John Barleycorn / John Renbourn

John Barleycorn (must die), as a song, is very nice. Everybody will have heard it at least once, I guess. It was popularised by Traffic on the album "John Barleycorn must die". Steve Winwood has arranged it as a kind of lament about the death of John Barleycorn.

Traffic, John Barleycorn (must die). 1972.



It is also a very strange and macabre song. Dating back to at least the 16th century it tells the story of the growth and harvesting of barley (the grain used to make beer and whiskey) in an allegorical way. The barley has become a person, John Barleycorn, who is ritually murdered by three kings, dismembered and buried in a field, only to grow up again in the spring.

This allegory must have survived hundreds of years before it was first written down in the 16th century. It is a survival of Indo-European pre-christian beliefs and practices: the ritual sacrifice of people. Victims have been found preserved in peat deposits and bogs throughout northern Europe. They suffered the so called threefold killing: the victims have been stabbed, strangled and drowned. The practice was widespread through Europe: Julius Caesar wrote in De Bello Gallico about sacrificial victims that were burned inside a large haystack. Similar practices by Slavs or Russians have been found by archeologists and have even been described by an eyewitness, a 10th century Muslim traveller to Kiev.

But the song is not a lament, it is story telling that might even be called cheerful. Maybe that is why, of the many versions I have heard, that I really like the version by the John Renbourn Group. It is bright, you can almost dance to it, and the arrangement is very clever, almost like a canon.

John Renbourn, a classically trained guitarist with interest in Early Music, started playing jazz/blues/folk music in the 60's, shared an appartment and already recorded with Bert Jansch, before they started The Pentangle. After the break up of Pentangle, John toured with Jacqui McShee and three other musicians, calling themselves the John Renbourn Group. They recorded two studio and one live album, very fine and refined music.

• A Maid in Bedlam (1977)
• Black Waterside / Nacht Tanz - Shaeffertanz  / A Maid in Bedlam / Gypsy Dance - Jews Dance / John Barleycorn / Reynardine / My Johnny Was a Shoemaker / Death and the Lady / The Battle of Augrham - Five in a Line / Talk About Suffering
• Remastered as Castle CMRCD1247 in 2004
• flac, cue, scan
• The Enchanted Garden (1980)
• Belle Qui Tient Ma Vie-Tourdion / The Truth From Above / Le Tambourin / The Plains Of Waterloo / The Maid On The Shore / Douce Dame Jolie / A Bold Young Farmer / Sidi Brahim
• Reissued on CD as Shanachie SH 79074 in 1990
• Beautiful collection of medieval, renaissance and folk music, with some interesting Indian flavours.
• flac, scans, cue
• Live in America (1981)
• Castle CMRCD1247 - 2005 Remaster

There is also a 1996 compilation of the first two records on Edsel EDCD 472, called appropriately: John Barleycorn.

For d/l, again use code zcxkas.