Verses by Jeff Bigler
Chorus by Louise Godchaux
Music by Don McLean

There were three men come from the west,
To put their fortunes to the test,
And they made a solemn vow.
The three of them all gave a cry
That said, “John Barleycorn must die
And it really doesn't matter how.”
They plowed him in three furrows deep
So in the cold ground he could sleep
Laid clods all on his head
Declared that he was dead!
Well then there came a shower of rain
John Barleycorn sprang up again
And thus he did amaze the men
The day the barley died.
And we were singing…

[Chorus:]
Bye-bye, this John Barleycorn guy
So the harvest doesn't starve us, so the grain will grow high
His sacrifice is for the wheat and the rye
Singin', “This'll be the day that I die,
This'll be the day that I die.”

Well then came men with sharpened scythes
To cut him off below his thighs,
They served him barbarously.
The loader, he has served him worse
Put Barleycorn in a horse-drawn hearse
And they rolled him all around the field.
And then they took John Barleycorn
And brought his body to the barn
And men with crabtree sticks
Skinned him just for kicks!
And when they'd cut him skin from bone
They brought him to the miller's home
And ground him in-between two stones
The day the barley died.
And we were singing…

[Chorus]

The brewer took the remains of him
And in a vat, he bunged him in
And added yeast and hops.
John Barleycorn lived to tell the tale
Only now we call him home-brewed ale
And we drink his health in a nut-brown bowl.
Well he proved the strongest man of all
And for some, he has been their downfall
Poor John Barleycorn!
Died and was reborn!
Now the huntsman cannot hunt the fox,
And the tinker cannot mend his pots,
And none of us can warm our thoughts,
Without John Barleycorn!
And we were singing…

[Chorus]