It's the first one for which I've also written the tune...sort of. The tune is inspired by a number of sources, including “Rose, Rose" (which is a “traditional” piece), "Heigh, Ho, Nobody Home" (Ravenscroft, 1609), as well as the dance music to “Goddesses” (Playford 1651). The sentiment is similar to that of “Three Ravens” (Ravenscroft, 1611).

Part of the reason I actually wrote the music is that I got the idea for the chorus first, and spent a lot of time trying to find a song to match it. I finally decided that it's about time I “grew” a bit as a musician and began writing my own tunes. Creating the tune was actually the easy part; the difficult part was creating something that was different from something I'd heard before. At the end of the day, I realized I'd rung a (very minor) variation on Rose, Rose (also known as Heigh, ho, nobody home).

As I said, I came up with the chorus first. One of the common complaints about the military is that recruiters often spend a lot of time in poorer neighborhoods, because they know their yield is better there. So a disproportionate amount of the military is drawn from the lower classes. Meanwhile, guess who decides whether the military goes into action?

The situation is largely historical, in the sense that in the days of the armored knight, warfare was a prerogative of the rich. The situation changed with the advent of mass armies, which is largely a product of firearms (the firelock being an early version of a longarm): it cost more to field one armored knight than a platoon of arquebusers, and a lot less time, effort, and money was required to train them.

For sake of historical completeness, the lyrics were finished on December 10, 2005, though I've added a few stanzas and made some minor modifications since then. Note that the final chorus is slightly different from the others. Notes follow.

Once long ago in a land far away A poor young freeman heard a Captain say, "Come off to war with the king's loyal band, In the end he'll give you a grant of land." Chorus The king fought for glory, the duke fought for gold The captain for praise of his actions so bold All the young freeman desired was some land And the feel of the earth in his own hand. Said the good freeman to his young new wife, "When I come back we'll begin our new life, On the king's land no more rent shall we pay And our friends and kin can come by each day." Chorus Given a firelock and taught how to fight Told "With this gun you can bring down a knight." Placed on a ship and then sent 'cross the sea To fight for the king in a far country. Chorus One happy day came a page with a tale. "Your wife has born a son, strong and hale." Said the good freeman, "Go tell my wife, When this war ends, we'll begin our new life." Chorus Proudly the freeman fought in the field. His gun brought down many foes with sword and shield Then one day in a dry and dusty place A bursting bus shattered body and face.

Chorus The king kept his word, gave the farmer his land. A hillside plot where mighty oak trees stand On the king's land no more rent does he pay And his wife and son come visit every day.

Final chorus The king got his glory, the duke got his gold The captain was praised for his actions so bold And the young farmer got his plot of land And the feel of the earth in his own hand.

Notes

When Bardic Championships 2010 came around, with a theme of "Love and War," I did this as my second round piece because I was under the mistaken impression that you were supposed to do two different styles (my first round piece was the Hermes and Argus story). As it turned out, you didn't need to change styles...some day, I'll actually read the rules beforehand. Still, I'm happy with the pieces I did, and ended up being the only person who sang in the second round.

The piece was written in 2005, and I had originally planned to perform this at the Bardic Championships in 2006. But since the preceding performances were all "downers", I did Master of the Field instead, and made it all the way to the door. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I did this piece...but if I had done so, I wouldn't have done it in 2010. So I kept it in my repertoire and allowed it to mutate naturally (what you see is the final version). There are some minor changes, including the substitution of "freeman" for "farmer" throughout (though, in a fit of whimsy, I'm leaving the title unchanged...let music historians of the future wonder about it).

I will note one important change. The original final line in the penultimate stanza was: "The farmer's gun exploded in his face." I was never happy with that line, but never had any incentive to fix it. However, the fact that I'd be performing it in 2010 made me think it over, and I ended with "A bursting bus shattered body and face." I believe this has far more impact: the plosives add something. "Bus", by the way, is a period term for gun (it refers to the barrel), though it has an obvious double meaning in today's world.