Arrow Goodman- Webb (NC) 1939 Brown 4, B 4 & 5
[From: Brown Collection-- Volume 4, B (4) and B (5). The title "Arrow Goodman" appears as version B and several times in the music section (Brown; Volume 4). Since it was not sung nor is part of the text, it appears to be simply a mispronunciation (or just dialect) of the title given to the informant, who did not know the title to be "Our Goodman" in the first place. Woah!!!
There were two melodies collected from Webb in 1939 and again in 1940. Webb's version can be heard online here: http://contentdm.library.appstate.edu/docapp/abrams/field_recordings/o-p.html This single verse could be filled in with a complete version's text.]
Notes from Volume 2: This is one of the few humorous ballads admitted to Child's collection. For its history and its kin in other languages, see Child's headnote; for its range in English since Child's time, see BSM 89-90, and add Virginia (OSC 300-1), North Carolina (FSRA 41), Florida (FSF 317-19), Missouri (OFS I 181-5), Ohio (BSO 82-3), Indiana (BSI 149-50) and Tennessee (BTFLS VIII 72-3). Our North Carolina texts all belong to what BSM calls the first form, in which the wife has but one paramour. The betraying signs come in a different order in the different texts. In fact, A represents one version, B and C another.
B(4) 'Arrow Goodman.' Sung by Miss Pearle Webb. Recorded at Pineola, Avery county, August 24, 1939. Another title given: 'Our Goodman.'
For melodic relationship cf. ***FSF 317, No. 170, measure 2 and its repetitions. Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: g. Structure: aa1a1a1 (8,8,8,8).
B(5) 'Arrow Goodman.' Sung by Miss Pearle Webb. From a previous recording of Dr. W. A. Abrams at Boone, Watauga county, August 8, 1940. This second recording does not greatly differ from her earlier version. The variations are such as one would certainly expect.
For melodic relationship cf. ***FSF 317, No. 170, measure 2 and its repetitions. Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: a. Structure: aa1a2a2 (8,8,8,8).