The Jolly Waggoner is an English folk-song.

Synopsis

A waggoner looks back on his life. His parents had disapproved of his choice of profession, but has no regrets. He can be cold and wet, but he simply stops at the next inn and sits with the landlord, drinking. In the summer he hears the birds sing. In the autumn he has lots of work and the money rolls in. What a jolly life!

Commentary

Several websites say "This country song could date back to the time when waggons replaced packhorses". Most versions refer to the arrival of steam

"The world's turned topsy-turvy lads and things, is run by steam"

A date in the early nineteenth century therefore seems much more sensible than the eighteenth century. In the early nineteenth century only the rich could afford to travel long distances. Most people would rarely travel more than a few miles from their house. This goes some way to explaining why the waggoner takes so much pleasure in travelling the countryside. The roadbuilding that took place in the late 18th century made travelling in a wheeled vehicle much more pleasurable. Those who were first to transport goods by road would make a quick profit. The waggoner can laugh at his parents for failing to spot this business opportunity.

Historical Background

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...

 collected it from Mr Rose, landlord, at Acle Norfolk in 1908. Alfred Williams collected it from David Sawyer of Ogborne, Upper Thames. Sabine Baring-Gould and Cecil Sharp also collected it. The distribution of the song appears to be confined to England, though an early broadsheet version comes from Dublin. Some sources say it is particularly popular in the west of England, though Kidson found it in Yorkshire, and Robert Bell found in Tyne and Wear.

Cultural Relationships

As with most occupational folk songs, it is full of praise for his chosen way of life, and totally upbeat. This would be an ideal song for a traveller using a horse-drawn caravan, but there is no history of any traveller including it in his repertoire.

Other printed versions

• "Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England" ed by Robert Bell (1857)
• Frank Kidson
  Frank Kidson
  Frank Kidson was an English folksong collector and music scholar.He was born in Leeds, where he lived for most of his life. He worked briefly with his brother in an antique business, then turned to landscape painting, for which he travelled widely, which gave him the opportunity to get to know...
  
   found it in Yorkshire
• "A Garland of Country Songs" by S Baring Gould and H Fleetwood Shepherd (probably collected between 1888 and 1917)
• Alfred Williams "Folk songs of the Upper Thames" song dated c 1914-16
• "Twice 44 Sociable Songs" by Geoffrey Shaw (1928)
• "The Oxford Song Book" vol 2 (1963)
• "Everyman's Book of English Country Songs" ed by Roy Palmer. (1979)

Textual Variants

There is almost no variation in the text. However, the most well-known recording, by the Watersons, uses the title "The Jolly Waggoners", even though the song is quite patently about an individual waggoner. All the printed sources have the title "The Jolly Waggoner".

Songs that refer to The Jolly Waggoner

None. Another song, with similar sentiments is "Jim The Carter Lad", as sung by the Cooper Family, and "Country Carrier".

Motifs

In the line which mentions gold

We'll make the gold to fly, my boys, like chaff before the wind

there is a suggestion that he has turned chaff (wheat stalks cut into small fragments) into gold (i.e. profit). This is a motif which occurs in the fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin

Rumpelstiltskin

Rumpelstiltskin is the eponymous character and protagonist of a fairy tale which originated in Germany . The tale was collected by the Brothers Grimm, who first published it in the 1812 edition of Children's and Household Tales...

. This is probably just a co-incidence.

Recordings

Album/Single	Performer	Year	Variant	Notes
"Travelling For a Living"	The Watersons The Watersons The Watersons were an English folk group from Hull, Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies.-Career:...	1965	"The Jolly Waggoners"	Live version. Broadcast on TV in 1966. Issued as a DVD ("Mighty River of Sound") in 2004.
"The Watersons"	The Watersons	1966	.	.
"A Shropshire Lad"	Fred Jordan Fred Jordan (singer) Fred Jordan was a farm worker from Ludlow, Shropshire, and is noted as one of the great musically untutored traditional English singers. He was first recorded in the 1940s by folk music researcher Alan Lomax and, over subsequent decades endeared himself to the English folk-song revival movement...	1950s or 60s	"Jolly Waggoner"	.
"Lark in the Morning"	The Freemen	1971	.	.
"Dorset Style"	The Yetties The Yetties The Yetties are an English folk music group and take their name from the Dorset village of Yetminster which was their childhood home. In 2007 The Yetties celebrated 40 years as a professional folk band....	1978	.	.
"A World Without Horses"	Walter Pardon	1970s	.	.
"Johnny's Private Army"	Johnny Collins	1975	.	.
"By Numbers"	Woobine Lizzie	1979	.	.
"Pint Pot and Plough"	Mike Ballantyne	1992	.	Canadian singer [Now on CD; see: www.mikeballantyne.ca]
"Brian Kelly In Memoriam"	Brian Kelly	c 2001	.	.
"Fields to the Stones"	The Spain Brothers	c 2003	.	.
"By Chance It Was"	Mike Bosworth with John Kirkpatrick	2004	.	.
"The Makem and Spain Brothers"	The Makem and Spain Brothers	2005	.	.

There are many pubs called "Jolly Waggoner", for example

• - Ardley, Hertfordshire
• - Hounslow, Middlesex

External references

• Folkinfo
• The Other Pages
• Columbia state University
• Note: CSU, normally a very good source of information on folk-song, is rather disappointing in this case.
• mp3