trad
Earliest recording on Mainly Norfolk 1966 was "originally from a Gloucestershire set printed by Lucy Broadwood in her English County Songs published in 1893. Cecil Sharp found the song being sung in Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire; the Hammond Brothers found it in Dorset and George Gardiner heard the song in Hampshire and Sussex. More recently, Gwilym Davies has recorded versions from singers in Devon, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire."
Melrose Quartet: https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/shepherds-song
We shepherds are the best of men that e’er trod English ground
When we come to an alehouse we value not one crown
We spends our money freely and we pay before we go
For there’s no ale on the wold where the stormy winds do blow
A man that is a shepherd does need a valiant heart
He must not be faint-hearted, but boldly play his part
He must not be faint-hearted, be it rain or frost or snow
With no ale on the wold where the stormy winds do blow
When I kept sheep on Blockley Hill it caused my heart to beat
To see the ewes hang out their tongues and hear the lambs to bleat
So I plucked up my courage, and o’er the hills did go
And penned them in, in the fold, where the stormy winds do blow
As soon as I had folded them I turned my back in haste
Unto some jovial company, good liquor for to taste
For drink and jovial company, they are my heart’s delight
While my sheep lie asleep all the fore-part of the nightÂ