The Old Maid's Song
The Old Maid's Song is an American folk song. It recounts the story of a woman whose younger sisters have married, while she has remained a spinster into middle age. During the chorus of the song, the narrator defines a loose criterion for a husband.
The song is derived from the broadside ballad "The Wooing Maid," a song which dates to the seventeenth century.[1]
Variations
The chorus lyrics vary between different versions of the song. In a version collected in Dover, Vermont in 1919, the chorus is sung:
- A linman, a tinman, a tinker, a tailor,
- A fiddler, a peddler, a plough-man, a sailor;
- Come gentle, come simple, come foolish, come witty,
- Don't let me die an old maid, but take me out of pity![2]
In another variation heard in Pulaski County, Kentucky and published in 1917 differs slightly:
- Come a landsman, a pinsman, a tinker or a tailor,
- A fiddler or a dancer, a ploughboy or a sailor,
- A gentleman or a poor man, a fool or a witty,
- Don't you let me die an old maid, but take me out of pity.[1]
In "The Wooing Maid," the ballad from which the song is derived, the first two lines of the chorus belong instead to the first verse:
- [...]
- Come tinker, come broomman:
- She will refuse no man.
- Come gentle, come simple, come foolish, come witty,
- Oh! if you lack a maid, take me for pitty.[3]
The song is known by many titles, including "Sister Susan",[4] and "The Spinster's Lament",[2] "Old Maid's Complaint", "Old Maid's Lament," and "Old Maid's Petition".[5]
Pete Seeger recorded a rendition of the song for the Smithsonian Folkways label.
The Kingston Trio's "Take Her Out of Pity", included on their 1961 album Close-Up, is based on the song.[6]
References
- ^ a b Kittredge, G. L. (Jul–Sep 1917). "Ballads and Songs". The Journal of American Folklore. 30 (117): 355–6. doi:10.2307/534379. JSTOR 534379.
- ^ a b Atwood, James; Atwood, Mary; Sturgis, Edith; Hughs, Robert (2010). Songs and Verse from the Hills of Vermont. East Dover, Vermont: The Dover Historical Society. pp. 18–21.
- ^ Chappell, William (1880). The Roxburghe Ballads, Volume 3. Ballad Society. pp. 52–3.
- ^ Flanders, Helen Hartness; Brown, George (1968). Vermont Folk-Songs and Ballads. Hatboro, Pennsylvania: Folklore Associates, Inc. p. 102.
- ^ Quinn, Jennifer Post (1983). An Index to the Field Recordings in the Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College. Middlebury, Vermont: Middlebury College. p. 117.
- ^ Bush, William J. (2013). Greenback Dollar: The Incredible Rise of the Kingston Trio. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 224. ISBN 9780810881921.