Our Goodman- (VA) 1914 Davis A
[From: TRADITIONAL BALLADS OF VIRGINIA- Davis; 1929. His notes follow. The title is generic and could instead be, "Down Came The Old Man."]
OUR GOODMAN
(Child, No. 274)
Five texts and five tunes are the harvest of this ballad in Virginia, two of the texts being without tunes, and two of the tunes without words. Virginia A is Child A, Virginia B Child B, both with variations. Virginia C, D, and E are closer to Child A than to B, but show numerous divergences. Virginia B is the rarest version here given, as most of the texts so far recovered in
America have belonged to Child A. As an appendix is printed "A Jacobite Song," which though it comes from a Virginia collector is of West Virginia, Canadian, and British navy ancestry. It seems to correspond to the piece printed in Smith's Scotish Minstrel, where the goodwife is found to be concealing her cousin McIntosh, a Tory. None of the more or less ribald stanza's sometimes added to or superimposed upon this ballad have found access to the Virginia files; hence the problem of their publication does not arise. The Virginia titles are "Our Goodman," "Hobble and Bobble," "Home Comes the Good Old Man," "Down Came the Old Man," "The Old Man," and "Cairo Gal," which the singer also called, "A Blackguard Song."
For American texts, see Barry, No. 17; Brown, p. 9 (North Carolina); Bulletin, Nos. 2-5; Campbell and Sharp, No. 32 (North Carolina); Cox, No. 28; Finger, p. 161; Hudson, No. 20 (Mississippi); Jones, P. 301 (fragment); Journal, XVIII, 295 (Barry, Massachusetts); XXX, 199 (Parsons, North Carolina); Mackenzie, Ballads, No. 14; C. A. Smith, p. 17 (Virginia, fragment and two melodies, British melody); Reed Smith, Ballads, No. 14. For additional references, see Journal, XXXIX, 166; XXXV 328; XXXV, 348.
A. "Our Goodman." Collected by Miss Martha M. Davis. Sung by a mountain woman of Elkton, Va. Rockingham County. January 3, 19I4.
1 Down came the old man
Hummin' like a bee,
Found a horse a-standin'
Where his own ought to be.
2 He turned to his wife
And he said unto she,
"What's this horse a-doin' here
Without leave o' me?"
3 "You old fool, you blind fool,
You fool, you cannot see;
It's nothing but a milk cow
My mother sent to me."
4 "I've traveled many miles
And many miles before;
A saddle on a milk cow
I never saw before."
5 Down came the old man
Hummin' like a bee,
Found a man a-standin'
Where himself ought to be.
6 He turned to his wife
And he said unto she,
"What's this man a-doin' here
Without leave o' me?"
7 "You old fool, you blind fool,
You fool, you cannot see?
It's nothing but a milkmaid
My mother sent to me."
8 "I've traveled many miles
And many miles before;
Breeches on a milkmaid
I never saw before."
9 Down came the old man
Hummin' like a bee,
Found a hat a-hangin'
Where his own ought to be.
10 He turned to his wife
And he said unto she,
"What's this hat a-doin' here
Without leave o'me?"
11 "You old fool, you blind fool,
You fool, you cannot see;
It's nothing but a milk churn
My mother sent to me."
12 "I've traveled many miles
And many miles before;
But fur on a milk churn
I never saw before."
12 Down came the old man
Hummin' like a bee,
And he found a sword
Where his own ought to be."
13 He turned to his wife
And he said unto she,
"What's this sword a-doin' here
Without leave o' me?"
14 "You old fool, You blind fool,
You fool, You cannot see;
It's nothin' but a churn dasher
My mother sent to me"'
15 "I've traveled many miles
And many miles before;
Edge on a milk dasher
I never saw before."