The plough boy

“The Plough Boy” is Rundy’s song from The Farmer (1787), the text by John O’Keefe (1747-1833) and the music by William Shield (1794:3.3). Few pieces had the immediate impact of “The Plough Boy,” with its optimistic lyrics and bouncy tune. It was published in sheet music in 1788, anthologized in song collections, and soon many arrangements of the tune and parodies of the lyrics appeared. Bohemian composer Jan Ladislav Dussek (1760-1812), who came to London in 1789, wrote a concerto “in which is introduced the favorite air of the Plough Boy” (Schnapper 301). Many other arrangements of the tune appeared over the next twenty years. The text appeared in twenty-four songsters between 1790 and 1820 (R. Keller, Early American Songsters). While the lyrics eventually faded away, the tune is still played by American contradance bands in New England today.

This broadside is one of seven English prints Thomas added to his collection of Coverly broadsides before having them bound (see The Sailor’s Departure from His True Love Susan). Three of the English prints are identified as coming from John Evans’s press at Long Lane, West Smithfield, between 1791 and 1792, and the others resemble them closely. They are printed from engraved plates and the fine details of the illustrations are enhanced with watercolors. Broadsides like these were rare in America although not unknown.