The Farmer's Curst Wife- Moberly (KY) 1917 Sharp E
[I've kept Sharp's generic title.]
From: English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians II, 1932
Notes from 1917 edition:
No. 34. The Farmer's Curst Wife.
Texts without tunes:—Child, No. 278.
Texts with tunes:—Journal of the Folk-Song Society, ii., 184; iii., 131. Dick's Songs of Robert Burns, No. 331. American variants:—Journal of American Folk-Lore, xix., 298; xxvii., 68.
Lomax's Cowboy Songs, p. 110.
"Bell, blubs," stanza 10, version A, may be a corruption of "Beelzebubs." Most of the published versions of this song have whistling refrains.
E. The Farmer's Curst Wife- Sung by Miss SUSAN MOBERLY at Oneida, Clay Co., Ky., Aug. 20, 1017 Heptatonic, Mixolydian.
1. An old man went to the field to plough,
Te ole dum diddle dum day,
Along comes an old devil, peeps over his horse,
Te ole dum diddle dum day.
2 The old man dropped his lines to run,
He's right now after my oldest son.
3 It's not your oldest son I want,
But your old hump-back-ed wife I crave.
4 Take her, O take her with all your heart,
And leave me with hopes that you'll never depart.
5 He picked her up all on his back,
Like an old pedlar went wagging his pack.
6 He carried her on to the forks of the road,
Says: Good lady, you're a pretty good load.
7 He carried her on to the devil's back-door,
He put her down there to carry no more.
8 The old devil laid far back on the bed,
With an old pewter pot she mellered his head.
9 Ten little devils hanging up by a chain;
With her old pewter pipe she picked out their brains.
10 Seven little devils peeped over the wall,
Says: Take her back, daddy, she'll murder us all.
11 He picked her up all on his back,
Just like an old fool went wagging her back.
12 He carries her on to the foot of the hill,
She says: If the devil won't have me, don't know who will.
13 Seven years there and three years back,
She called for the bread-crust she left in the crack.