Geely Don Mac Kling Go- Stevenson (TN) c.1953
From: Southern Folk Ballads Vol. 2, McNeil
McNeil's Notes: These two ballads are versions of Child 277, "The Wife Wrapt In Wether's Skin." The earliest reports of this ballad are from the late eighteenth century but it is generally thought to be derived from the traditional tale The Wife Lapped in Morrel's Skin, which was known at least as early as the first half of the sixteenth century. In America the ballad has been collected in Florida, Maine, Missouri, Indiana, Colorado, North Carolina, New York, West Virginia, Virginia, Vermont, Tennessee, Utah, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Texas, Nebraska, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, and it has also been reported from Nova Scotia. Thus it is certainly one of the more popular Child ballads in America. It is known by numelous titles including "Bandoo," "Dandoo," "Dan-Doodle-Dan," "Dindo-Dan," "Gentle Fair Ginny," "Gentle Virginia," "Jennifer Gently," "Jenny Flow," "Gentle Rosemary," "John Dobbet," "Jock O McKee," "Kitty Lorn," "Nickety, Nackety," "Old Man Come In from his Plow," "The Old Man in the WeSt," "The Old Sheepskin," "Robin He's Gone to the Woods," 'The Scolding Wife," "Sweet Robin," "The Wee Cooper o' Fife," "Old Wetherskin," "Lazy Woman," and the titles used here.
There are three story types of this ballad that are common in American folk tradition. The first is the story given in the two texts presented here; a second involves the old man running away in the end, while a third omits the "wether's skin"; the man merely beats his wife to reform her. There are several varied refrains found in American versions of this ballad, the most common being the "dandoo-clish ma clingo" type found in the South and Midwest, and the "rosemary-thyme" type found in the South and Northeast.
The first of the two versions given here was collected in 1962 by George Foss from Ernest Byrd, Cullowhee, North Carolina. Byrd was a member of the administration of Western Carolina University who had a large repertoire of traditional songs he learned in his childhood. The second version was collected between 1953 and 1955 by Marion Taylor Page from Nancy McCuddy Stevenson, St. Bethlehem, Tennessee.
Geely Don Mac Kling Go- collected between 1953 and 1955 by Marion Taylor Page from Nancy McCuddy Stevenson, St. Bethlehem, Tennessee.
There was a man lived in the west,
Geely don mac kling go.
There was a man lived in the west,
He had a wife none of the best,
Like a larum clen darum,
Geely don mac kling go.
His wife would neither cook nor wash,
Geely don mac kling go,
His wife would neither cook nor wash,
For fear she would make a slosh,
Like a larum clen darum,
Geely don mac kling go.
His wife would neither card nor spin,
Geely don mac kling go,
His wife would neither card nor spin,
For fear she'd spoil her wedding ring,
Like a larum clen darum,
Geely don mac kling go.
This good man went to his sheep fold,
GeelY don mac kling go.
This good man went to his sheep fold,
And there he killed a wether bold,
Like a larum clen darum,
Geely don mac kling go.
He put the skin on his wife's back,
Geely don mac kling go.
He put the skin on his wife's back,
And with a stick went whickety whack,
Like a larum clen darum,
Geely don mac kling go.
His wife would then both cook and wash,
Geely don mac kling go.
His wife would then both cook and wash,
And never fear'd she'd make a slosh,
Like a larum clen darum,
Geely don mac kling go.
His wife would then both card and spin,
Geely don mac kling go.
His wife would then both card and spin,
Nor fear'd she'd spoil her wedding ring,
Like a larum clen darum,
Geely don mac kling go.