Songs extolling the virtues of the labouring man are common in English folk song, with such songs as Jim the Carter’s Lad and The Jolly Waggoner.  This song, usually entitled The Painful Plough, is in that same category.  It goes back 200 years and has been collected in Scotland and England.  This is the only Gloucestershire version.

Notes by Gwilym Davies 8 April 2016