Eli the Barrow Boy

"Eli the Barrow Boy" was written by Colin Meloy of American indie rock band The Decemberists, and originally released on their 2005 album Picaresque. The Longest Johns have covered it with some frequency in their livestreams, and released a video cover on YouTube on 12 April 2023, and it was later included on Caught in the Net Vol 1, released 18 October 2024.

Factoids

A barrow boy was a street vendor who would sell various goods out of a wheelbarrow.

A tamarack is a type of larch tree native to Canada and the northeastern United States.

Andy covered this song in the For Want of Rain project.

Lyrics

These lyrics are based on the version performed by the Longest Johns in their livestreams; they more or less follow the original version.

Eli the barrow boy, of the old town
Sells coal and marigolds and he cries out
All down the day

Below the tamaracks he is crying
Corn cobs and candle wax for the buying
All down the day

{Chorus}
Would I could afford to buy my love a fine robe
Made of gold and silk Arabian thread
But she is dead and gone and lying in a pine grove
And still I push my barrow all the day
Still I push my barrow all the day

Eli the barrow boy, when they found him
Dressed all in corduroy, he had drowned in
The river down the way

They laid his body down in a churchyard
But still when the moon is out, with his pushcart
He calls down the day

{Chorus 2}
Would I could afford to buy my love a fine gown
Made of gold and silk Arabian thread
But I am dead and gone and lying in a church ground
And still I push my barrow all the day
Still I push my barrow all the day

I must push my barrow all the day
I must push my barrow all the day

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