Arrow Goodman (When I Came Home)- Wilson (NC) 1929 Brown 4, B6
[From: The Brown Collection Volume 4, Version B (6). The title "Arrow Goodman" appears as version B of Volume 2 and several times in the music section (Brown; Volume 4). Since it was not sung nor is part of the text, it appears to be simply a mispronunciation (or just dialect) of the title given to the informant, who did not know the title to be "Our Goodman" in the first place. Woah!!!
This single verse could be filled in with a complete version's text.]
Notes from Volume 2: This is one of the few humorous ballads admitted to Child's collection. For its history and its kin in other languages, see Child's headnote; for its range in English since Child's time, see BSM 89-90, and add Virginia (OSC 300-1), North Carolina (FSRA 41), Florida (FSF 317-19), Missouri (OFS I 181-5), Ohio (BSO 82-3), Indiana (BSI 149-50) and Tennessee (BTFLS VIII 72-3). Our North Carolina texts all belong to what BSM calls the first form, in which the wife has but one paramour. The betraying signs come in a different order in the different texts. In fact, A represents one version, B and C another.
B(6) 'Arrow Goodman.' Sung by Mrs. Ewart Wilson. Recorded at Pensacola, Yancey county, September, 1929. Another title given: 'Our Goodman.'
For melodic relationship cf. ***FSF 317, No. 170, measures 3-4 and their repetitions. Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: a. Structure: aa1a2a2 (8,8,8,8). Circular Tune (V).