Home Came The Old Man- Anderson (WV) 1917 Cox C
[From: Cox's Folk-Songs of the South- 1925. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2013]
28. OUR GOODMAN (Child, No. 274)
Three variants of the same version of this ballad have been recovered in West Virginia under the title of "Home Came the Old Man." This version is the same as Child A. By variation or extension several vulgar stanzas are current in West Virginia and elsewhere. For American texts see Journal, XVII, 294 (Barry; Massachusetts); XXX, 199 (Parsons, North Carolina); Smith, p. 16 (Virginia); Campbell and Sharp, No. 32 (North Carolina); Belden's Missouri collection. For references see Journal, XXIX, 166; XXX, 328; XXXV, 348.
C. "Home Came The Old Man." Communicated by Miss Mary Meeks Atkeson, Morgantown, Monongalia County, June, 1917; obtained from Miss Effie Anderson, a student in West Virginia University.
1 Home came the old man,
Home came he;
He went into the parlor,
A strange coat did see.
2 "My wife, my beloved wife,
O what does this mean?
A strange coat here,
Where my own ought to be?"
3 "You old fool, you blind fool,
O can you not but see,
'T is nothing but a blanket,
My mother sent to me?"
4 "Miles have I travelled,
Five hundred miles or more,
But buttons on a blanket,
Did I never see before."
5 Home came the old man,
Home came he;
He went into the bed room,
A strange face did see.
6 "My wife, my beloved wife,
O what does this mean?
A strange face here,
Where my own ought to be?"
7 "You old fool, you blind fool,
O can you not but see,
T is nothing but a baby,
That my mother sent to me?"
8 "Miles have I travelled,
Five hundred miles or more,
But whiskers on a baby's face,
I ne'er did see before."