Artists
Ian Anderson – lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar, mandolin, harmonica, percussion
Martin Barre – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Dave Pegg – bass guitar, mandolin
David Mattacks – drums, percussion, keyboards
George Dalaras – featured vocals (Italian edition only)
Traditional English folk song, arranged by Ian Anderson. Produced and mixed by Ian Anderson, recorded live in Athens on 13/14 May 1992 by Leon Phillips. The tenth track (about 6:34) on the live album A Little Light Music (Chrysalis, 14 September 1992).
A live acoustic take on the old folk ballad about the personified barley, killed and reborn as beer and whiskey, which was also famously recorded by Traffic in 1970. The Italian edition of the album features a duet with Greek singer George Dalaras, recorded at the Athens show, while the worldwide version uses a re-recorded vocal by Ian Anderson. The album’s tour was played as a stripped-back acoustic set across Europe in May 1992.
Jethro Tull – John Barleycorn Lyrics
There were three men came out of the West
Their fortunes for to try
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn must die
They’ve ploughed, they’ve sown, they’ve harrowed him in
Threw clods upon his head
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn was dead
They’ve let him lie for a very long time
Till the rains from heaven did fall
And little Sir John sprung up his head
And so amazed them all
They’ve let him stand till midsummer’s day
Till he looked both pale and wan
And little Sir John’s grown a long, long beard
And so become a man
They’ve hired men with the scythes so sharp
To cut him off at the knee
They’ve rolled him and tied him by the waist
Serving him most barbarously
They’ve hired men with the sharp pitchforks
Who pricked him to the heart
And the loader he has served him worse than that
For he’s bound him to the cart
They’ve wheeled him around and around the field
Till they came unto a barn
And there they made a solemn oath
On poor John Barleycorn
They’ve hired men with the crab-tree sticks
To cut him skin from bone
And the miller he has served him worse than that
For he’s ground him between two stones
And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl
And he’s brandy in the glass
And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl
Proved the strongest man at last
The huntsman, he can’t hunt the fox
Nor so loudly to blow his horn
And the tinker he can’t mend kettle nor pot
Without a little Barleycorn
To listen to other songs from the the Teleskop 26 program click here.