45. The Farmer's Curst Wife

OLDER BALLADS — MOSTLY BRITISH

[By combining Vol. 2 and 4 there are now five text versions (45-1 is first verse only) of The Farmer's Curst Wife, four with music. There's a possiblility Barker's version was influenced by, or was a cover of, the 1928 Bill and Bell Reed recording.]

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).


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).

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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 .  .  .  .  .
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.


For melodic relationship cf. **BB 126, version A, measures 1-2.

Scale: Hexatonic (4), plagal. Tonal Center: e-flat. Structure: aba1a1bi  (2,2,2,2,2) = aa1 (4,6); the second phrase is initially incremented.

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.'