Our Goodman- Rice (NC) 1916 Sharp B and C
[From: English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians; Collected by Olive Dame Campbell and Cecil J. Sharp, 1917 and Karpeles/Sharp 1932 edition (Versions D and E). Both B and C are sung by the same informant, Mrs. Tom Rice (Granny Banks’s daughter, an informant of Edith Fish[1]) and I assume they are two separate versions because the melodies are different and the text is slightly different.
The title, Our Goodman, is the generic title ascribed by Child. A better title is found in brackets. B and C are from the same informant, a Mrs. Rice recorded one day apart- I've combined them. Sharp titles this "Old Wichet" in his MS, see Bronson 53.
R. Matteson Jr. 2013
1. This detail is from some obscure memory and needs corroboration]
Sharp's notes- No. 32. Our Goodman:
Texts without tunes:—Child, No. 274. Ford's Vagabond Songs of Scotland, II, 31. Texts with tunes:—Songs of the West, 2d ed., No. 30. Chambers's Songs of Scotland
Prior to Burns, p. 184. American variants:— Journal of American Folk-Lore, XVIII, 294. Musical Quarterly, January, 1916, p. 17 (tune only).
Our Goodman [Whose Horse?] Sung by Mrs. TOM RICE at Big Laurel, N. C, Aug. 18, 1916; Sharp B
Hexatonic. Mode 3, a.
1. Whose horse is that horse, where my horse ought to be?
You old fool, you blind fool, can't you never see?
It's nothing but a milk cow my mother sent to me.
It's miles I have travelled, some forty miles or more,
A milk cow with a saddle on I never saw before.
2 Whose coat is that coat where my coat ought to be?
You old fool, etc.
It's nothing but a bed-quilt my mother sent to me.
It's miles, etc.
A bed-quilt with buttons on I never saw before.
3 Whose boots is those boots where my boots ought to be?
It's nothing but a cabbage head my mother sent to me.
A cabbage head with boot heels on I never saw before.
4 Whose hat is that hat where my hat ought to be?
It's nothing but a dish rag my mother sent to me.
A dish rag with a hat band on I never saw before.
5 Whose pants are those pants where my pants ought to be?
It's nothing but a petticoat my mother sent to me.
A petticoat with a gallices (suspenders) on I never saw before.
6 Who's that in the bed where I ought to be?
It's nothing but a baby child my mother sent to me.
A baby child with mushtash (moustachios) on I never saw before.
C. Our Goodman [Whose Horse?] Sung by Mrs. TOM RICE at Big Laurel, N. C, Aug. 17, 1916 Sharp C
Mode 3, b (no 6th).
You old fool, you blind fool,
You are blind and can not see!
It's nothing but a milking cow
My mother sent to me.
I've travelled miles, and many miles,
Ten thousand miles or more,
And a milk cow with a saddle on
I never saw be fore.