This is a song that we sing every year around the Autumn Equinox. We learned it from Holly Tannen. We think this version is by Swansea Jack, Welsh Group 1978. It is a traditional song with many versions and alternate lyrics. The voices in this recording Are James C. Welch and Ivo Dominguez Jr.
Lyrics
“All Among the Barley”
(We learned it from Holly Tannen. We think this version is by Swansea Jack, Welsh Group 1978)
Now is come September, the Hunter's moon begun
And through the wheaten stubble
is heard the frequent gun
The leaves are pale and yellow,
and kindling into red
And the ripe and bearded barley
is hanging down its head
All among the barley, who would not be blithe
When the ripe and bearded barley
is smiling on the scythe
The spring is like a young man
who does not know his mind
The summer is a tyrant of most ungracious kind
The autumn's like an old friend,
who loves one all she can
And she brings the bearded barley
to glad the heart of man
All among the barley, who would not be blithe
When the ripe and bearded barley
is smiling on the scythe
The wheat is like a rich man,
it's sleek and well-to-do
The oats are like a pack of girls,
laughing and dancing too
The rye is like a miser,
it's sulky, lean, and small
And the ripe and bearded barley
is monarch of them all
All among the barley, who would not be blithe
When the ripe and bearded barley
is smiling on the scythe
Now is come September, the Hunter's moon begun
And through the wheaten stubble
is heard the frequent gun
The leaves are pale and yellow,
and kindling into red
And the ripe and bearded barley
is hanging down its head
All among the barley, who would not be blithe
When the ripe and bearded barley
is smiling on the scythe