Quaker Lover- Dyer Bennett (MA) 1960 Lomax
[Titled "The Quaker’s Courtship" in Lomax's "Folk Songs of North America" (1960) p.28 with the last two stanzas from Newell. Lomax notes follow. Also as Quaker Lover recorded on MORE SONGS BY THE 20th-CENTURY MINSTREL. 1962. Stinson Records. SLP60. Appendix Code: SLP60.
During thsi time Richard Dyer Bennett lived in Massachusetts.
R. Matteson 2017]
“The lively girls of New England enjoyed this seventeenth century satire of the solemn Quakerish swain who behaved as if courtship was a religious duty instead of a pleasurable pastime.” (from Folksongs of North America (Alan Lomax))
Quaker Lover (The Quaker’s Courtship)- sung by Richard Dyer Bennett by 1960.
MAN:
Once there was a Quaker lover,
O dear, O dear me.
Courted a Presbyterian’s daughter.
O dear, O dear me.
“Here’s a ring worth a shilling,”
O dear, O dear me.
Take it and wear it, if thou art willing,
O dear, O dear me.
WOMAN:
What do I care for you and your money?
Tee-i-dinktum,tee-i-[G]day,
Want a man to call me honey,
Tee-i-dinktum, tee-i-day,
MAN:
Madam I have both home and land,
O dear, O dear me.
And both shall be at my command.
O dear, O dear me.
WOMAN:
What do I care for your home and land.
Tee-i-dinktum,tee-i-[G]day,
All I want’s a handsome man.
Tee-i-dinktum, tee-i-day,
MAN:
Madam, I have come a-courting,
O dear, O dear me.
Tis not for pleasure, nor for sporting
O dear, O dear me.
WOMAN:
What do I care for your desire,
Tee-i-dinktum,tee-i-[G]day,
If you come you’ll court the fire
Tee-i-dinktum, tee-i-day,
MAN:
I’ll go home and tell my mother,
O dear, O dear me.
Go straight and find me another.
O dear, O dear me.
WOMAN:
What do I care for you and your mother?
Tee-i-dinktum,tee-i-day,
She’s an old Quaker and you’re another.
Tee-i-dinktum, tee-i-day,
MAN:
Must I give up my religion?
O dear, O dear me.
Must I be a Presbyterian?
O dear, O dear me.
WOMAN:
Cheer up, cheer up, loving brother,
Tee-i-dinktum,tee-i-day,
If you can’t catch one fish, catch another.
Tee-i-dinktum, tee-i-day,