Madam, I Have a Fine Little Horse- Swetnam (MS) 1936 Hudson
[From Hudson, "Folksongs of Mississippi," 1936. Some of his notes follow. Uses Lord Lovel form (fourth line is extended).
R. Matteson 2017]
168. FOLKSONGS OF MISSISSPPI
The B version is obviously corrupt fragment, has lost most of the rhymes, and is considerably vernacularized.
Miss Lily Maria Cobb, in her "Traditional Ballads and Songs of Eastern North Carolina," p. 193, gives two stanzas and one line of this song; but I have not been able to find reproduced or listed in any of the printed collections referred to in these notes. I include it hypothetically in the class of imported ballads and songs because the technique and the language of the A text
strongly suggest British origin.
"O Madam, I Have a Fine Little Horse" sung by Mrs. Flora Stafford Swetnam of Vaiden, MS before 1936. Mrs. Swetnam may have learned the text in Kentucky. The last line of each stanza is repeated as in the first and second.
1. "O madam, I have a fine little horse,
Can pace just like the tide,
And it shall be at your command,
If you will be bride, bride
If you will be bride."
2. "O yes, I know your fine little horse,
And also your fine barn,
But the master he gets drunk sometimes,
I'm afraid the horse might learn, learn,
I'm afraid the horse might learn."
Swetnam from the singing of his mother, Mrs. Flora Stafford Swetnamt Vaiden.
1. "O madam, I have a fine little horse
Can pace just like the tide;
And it shall be at Your command
If you will be my bride, bride,
If you will be my bride."
"O madam, I have a fine little farm,
Just eighty acres wide,
And it shall be at Your command
If you will be my bride."
"O yes, I know Your fine little farm,
And also your fine fruit;
But if I come in I'll turn You out,
You dirty, stinking brute."
"O madam, I have a fine little house,
Just lately rectified,
And it shall be at Your command
If you will be my bride."
"O yes, I know your fine little house,
And also your fine Yards;
But who will stay at home with your wife
While you are Playing cards?"
"O madam, I never Play any cards,
And I hardly think it's right;
But if you'll consent to be my bride,
I'l[ not stay out at night."
"O yes, I know your fine little horse,
And also your fine barn;
But the master, he gets drunk sometimes;
I'm afraid the horse might learn."
8 "O yes, I know what you say that for;
It's just to take me in.
You think I've little sense enough
To marry a barrel of gin."
g "O madam, I know you're very young
And very hard to please;
But when you get old, and chilled with cold,
I hope to the Lord you'll freeze."
10 "When I get old, and chilled with cold,
No clothes to keep me warm,
I'll thank the Lord I've sense enough
To keep me from all harm."