Welcome to the ‘Spoils of the Hunt’ blog
4th September 2024: This was a beer-themed Song Hunt, to celebrate the autumn harvest. After a brief foray into Sumerian drinking songs, we took a deep dive into the much-loved traditional song, John Barleycorn, in which barley is personified as a man, and the beer-making process depicted as a story of cruel tortures visited upon him. The hunt uncovered lots of juicy questions – ‘What’s with the harvest human sacrifice?’ ‘When did we start personifying booze?’ ‘Where did the character of John Barleycorn come from?’ – but, very few reliable answers… as usual! 😂
Session videos
Part 1: historical background and tenuous ancient parallels!
Part 2: some (very!) different transmissions of John Barleycorn
Musical Score
If you’d like to try singing my three-part harmony arrangement of this song, you can find it in my online shop, including an option to order a free perusal score.
Links to some resources mentioned in the Hunt…
- Anthrochef’s blog on Sumerian Beer
- Loanable digitization of Kathleen Herbert’s Looking for the Lost Gods of England, at Internet Archive
- The Bannatyne Manuscript
- Blog on the old Scots versions
- Essay on corn dollies and other harvest rituals, by Robin Wright
- Nice Barleycorn blog, with video
Excellent John Barleycorn recordings
(There are millions, so this is a bit of an arbitrary selection… but I love them!)
If you enjoyed this Imaginary Song Hunt, please drop some pennies into the tip jar… And feel free to use the ‘comments’ box below to share feedback or fun facts!