Dan Doo- Chisholm (VA) 1916 Sharp A, Davis D
[My title, Sharp used the generic, The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin. According to Davis (his D version) the first verse only is from Mrs. Puss Smith also from Virginia. ]
From: English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians
Two Editions: Olive Dame Campbell and Cecil J. Sharp, 1917; Sharp and Karpeles 1932 Edition
Sharp's 1917 notes: No. 33. (1917) No. 39 (1932) The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin.
Texts without tunes:—Child, No. 277. Gavin Greig's Folk-Song of the North-East, I., art. 13; and II., art. 122. Ford's Song Histories, pp. 271-274. Texts with tunes:—Journal of the Folk-Song Society, ii., 223; v., 260. Folk Songs from Somerset, No. 97. Ford's Vagabond Songs of Scotland, p. 192. American variants:—Journal of American Folk-Lore, vii., 253; xix., 298.
A. [Dan Doo] The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin- Sung by Mr. N. B. CHISHOLM at Woodridge, Va., Sept. 21, 1916
my kum lam, slam, dam, clear- y o, Jim- my go.
1. There was an old man he had a wife,
Dan doo, dan doo,
There was an old man he had wife,
Cling- a ma clang- a- ma clear- o,
There was an old man he had a wife,
And she plagued him out of his life.
To my kum lam, slam, dam, clear-y o, Jim-my go.
2 When this old man came in from plough,
Says: Have you got my breakfast now?
3 She says: There's a piece of bread upon the shelf;
If that don't do, go bake it yourself.
4 This old man went out to his sheep-pen,
And soon had off an old wether's skin.
5 He placed it on his old wife's back,
And with two sticks went wickety whack.
6 I'll tell your daddy and mammy and all your kin,
How you tanned your wether's skin.