There Was an Old Man- Davis (CT) 1949 Flanders K
[My Title, replacing the generic Wife Wrapped. This version is unusual because there is no refrain. Flanders' extensive notes are below. She refers to the "Dandee" refrain which is almost always "Dandoo" in the South, not "Dandee."
R. Matteson Jr. 2013]
The Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin (Child 277)
This ballad derives from an old tale which Child, v, 104, cites under the title "The Wife Lapped in Morrel's Skin" and is related to a whole host of stories on similar themes. See Aarne-Thompson, Mt. 1370*.
The ballad is still popular in America, where the basic outline of the story remains constant, but where the minor details vary greatly. william H. Jansen has made a careful study (HFQ IV, #3,41) of the ballad and its developments in America [see article attached to Recordings & Info page], and from his remarks two groupings of the American texts emerge: songs with the "dandee, clish maclinge" refrains, popular in the South and Midwest; and songs with the "juniper, gentian, and rosemary" refrains, popular in the South and Northeast. The plant refrains of the latter group have caused some comment. Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 324-5, suggests, on the authority of Lucy Broadwood (JFSS, II, 12-15), that the wife originally was beaten to exorcise the evil spirits that infested her and that "juniper, gentian, and rosemary" were regarded as charms against the demons. Later the names of the plants were forgotten and confused with the names of girls, June, Jenny, and Rose Mary.
The Flanders texts are highly representative of the American forms of the ballad. A-I, with the plant refrain, relate to Child F (from Massachusetts) and are normal Northeastern versions. J-L illustrate the "dandee" refrain and the common "old man who lived in the West" opening.
M-N (see also Child c) are from the Scottish tradition. Text L, which concerns "Riddleson's daughter Dinah," is the only unusual version in the group. See Coffin, 146-8 (American); Belden, 92-94 (English); and Greig and Keith, 218-20 (Scottish) for bibliographical material and discussion.
All of the tunes for child 277 except the Richards tune are members of the same tune family. Within this group, the Prevost and Baldwin tunes are especially close, as are the Hayward and Hall tunes. The Monson tune is slightly outside the group.
K. [There Was an Old Man] Mailed by Mrs. Edwin White, 686 Rubber Avenue, Naugatuck, Connecticut, in a letter reading, "As I am so very fond of the old songs, I thought I would send in one that my Mother and Grandmother sang. I am nearly 70 and mother has been dead many a year. But the old songs that she taught me are still fresh in my memory." Copied literatim et punctatim.
H. H. F., Collector; March 28, 1949
There was an old man lived in the West,
He had an old wife she was none of the best.
One day the old man came in from plow,
Saying Wife is breakfast ready now.
There is a crust lies on the shelf,
If you want anything just help your self.
The old man went out to his sheep fold,
He drew an old sheep up to the pole.
He drew an old sheep up to the pin,
And rapidly took off her skin.
He put the skin around his wife's back
he took his whip and made it crack.
I'll tell my mother and all I see
How crully you are treating me.
You may tell your mother and all your kin,
I was only tanning my old sheepskin.