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A Lazy Farmer Boy

from One Way or Another by Robin Holcomb

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about

A Lazy Farmer Boy has been played by meaning artists over the year.
Most people think it is "traditional" but it was composed by Buster Carter and Preston Young. This version was originally arranged for a program of music from Harry Smith's Anthology of American Music. The concert was produced by the late Hal Wilner. It also appears on The Big Time, Robin Holcomb's final release on Nonesuch, produced by Wayne Horvitz and Tucker Martine. This track features Danny Barnes and Eyvind Kang among others.

lyrics

I have a little story, it’s not very long
About a lazy farmer boy who wouldn’t hoe his corn
And why this was I never could 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
In September there came a big frost
And that poor farmer’s corn was lost
That poor farmer’s corn was lost

He’d head to the field he got there last
The weeds and the grass were up to his chin
The grass and the weeds they grow so high
They caused that poor man for to sigh
Caused that poor man for to sigh

When his courtship it did begin
She said dear man have you hoed your corn
Well I tried I tried I tried in vain
But I don’t believe I’ll raise one grain
Don’t believe I’ll raise one grain

Why do you come to me to wed
If you won’t raise your own cornbread
Single I am and will remain
But a lazy man I won’t maintain
A lazy man I won’t maintain

He hung his head and he walked away
Saying kind miss you’ll rue the day
You’ll rue the day that you were born
For giving me the devil cause I wouldn’t hoe my corn
Giving me the devil cause I wouldn’t hoe my corn



Now his courtship has come to an end
As he walked away he did begin
Saying kind miss I’ll have another girl
If I have to ramble this big round world
Have to ramble this big round world

credits

from One Way or Another, released October 14, 2022
Robin Holcomb- Plano and Voice

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about

Robin Holcomb Seattle, Washington

Robin Holcomb’s music has been called “staggeringly beautiful.” by the New York Times. Through her times sharecropping tobacco as a young woman, as an improvising pianist on New Yorks’ downtown scene in the 80s, and three decades of creating an utterly idiosycratic catalog of songs, Ms. Holcomb has created a singular canon as a composer. ... more

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