Farmer's Curst Wife- Barker (VA) 1939 LOC REC
[From 1939 LOC recording on ANGLO-AMERICAN BALLADS- AFSL1; Edited by Alan Lomax- Issued 1942. Compare to Barker's text was taken from the Brown Collection with music (see below). There's a possiblility Barker's version (Listen: Farmer's Curst Wife- Barker) was influenced by, or was a cover of, the 1928 Bill and Bell Reed recording.]
A2-THE FARMER'S CURST WIFE. Sung by Horton· Barker at Chilhowie, Virginia, 1939. Recorded by Herbert Halpert. One of the best known of all the British ballads found in the United States. this tale of a scolding wife evidences its popularity by the number of melodies and the number of nonsense refrains it has acquired in its long travels across the centuries. It still delights any audience with its broadly comic version of the Orpheus legend. I was told by a mountain singer that husbands actually have used it to silence their shrewish wives; the superstitious women believed that what happened to One woman might well happen to anolher. The story is always the same. The devil appears to a farmer in his field; the farmer gives him his scolding wife; the devil carries her off to hell where she proceeds to murder as many of Satan's imps as come within her reach; Satan, realizing that the old woman is "about to clean out Hell," carries her back to her husband, proving the old folk adage that "nothing is meaner than a mean woman."
Child No. 278. For reference material on this ballad see pages 94 ff. of Belden, Ballads and Songs.
(Listen: Farmer's Curst Wife- Barker)
1. There was an old man at the foot of the hill,
If he ain't moved away he's livin' there still.
Sing heigh, diddle-eye, diddle-eye, fie!
Diddle-eye, diddle-eye, day!
2. He hitched up his horse and he went out to plow,
But how to get around he didn't know how.
Sing heigh, etc.
3. The Devil came to his house one day,
Says, "One of your family I'm a-gonna take away."
Sing heigh, etc.
4. "Take her on, take her on, with the joy of my heart;
I hope by gollies you'll never part!"
Sing heigh, etc.
5. The Devil put her in a sack,
And the old man says, "Don't you bring her back."
Sing heigh, etc.
6. When the Devil got her to the forks of the road,
He says, "Old lady, you're a terrible load."
Sing heigh, etc.
7. When the Devil got her to the gates of Hell,
He says, "Punch up the fire, we want to scorch her well."
Sing heigh, etc.
8. In come a little devil a-draggin' a chain;
She upped with the hatchet, and split out his brains.
Sing heigh, etc.
9. Another little devil went climbin' the wall,
An' says. "Take her back, Daddy, she's a-murderin' us all."
Sing heigh, etc.
10. The old man was a-peepin' out of the crack,
And saw the old Devil come a-waggin' her back. [1]
Sing heigh, etc.
11. She found the old man sick in the bed,
And upped with the butterstick and paddled his head.
Sing heigh, etc.
12. The old woman went whistlin' over the hill.
"The Devil wouldn't have me, so I wonder who will?"
Sing heigh, etc.
13. This is what a woman can do:
She can outdo the Devil and her old man, too.
Sing heigh, etc.
14. There's one advantage women have over men:
They can go to Hell and come back again.
Sing heigh, etc.
My footnote: 1. "come wagonin' her back" (i.e. Bringing her back in a wagon.)
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Brown No. 45. The Farmer's Curst Wife (Child 278) [Music, text 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 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.