Lazy Farmer - Railroad Boy - with lyrics (traditional folk song, 1975)

Group: Lazy Farmer (with Wizz Jones) Album: Lazy Farmer (1975) Lyrics of "Railroad boy": She went upstairs to make her bed And not a word to her mother said Her mother she went upstairs too Saying "daughter oh daughter, what troubles you?" "Oh Mother mother, I cannot tell of that Railroad Boy I love so well" There is a place in London town Where that Railroad Boy goes and sits down He takes some strange girl on his knee And he tells to her what he won't tell me Her father he came home from work saying "where's my daughter? She looks so hurt" He went upstairs for to give her hope and he found her hanging by a rope He took his knife for to cut her down, And on her breasts these words he found "Go dig a grave both wide and deep Place a marble stone at my head and feet And over my coffin place a snow white dove To prove to the world I died for love." Members: Wizz Jones - guitar, vocals Sandy Jones - five-string banjo, vocals Don Coging - five-string banjo John Bidwell - flute, flageolet, guitar, vocal Jake Walton - dulciner, hurdy-gurdy, guitar, vocal Tracklist: 1 Lazy Farmer Traditional 3:10 2 Standing Down in New York Town McTell 3:32 3 Railroad Boy Traditional 3:02 4 Soldier's Joy/Arkansas Traveller Traditional 2:19 5 Turtle Dove Traditional 3:18 6 John Lover's Gone Traditional 1:46 7 Johnson Boys Traditional 2:41 8 Love Song Adams 4:47 9 The Cuckoo Ashley, Lazy Farmer, Smith 4:03 10 Sally in the Garden/Liberty Traditional 2:42 11 Gipsy Davey Traditional 2:36 12 When I Leave Berlin Jones 3:16 Lazy Farmer's sole, rare album is solid and full-bodied (if conventional and unremarkable) British folk, with a repertoire heavily grounded in traditional tunes. Indeed, eight of the 12 tracks on Lazy Farmer are traditional in origin, while another, "The Cuckoo," is not exactly uncommon to the English-speaking folk world. With a quintet featuring four vocalists, two five-string banjo players, and two multi-instrumentalists in John Bidwell (flute, flageolet, guitar) and Jake Walton (dulcimer, hurdy-gurdy, guitar), the band has a richer, deeper sound than many British groups with a similar style. Collectors might be most attracted to this by the presence of noted U.K. folk figure Wizz Jones, though he wrote just one of the cuts, the wistful "When I Leave Berlin," which is one of the set's highlights. The cover of Ralph McTell's "Standing Down in New York Town" makes one wish they'd put more contemporary songs onto the album; the only other non-trad item is Derroll Adams' "Love Song," an especially melancholy rumination that benefits from some very nice vocal harmonies and trade-offs. The 2005 CD reissue on Sunbeam adds comprehensive historical liner notes. Informations are from Allmusic.com http://www.allmusic.com/album/lazy-farmer-r821477

Added 17 Jul 2026