Madam, I Have a Very Fine Horse- Clark (MS) pre-1936
[My title, slightly abbreviated. From Hudson, "Folksongs of Mississippi," 1936. Some of his notes follow.
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.
B. "Madam, I Have a Very Fine Horse." From copy of Mr. W. S. Harrison, Fayette, who obtained it from the singing of Mr. T. D. Clark, Louisville.
1 "Madam, O madam, I have a very fine horse,
And he stands in yonders barn;
If you will consent to be my bride,
I will lend you my horse to ride,
I will lend you my horse to ride."
2 "Sir, I know you have a very fine horse,
And he stands in yonders barn;
But his master loves his dram,
And I am afraid the horse will larn,
And I am afraid the horse will larn."
3 "Madam, O madam, I have a very fine place,
And fifty working hands;
If you will consent to be my bride,
You may have them at your command,
You may have them at your command."
4 "Sir, I know you have a very fine place
And fifty working hands;
But if I would consent to be your bride,
Who would stay with me at night while you were playing cards,
While you are off playing cards?"