This traditional song was featured in the Kitchen Scene in Ways of Seeing, sung by the two Victorian maids, Rose and Daisy.
The Bonny Labouring Boy
As I roved out one May morning all in the blooming spring
I overheard a maid complain and grievous did she sing
How cruel were her parents; they did her so annoy
For they would not let her marry with her bonny labouring boy.
Now Johnny was her true love’s name as you may plainly see
Her parents they employed him their labouring boy to be
To plough the soil and reap and mow all on her father’s land
And she did fall in love with him as you may understand.
“His hair is like the raven’s wing, his eyes are blue as the sky
His face it is the finest that ever I espied
He’s manly, neat and handsome, his cheeks are like the snow
And in spite of both my parents with Johnny I will go.”
We’ll fill our glasses to the brim and let the toast go round,
Here’s a health to every labouring boy who ploughs and sows the ground,
Who, when his daily work is o’er, it is home he’ll go with joy,
And happy is the girl that weds the bonny labouring boy.
Traditional