Annotation:Lazy Farmer Boy (A)

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X:1 T:Lazy Farmer Boy (A) T:Young Man Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn (The) T:Harm Link N:From the playing of fiddler Posey Rorer accompanied by guitarist Preston N:Young (of the duo Buster Carter & Preston Young--Carter did not play on N:this cut). M:C| L:1/8 Q:"Moderately Quick" R:Air D:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/lazy-farmer-boy D:Fokways SFW 40090, Buster Carter & Preston Young - Anthology of D:American Folk Music (1997) D:Columbia 15702D (78 RPM), Buster Carter & Preston Young (1931) Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:Dmix AA|d2d2 edcc|A2 G2 AG AA|c2A2 d2c2|[M:3/2]A6 GG AGA2| [M:C|]d2 dd edcc|A2 [GA]-[AA]- [AA]BAG|[M:3/2]EDCC DEDC A,4| A-BAG EDC2 ED C2|[M:C|] [D6D6]||

LAZY FARMER BOY (A). AKA - "Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn (The)," "Harm Link," "Lazy Young Man (The)," "Young Man Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn (The)." American, Song (2/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. The song was recorded in New York in June, 1931, by Virginia banjo player Buster Carter and guitarist Preston Young (b. 1907), both singers. Fiddler Posey Rorer (late of Charlie Poole's North Carolina Ramblers) accompanied them as a side man, although on this cut Carter sat out, and it is only Rorer and Young playing (with vocal by Young). The group (who also went by the name "The Carolina Buddies") recorded ten sides but only a few were released; they evidently did not sell well for the group broke up by the end of the year. Young gave up music for the stability of regular work. The song, variants of which also go by the names "Young Man Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn (The)" and "Harm Link," tells of a young man who planted his corn too late, eventually losing his crop in a September frost. In addition, his inaction is the cause of his rejection in his courtship. The song begins:

Well, I'll sing a little song, but it ain't very long,
About a lazy farmer 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.

The songs origins are unclear, but it was in widespread circulation by at least the beginning of the 20th century ^[1]. Bluegrass versions include Alison Krauss & Union Station who recorded the song under the title "The Boy Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn," and Richard Green as "The Young Man Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn."

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Posey Rorer [Milliner & Koken]

Printed sources : - Milliner & Koken (Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes), 2011; p. 376.

Recorded sources : - Columbia 15702-D (78 RPM), Buster Carter & Preston Young (1931). Flying Crow 104a, The Canebreak Rattlers. Folkways SFW 40090, Buster Carter & Preston Young - "Anthology of American Folk Music" (1997). MMC 9045d, Bob Bovee and Gail Heil.

See also listing at :
Hear Posey Rorer and Preston Young's 1931 recording at Slippery Hill [1] and youtube.com [2]

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↑ "The Young Man who Wouldn't Hoe Corn," H. M. Belden, Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society, Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Studies, 1955, p. 440. "Communicated by Mrs. Carrie Phelps of West Plains, Howell County, in 1905."

[1] "The Young Man who Wouldn't Hoe Corn," H. M. Belden, Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society, Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Studies, 1955, p. 440. "Communicated by Mrs. Carrie Phelps of West Plains, Howell County, in 1905."

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