Barleycorn Pie

Verses by Jeff Bigler Chorus by Louise Godchaux Music by Don McLean

There were three men come from the west, To put their fortunes to the test, And they made a solemn vow. The three of them all gave a cry That said, “John Barleycorn must die And it really doesn't matter how.” They plowed him in three furrows deep So in the cold ground he could sleep Laid clods all on his head Declared that he was dead! Well then there came a shower of rain John Barleycorn sprang up again And thus he did amaze the men The day the barley died. And we were singing…

[Chorus:] Bye-bye, this John Barleycorn guy So the harvest doesn't starve us, so the grain will grow high His sacrifice is for the wheat and the rye Singin', “This'll be the day that I die, This'll be the day that I die.”

Well then came men with sharpened scythes To cut him off below his thighs, They served him barbarously. The loader, he has served him worse Put Barleycorn in a horse-drawn hearse And they rolled him all around the field. And then they took John Barleycorn And brought his body to the barn And men with crabtree sticks Skinned him just for kicks! And when they'd cut him skin from bone They brought him to the miller's home And ground him in-between two stones The day the barley died. And we were singing…

[Chorus]

The brewer took the remains of him And in a vat, he bunged him in And added yeast and hops. John Barleycorn lived to tell the tale Only now we call him home-brewed ale And we drink his health in a nut-brown bowl. Well he proved the strongest man of all And for some, he has been their downfall Poor John Barleycorn! Died and was reborn! Now the huntsman cannot hunt the fox, And the tinker cannot mend his pots, And none of us can warm our thoughts, Without John Barleycorn! And we were singing…

[Chorus]