The Farmer's Curst Wife- (NC) 1917 Brown (5 Versions, 4 tunes)
Brown Collection- OLDER BALLADS — MOSTLY BRITISH
[By combining Vol. 2 and 4 there are now four text versions of The Farmer's Curst Wife, three with music with an additional music score with one verse. Horton Barker (Listen: Farmer's Curst Wife- Barker), although he's from Virginia is included. Compare to Barker's text which was transcribed from the 1939 LOC recording on ANGLO-AMERICAN BALLADS- AFSL1; Edited by Alan Lomax- Issued 1942.
There's a possiblility Barker's version (and any c. 1940s version) was influenced by, or was a cover of, the 1928 Bill and Bell Reed recording.
See my footnote for "waggin' her back": 1. "come wagonin' her back" (i.e. Bringing her back in a wagon.)
The Timmons version text can be found in the Abrams Collection:
There was an old man lived over the hill
And of her nags he had his fill,
And its hard times in this country now.
He took her to the gates of Hell,
He pitched her over and in she fell,
And its hard times in this country now.
And the little young devils peeping over the walls,
"Take her out, take her out, or she'll kill us all. "
And it's hard times in this country now.
He humped her up on his old back
And here he come a-waggin' her back.
But it's hard times in this country now.
Mrs. Laura Timmons, Boone, N. C. she heard her brother sing it. He lives at Gastonia, N. C. collected by Edith Walker. The first verse second line is different- see version below from Vol. 4. The recording is mislabled and attributed to Mrs. J. Church:
http://contentdm.library.appstate.edu/docapp/abrams/field_recordings/farmers_wife6.html
R. Matteson 2013]
45. The Farmer's Curst Wife (Child 278)
For the range of this ballad in recent times in Great Britain and America, see BSM 94-5, and add Massachusetts (FSONE 188-91), North Carolina (FSRA 42), Tennessee (BTFLS viii 73-4), Florida (FSF 323-5), Arkansas (OFS i 189-91), Missouri (OFS 1 191-3), Indiana (BSI 155-7), Michigan (BSSM 373-8, SFLQ iv 157-8, Beck's Songs of the Michigan Lumberjacks 107-8), and Nebraska (SFLQ 11 78, sung in Knoxville, Tennessee, but learned from the singer's father in Beatrice, Nebraska).
'The Farmer's Wife.' Secured by Mrs. Sutton (who was then Miss Maude Minish) at a "lassy bilin' " from a "master banjo picker" who lived on Upper Hinson's Creek in Avery county and was at the time (1917) expecting to go to camp in a few days. "I've often wondered," she writes, "if he went overseas and what became of him. He may have become a radio hill billy by now, but he was a delightful ballad singer." The intercalated refrain, given here for the first stanza, runs through all the stanzas without change.
1 There was an old man lived under the hill,
Sing toora lala loora, sing toora la day
If he's not moved away he's living there still.
Sing toora lala loora, sing toora la day.
2 This old man went out to his plow
And saw the old devil fly over his mow.
3 He had the old woman all up in a sack
And carried her off to old tamplo[1] shack.
4 Twelve little devils came walking by.
She upped with her foot and kicked them in the fire.
5 She picked up a club, hit the devil on the back ;
And he carried her away from the old tampio [1] shack.
6 He handed her to the old man over the wall
And said, 'Take her back, or she'll kill us all.'
7 The old man said, 'I know I'm cursed,
She's been down to hell and come back worse.'
Footnote:
1. This word seems to be spelled two ways in the manuscript. Its meaning the editor has not been able to make out.
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45. The Farmer's Curst Wife (Child 278) [Music from Vol. 4]
A. 'Farmer's Curst Wife.' Sung by Horton Barker. From the previous recording of Dr. W. A. Abrams, Boone, no date given. The first four measures are very much like those of 45(1). (Listen: Farmer's Curst Wife- Barker).
For melodic relationship cf. **SharpK i 278, No. 40D ; BB 126, version A, measures 1-2. Scale: Mode III. Tonal Center: d. Structure: abed (2,2,2,2). [Compare to the LOC text from their 1939 recording.]
1. There was an old man at the foot of the hill,
And if he ain't moved away he's livin' there still.
Sing hi, diddle-I, diddle-I, fi,
Diddle-I, diddle-I, day!
2 He hitched up his horse, and he went out to plow.
But how to get around he didn't know how.
3 The devil came to his house one day,
Saying, 'One of your family I'm gona take away.'
4 'Then,' said the old man, 'I am outdone,
For I'm afraid you've come for my oldest one.'
5 'It's neither your son nor your daughter I crave.
But your old scolding woman I now must have.'
6. 'Take her, oh take her, with the joy of my heart,
I hope, by golly, you'll never part.'
7. The devil put her in a sack,
And he slung her up across his back.
8. When the devil came to the forks of the road,
He says, 'Old lady, you're a terrible load.'
9. When the devil came to the gates of hell,
He says, 'Punch up the fire, I'm gona scorch her well.'
10. Here came the devil a-draggin' a chain,
She up with a hatchet and split out his brains.
11. And the old devil went climbing the wall,
Says,' Take her back, Daddy, she's a-murdering us all.'
12. The old man was peeping outa the crack,
And saw the old devil come a-wagging [1] her back.
13. She found the old man sick in the bed,
And up with the butter-stick and paddled his head.
14. The old woman went whistling over the hill,
'The devil wouldn't have me, so I wonder who will.'
15. There's one advantage women have over men,
They can go to hell and come back again.
My footnote: 1. "come wagonin' her back" (i.e. Bringing her back in a wagon.)
45(1) 'The Farmer's Curst Wife.' Sung by Mrs. J. Church. Recorded at Heaton, Avery county, August 10, 1939. Another title given: 'The Woman and the Devil.' Not only a different singer but also a varied text. The first four measures are very much like those of 45 above. [No recording of this is found in Abrams collection. The recording labeled Mrs. Church is, in fact, Mrs. Timmons.]
For melodic relationship cf. **SharpK i 278, No. 40D ; BB 126, version A, measures 1-2. Scale: Mode III. Tonal Center: d. Structure: abc (2,2,4).
45(2) 'The Farmer's Wife.' Sung by Mrs. Laura B. Timmons. From previous recording of Dr. W. A. Abrams, Boone, August 8, 1940. The text begins like several of Sharp's versions, but the reference to "hard times" seems not to occur in any of the known collections. [The Abrams recording is mislabeled and attributed to Mrs. Church.]
Magnificently sung. What a spirit! What can notes convey?
For melodic relationship cf. **SharpK i, 277, No. 40C, measures 1-2. Scale: Mode III. Tonal Center: c. Structure: abc (2,2,2).
1 There was an old man lived over the hill,
And [if he's not moved] he's happy [living there] still,
And its hard times in this country now.
2 He took her to the gates of hell,
He kicked her over and then she fell,
And its hard times in this country now.
3 The little young devil peeping over the wall,
'Take her out, take her out, or she'll kill us all,
And its hard times in this country now.
4 He [humped her up on his old back]
And here he come a-waggin' her back
And its hard times in this country now.
45(3) 'Farmer's Curst Wife.' Sung by Mrs. James York. From previous recording of Dr. W. A. Abrams, Boone, August 8, 1940. For a melodic likeness compare the beginning of 'Edward,' 7C. [The first verse below taken from the recording.]
For melodic relationship cf. **BB 126, version A, measures 1-2.
Scale: Hexatonic (4), plagal. Tonal Center: e-flat. Structure: aba1a1b1 (2,2,2,2,2) = aa1 (4,6); the second phrase is initially incremented. [Verse 1 transcribed from recording: http://contentdm.library.appstate.edu/docapp/abrams/field_recordings/farmers_wife4.html]
1. 'The devil he came to the farmer one day,
Tay rumdy, tumdy tott'ring away.
The devil he came to the farmer one day,
Says 'One of your family I'll take away,
Tay rumdy, tumdy tott'ring away.'
2 'Its neither you nor your son, Johnny, I want,
Tay rumdy, tumdy tott'ring away.
Its neither you nor your son, Johnny, I want,
The drunken old wife, the drunken old sot,
Tay rumdy, tumdy tott'ring away.'