Lyrics
(French folk tune, Lyrics by Jane Taylor, 1783-1824)
Lazy sheep, pray tell me why
In the pleasant field you lie,
Lazy sheep, pray tell me why
In the pleasant field you lie.
Eating grass and daisies white
From the morning till the night?
Every thing can something do,
But what kind of use are you?
Nay, my little master, nay,
Do not serve me so, I pray,
Nay, my little master, nay,
Do not serve me so, I pray,
Don’t you see the wool that grows
On my back to make your clothes?
Cold, and very cold, you’d be
If you had not wool from me.
True, it seems a pleasant thing,
To nip the daisies in the spring;
True, it seems a pleasant thing,
To nip the daisies in the spring;
But many chilly nights I pass
On the cold and dewy grass,
Or pick a scanty dinner, where
All the common’s brown and bare.
Then the farmer comes at last,
When the merry spring is past,
Then the farmer comes at last,
When the merry spring is past,
And cuts my woolly coat away,
To warm you in the winter’s day:
Little master this is why
In the pleasant fields I lie.
See also
- Subjects: sheep / farmers
- Harmony: chords I, IV, V
- Meter: 2
- Rhythm:Â
- Scale: major
- Same tune: La bonne aventure
- PDF of song with chords
- MIDI file
- Listen to the melody