John Jeffreys - I Will Go With My Father a-Ploughing

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I will go with my father a-ploughing
To the green field by the sea
And the rooks and the crows and the seagulls
Will come flocking after me
I will sing to the patient horses
With the lark in the white of the air
And my father will sing the plough-song
That blesses the cleaving share

I will go with my father a-sowing
To the red field by the sea
And the rooks and the gulls and the starlings
Will come flocking after me
I will sing to the striding sowers
With the finch on the greening sloе
And my father will sing the seed-song
That only the wisе men know

I will go with my father a-reaping
To the brown field by the sea
And the geese and the crows and the children
Will come flocking after me
I will sing to the tan-faced reapers
With the wren in the heat of the sun
And my father will sing the scythe song
That joys for the harvest done

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John Jeffreys

John Jeffreys (1927-2010) was born to Welsh parents in Thanet, Kent, and composed very much in a traditional English pastoral vein. Unable to receive much recognition in the 1970s, he destroyed much of his music and worked as a garden designer for council housing, writing a couple of books on the subject. However, in the following decade, he found a tape of his works and was able to reconstruct some of his music.