Aww, thanks bbc for giving it a listen! Glad you found some things to like.

I'll copy the liner notes to "Cabbage Head" aka Our Goodman, Seven Nights Drunk, etc below.

-Wholesome Dave


2. Cabbage Head (Our Goodman)

DR – guitar, mandolin and vocals

Edna West Teall (1881-1968) grew up on a farm in upper Essex County in northeastern NY, and later in life put together a book of reminiscences from her 1880's childhood there called "Adirondack Tales" (published by Adirondack Life Inc, Jay NY, 1970 & 2001). Teaching herself to paint in her retirement a la Grandma Moses (a comparison she apparently disliked), she went on to recreate historically accurate scenes from her beloved Adirondack community; dozens of these wonderful paintings have been reprinted to illustrate the stories in "Adirondack Tales".   

She called this "An Old Song" in her book. I wonder if she realized just how old it was. This is a teetotalling New York State version of one of the old British Isles ballads, the kind that have been in circulation - - both there and here - - for hundreds of years. Known in folklore and folksong circles as Child Ballad #274, most versions have the man coming home quite intoxicated, and many with titles such as "Four Nights Drunk" and "Seven Nights Drunk".

For the melody I used an "average" of several tunes traditionally sung with this song in the northeastern US. In the interest of full disclosure, I changed the word "hair" from Teall's last verse to "a mustache", which is used in other versions I've heard. It just makes for a better punch line.   

Interestingly, one old York State version substitutes a wartime theme for the usual domestic one, with a Patriot soldier coming upon a frontier home he suspects may be harboring a Redcoat.   A similar exchange unfolds from there.