The song John Barleycorn is performed by Traffic in the album named Smiling Phases in the year 1991 .
There were three men came out of the west
Their fortunes for to try
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn must die
They've ploughed, they've sown, they've harrowed him in
Threw clouds upon his head
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn was dead
They've let him lie for a very long time
Till the rains from heaven did fall
And little Sir John sprung up his head
And so amazed them all
They've let him stand till midsummer's day
Till he looked both pale and wan
And little Sir John's grown a long, long beard
And so become a man
They've hired men with the scythes so sharp
To cut him off at the knee
They've rolled him and tied him by the way
Serving him most barbarously
They've hired men with the sharp pitchforks
Who pricked him to the heart
And the loader he has served him worse than that
For he's bound him to the cart
They've wheeled him around and around the field
Till they came unto a barn
And there they made a solemn oath
On poor John Barleycorn
They've hired men with the crab-tree sticks
To cut his skin from bone
And the miller he has served him worse than that
For he's ground him between two stones
And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl
And he's brandy in the gla*s
And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl
Proved the strongest man at last
The huntsman, he can't hunt the fox
Nor so loudly to blow his horn
And the tinker he can't mend kettle nor pot
Without a little Barleycorn
Traffic - Smiling Phases
- Paper Sun
- Hole In My Shoe
- Smiling Phases
- Heaven Is In Your Mind
- Coloured Rain
- No Face, No Name, No Number
- Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush
- Dear Mr. Fantasy
- You Can All Join In
- Feelin' Alright
- Pearly Queen
- (Roamin' Thru The Gloamin' With) 40,000 Headmen
- Vagabond Virgin
- Shanghai Noodle Factory
- Withering Tree
- Medicated Goo
- Glad
- Freedom Rider
- Empty Pages
- John Barleycorn
- Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys
- Light Up Or Leave Me Alone
- Rock And Roll Stew
- Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory
- Walking In The Wind
- When The Eagle Flies