Speed the Plow

June 12th, 2015
music, tunes
If you're growing crops on fields, plowing is pretty important. Traditional music being mostly written by and for people working in agriculture, there's a lot of music about plowing, including at least four tunes called "Speed the Plow":

English


(link; another one)

This is the most commonly played tune by this name, and is the one in NEFR. It's played over a wide range of tempos, from slow hornpipes to contra dance speed.

Old Time #1


(link; another one)

I'll occasionally hear this version from American Old-Time musicians. Usually played on a cross-tuned fiddle with a lot of open strings.

Old Time #2


(link; another one)

This is my favorite version, and the one the Free Raisins play.

Irish


(link; another one)

I hadn't heard this one before looking through variations for this post.

Swedish


(link; another one)

Comment via: google plus, facebook, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Paid Subscriber Questions Post

I have picked up a lot of new paid subscribers since the last time I did something like this, so: let's do a subscriber questions post!

via Thing of Things July 21, 2025

Retrospective on life tracking and effectiveness systems

I’ve been doing life tracking for around 10 years, and this post is looking back at some things I learned from the data (since my previous retrospective in 2017). Highlights include what I get out of the Oura ring, correlations between sleep and deep work…

via Victoria Krakovna July 4, 2025

Elixir's Last Dance

On May 18th, the contra dance band Elixir had their last gig ever. The dance was packed: there were three hundred people. It was the only dance BIDA has ever done where they sold tickets. People flew from across the country just to hear Elixir play one la…

via Lily Wise's Blog Posts June 5, 2025

more     (via openring)