Evie’s confusion as a young woman, haunted by superstition, of witches signs, draws her into a sense that like her mother and grandmother, she has unnatural, and undesirable powers. The consequences are tragic. I've a tape of a nice version from Len and Barbara Berry - 'Down the Greengroves' [Portway Pedlars] What I find interesting about this is that the Hunter's Moon is not in September (as the words say) but in October.

There are at least 3 broadsides of the song at The Bodleian: (and one does include the instruction to repeat the 1st 4 lines) I've finally managed to have a look at Judith Barger's Elizabeth Stirling and the Musical Life of Female Organists in Nineteenth-Century England (thanks Google books). It devotes a large section to the song (as Stirling's most well-known) which tells us some things about the origin of the song. Elizabeth Stirling. Born at Greenwich in 1819 and died in London in 1895, aged seventy-six. She was a remarkable organist, holding important posts in London and giving fine recitals which exercised much influence. At a time when Bach was little played she included much of his work in her programmes. At forty-four she married a well-known London musician less than half that age, F A Bridge. I glanced at the version posted by Amergin in 2002, and I thought, "Boy, that's a long song!" But actually it isn't. The lyrics print the chorus every time, and the chorus has the same line twice. Edie is caught in this maelstrom of social and political activity whilst still trying to make the transition herself from child to young woman and she comments as a narrator of the story as an elderly woman at the end of the book.

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The sheet music to "All Among the Barley," published in 1871 in the United States, differs from the text printed in the DT, in two small but important respects:

I've been singing "All Amongst The Barley" every September since 1976. Can someone please give its origin ? Nostalgia, nationalism and superstition all play their part in an acutely observed narrative that is as pertinent to the here and now as it is evocative of its time and place.' - Mail on Sunday A very powerful and thought provoking book. Set in rural East Anglia in 1933 the book invites us into the daily lives of 14 year old Edie and her family who live at and work Wych Farm.In V. 1 it must be 'wheaten stubble', not 'wheat and stubble' as by September any farmer worth his subsidy will hare harvested his wheat! Topically, given the summer of 2018 when this book is published, 1933-4 were some of the driest years on record (indeed 1933 had the lowest rainfall in the UK in the 20th Century) - albeit this was more of a gradual than sudden drought, with consistent low rainfall over a prolonged period. The following passage also highlights Harrison's wonderful prose descriptions of the countryside and the way that she uses nature and the changing seasons to illustrate the passing of time in the book in a way reminiscent of my favourite book of 2017, Reservoir 13. All Among the Barley fully justifies the glowing praise from Jon McGregor and Robert Macfarlane. In All Among the Barley, Melissa Harrison has created a central character to rival Cassandra in I Capture the Castle. A remarkable and haunting book' - Evie Wyld Truly towering . nature, land, nationalism, war, death, patriarchy and the whole damn thing (Giles Coren) Connie is also a fascist. You can the book's climax coming from a mile off. The pity is that she never quite comes to life as more than a cipher for her political beliefs.