There was three men came out of the west,
Their fortunes for to try,
And these three men made a solemn vow,
John Barleycorn should die.
With these words begins the ancient English Folk Ballad “John Barleycorn.” The name “John Barleycorn” implies that he is a substitute for the grain crop, barley. The attacks that John Barleycorn suffer are similar to what befalls the grain when it is harvest.
From barley comes bread, beer, and whiskey, therefore barley was one of the most important crops in Europe.
Is John Barleycorn Pagan Music for Sacrifice? Barleycorn and The Golden Bough
The life and death of John Barleycorn is reminiscent of the death and rebirth of the Sun, something revered by Europe before the coming of Christianity. The barley dies with the harvest, but its seeds live on to rise again in the Spring and grow to maturity in the Summer. As the ballad goes:
Then they let him lie for a very long time
Till the rain from heaven did fall,
Then little Sir John sprung up his head,
And soon amazed them all.
Another interpretation is that John Barleycorn is a substitute for the “Corn King.” According to The Golden Bough, by James Frazer, the Corn King is a man in certain cultures, who would be chosen to be a sacrifice for the harvest. According to Frazer, he would be treated like royalty for a year, and at the end of the year would be sacrificed, his body dragged through the fields that his blood might make the barley grow.
Frazer's study of the Corn King is later echoed in Steven King’s “Children of the Corn” and even in an episode of South Park, where Brittany Spears is sacrificed for the harvest.
John Barleycorn as a Christian Song
Because of the symbolism of John Barleycorn as one who dies that others might live, it was very easy for early Christian missionaries to alter the song for their use. As mentioned above, barley is used to make bread and beer which is then eaten. It is difficult to relate this to the body and blood of Christ.
In the hands of the Christians, John Barleycorn no longer represented the change of seasons or human sacrifice, but as a Christ-like figure that suffers greatly for the benefit of others.
They hired men with the crab-tree sticks
To cut him skin from bone,
And the miller he served him worse than that,
For he ground him between two stones
Modern Renditions Of John Barleycorn
The most famous modern version of “John Barleycorn” is by Traffic, off of their album John Barleycorn Must Die. However, there are several other modern versions.
- Jethro Tull
- Fairport Convention
- John Renbourn
- Steeleye Span
- Martin and Eliza Carthy with Paul Weller
In addition, Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote his own version of “John Barleycorn,” in which the victim gets his proper respect in the last verse:
Then let us toast John Barleycorn,
Each man a glass in hand;
And may his great posterity
Ne'er fail in old Scotland!
Related Reading
For those interested in American Folk Songs, see "The True Story of Tom Dooley."
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