When I was Single
[Also titled "I Wish I Was Single Again," this music hall song from the 1800s has been frequently collected (1904) and recorded by a number of early county musicians including Riley Puckett. According to Malcolm Douglas this verse quoted from Laura Ingalls Wilder (By the Shores of Silver Lake (chapter 22) from 1880),
When I was young and single,
I could make the money jingle
And the world was well with me, O then!
looks to be from a later form of The First Wife the Best, for which, see Harding B 25(657) at Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:
R. Matteson 2014]
WHEN I WAS SINGLE
1. When I was single, Oh then!
When I was single, Oh then!
When I was single, my money did jingle
And I wish I was single again!
2. I married me a wife, Oh then!
I married me a wife, Oh then!
I married me a wife, she was the plague of my life,
And I wished I was single again!
3. My wife took sick, Oh then,
My wife took sick, Oh then:
Took sick of the fever; I had to relieve her,
And I wished I was single again!
4. My wife she died, Oh then!
My wife she died, Oh then!
My wife she died and I laughed till I cried
To think I was single again!
5. I sent for the coffin, Oh then!
I sent for the coffin, Oh then!
I sent for the coffin and almost died a-laughin',
To think I was single again!
6. I went for the shroud , Oh then!
I went for the shroud, Oh then!
I went for the shroud and I walked mighty proud
Because I was single again!
7. I married me another, Oh then!
I married me another, 0h then!
I married me another, who was the devil's grandmother,
And I wished I were single again!
8. She beat me; she banged me, Oh then!
She beat me; she banged me, Oh then!
She beat me; she banged me, she swore she'd hang me
And I wished I were single again!
9. She got her a rope, Oh then!
She got her a rope, Oh then!
She got her a rope and greased it with soap,
And I wished I were single again!
10. That rope did break, Oh then!
That rope did break, Oh then!
That rope did break and my neck did escape,
But, I wish I were single again!
11. Take warning of me, young men!
Take warning of me, young men!
Be good to the first, for the last will be worst,
And you'll wish you were single again!
This song is remembered in almost, exactly the same form, both words and music, by Mrs. L. L. McDowell and by her husband; though learned in communities separated by twenty miles of very rugged country.