The Farmer is the Man That Feeds Us All

About the track from the album, The Sound of the Word

Think about the one thing you could not live without…. Besides the obvious, air and water, I would argue that food is next in line.

The origins of “The Farmer is the Man That Feeds Us All” can be traced back to pub signs in medieval Britain that depicted different sectors of society. Each sector was represented was by an archetypal figure such as the soldier, the cleric, or the king, each with a motto: “I Fight for All,” “I Pray for All,” or “I Rule for All.” Representing the British populace was the figure of John Bull whose motto was, “I Pay for All,” meaning that the highest stations of society relied entirely on the taxes and rents paid by the lower classes to maintain their lofty positions.

In 1869, The Chicago Lithographing Company published a lithograph entitled, “The Farmer Pays For All.” In it the John Bull character was replaced with a farmer placed at the top of the hierarchy adopting the motto, “I Pay For All.”

Inspired by the lithograph, preacher and musician Knowles Shaw in 1874 composed a song entitled, “The Farmer Feeds Us All.” The song was quickly adopted by the Grange movement—a national advocacy organization whose goal it was to address the problems that farmers were facing in which urbanization and industrialization were quickly transforming the nation’s economy. The song became an anthem in the Grange movement and spread across the country.

The song was later recorded in the 1920s and popularized by Fiddlin’ John Carson—then recorded and performed by the New Lost City Ramblers, Pete Seeger, Ry Cooder and others in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s. I first paid attention to the song when it was performed by The Freight Hoppers at the Spice on Snow Festival in Montpelier, Vermont in 2019. I instantly knew I had an original interpretation for the song.

“The Farmer is the Man That Feeds Us All” is essentially a labor and protest song. It is a plead and a rallying cry. The song lays clear the disconnect that we, the population, have with the very thing that sustains our being. It’s a song that expereses the inequities of our social systems. A song about how intellect is more highly valued and rewarded in society than our connection with the natural systems that actually sustain us. It’s a song about truth over power.

My question was how to maintain the essence of the song yet deliver it without hitting people over the head with messages that they’re already numb to. My answer, of course, was with the music.

My main goal was to take the song out of “quaint” folk song realm and to imbue it with a feeling of gravity and emotional urgency. My love of Wilco and The Horse Flies provided production inspiration. A big shout out to drummer Ezra Oklan who used his 1970s era Maestro Rhythm King drum machine to lend the track a special sauce of underlying tension. And I so loved having the opportunity to compose the twin electric guitar parts with floating call and response harmonic lines. The warm and clean ’67 Epiphone Century through a Fender Blues Junior paired with a Telecaster, overdriven through a ‘60s era Harmony amp. Oh, joy!

The final ingredient was simply my conviction of the song’s relevance. I mean, isn’t that the gift of these old songs—so road-tested and enduring. The circumstances in which the song was conceived have changed, but the story and the chartacters are exactly the same: the farmer, the lawyer, banker, preacher, merchant, cook and mortgage “middle” man—they all play their archtypal roles. It’s like a Greek tragedy.

Digging Potatoes by the English-American artist Clare Leighton.

And if I’m on a soapbox here, it really is only to acknowledge how much we take for granted that food is always, somehow, just magically… there. And that without farmers caring about soil health in a time of climate change and desertification—without farmers, none of whom are getting rich, spending day and night devoted to the natural cycles of growing all things edible, and bound to the care of livestock, we would actually all starve to death.

Listen to the song here

The Farmer is the Man That Feeds Us All

When the farmer comes to town with his wagon broken down 
The farmer is the man that feeds 'em all 
If you'll only look an' see, I think you will agree 
That the farmer is the man that feeds 'em all

The farmer is the man, The farmer is the man 
Lives on credit 'til the fall
Then they take him by the hand 
And they lead him from the land 
The middle man's the one that gets it all

When the lawyer hangs around, and the butcher cuts a pound 
The farmer is the man that feeds 'em all 
And the preacher and the cook, they go strollin' by the brook 
But the farmer is the man that feeds 'em all

The farmer is the man, The farmer is the man 
Lives on credit 'til the fall
With the interest rates so high 
It's a wonder he don't die 
The mortgage man's the one that gets it all

When the banker says he's broke, 
And the merchant's up in smoke 
They forget that it's the farmer feeds 'em all 
It would put them to the test, if the farmer took a rest 
Then they'd know that it's the farmer feeds 'em all

Well the farmer is the man 
The farmer is the man 
Lives on credit 'til the fall
And his pants are wearin' thin 
His condition it's a sin 
He forgets that he's the man that feeds 'em all