Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:
Housewife's Lament, The
DESCRIPTION: The housewife complains of her never-ending war against dirt: "Oh life is a toil and love is a trouble, Beauties will fade and riches will flee, Pleasures they dwindle and prices they double...." At last she dies "and was buried in dirt."
AUTHOR: probably Eliza Sproat Turner (see NOTES)
EARLIEST DATE: 1871 (Arthur's Lady's Home Magazine," Volume 37)
KEYWORDS: work wife lament death burial dream
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,SE)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
BrownIII 312, "A Housekeeper's Tragedy" (1 text plus an excerpt)
BrownSchinhanV 312, "A Housekeeper's Tragedy" (1 tune plus a text excerpt)
Morris, #110, "Poor Old Woman" (1 text)
FSCatskills 97, "Life Is a Toil" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 67, "The Housewife's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 184, "The Housewife's Lament" (1 text)
DT, HSEWFLAM
Roud #5472
RECORDINGS:
Loman D. Cansler, "The Housekeeper's Complaint" (on Cansler1)
NOTES: Earlier editions of the Index listed this as by H. A. Fletcher, which a question mark; I am no longer sure where I found this information. Jim Dixon gives what seems much more likely to be accurate information:
"THE HOUSEWIFE'S LAMENT [your title] was written as a poem titled A HOUSEKEEPER'S TRAGEDY by Eliza Sproat Turner. It appeared in her book Out-of-Door Rhymes (Boston, J. R. Osgood & Comp., 1872; reprinted Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1903). The latter edition can be seen at Google Books...
"The earliest printing I can find was in Arthur's Lady's Home Magazine, Volume 37 (Philadelphia: T. S. Arthur & Sons, April, 1871 [also on Google Books]), page 241, where it appears without attribution:
"A year later, it appeared in Locomotive Engineers' Journal, Volume 6, No. 7 (Cleveland, Ohio: Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, July, 1872 [once again on Google Books]), page 310, with the correct attribution:
"I don't know who set it to music, or when." - (RBW)
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Lyrics from the Digital Tradition:
HOUSEWIFE'S LAMENT
(G) C - F C / G - G7 C / C - F C / G - G7 C
One day I was walking, I heard a complaining
And saw an old woman the picture of gloom
She gazed at the mud on her doorstep ('twas raining)
And this was her song as she wielded her broom
C C7 E E7 / F D7 G G7 / C - F C / G - G7 C
Life is a trial and love is a trouble
Beauty will fade and riches will flee
Pleasures they dwindle and prices they double
And nothing is as I would wish it to be.
There's too much of worriment goes to a bonnet
There's too much of ironing goes to a shirt
There's nothing that pays for the time you waste on it
There's nothing that last us but trouble and dirt.
CHORUS
In March it is mud, it is slush in December
The midsummer breezes are loaded with dust
In fall the leaves litter, in muddy September
The wall paper rots and the candlesticks rust
CHORUS
There are worms on the cherries and slugs on the roses
And ants in the sugar and mice in the pies
The rubbish of spiders no mortal supposes
And ravaging roaches and damaging flies
CHORUS
It's sweeping at six and it's dusting at seven
It's victuals at eight and it's dishes at nine
It's potting and panning form ten to eleven
We scarce break our fast till we plan how to dine
CHORUS
With grease and with grime from corner to center
Forever at war and forever alert
No rest for a day lest the enemy enter
I spend my whole life in struggle with dirt
CHORUS
Last night in my dreams I was stationed forever
On a far distant isle in the midst of the sea
My one chance of life was a ceaseless endeavor
To sweep off the waves as they swept over me
Alas! Twas no dream; ahead I behold it
I see I am helpless my fate to avert
She lay down her broom, her apron she folded
She lay down and died and was buried in dirt.
CHORUS
Traditional
extra verse by Marion Wade
We're still chasing dirt but we're not just complaining
We stand up for our rights and we ask men to share
We fight with them sometimes, sometimes we're "explaining"
If we'd all stop to listen, someday we might dare
To make life worth its toil and love worth its troubles
Though beauty and riches may stay or may flee
And pleasures they'll triple or certainly double
When things will be as we would wish them to be
alternate last verse and chorus from Hilda Thomas of
Vancouver:
"Alas, 'twas no dream - ahead I behold it,
But I am not helpless my fate to avert."
She laid down her broom, her apron she folded -
"If this doesn't stop, someone's gonna get hurt!"
"Oh, life is a toil and love is a trouble,
Beauty will fade and riches will flee,
But I'm damned if I'll live with oppression that's double,
I'm damned if I'll wait any more to be free!"
@work @feminist
recorded by Peggy Seeger on Penelope's Not Waiting
and Frankie Armstrong Female Frolic
filename[ HSEWFLAM
TUNE FILE: HSEWFLAM
CLICK TO PLAY
DC, JB
The version in Alan Lomax (Folk Songs of North America, page 133, #63) is almost the same as what's in the Digital Tradition, but the DT has an additional verse, plus modern verses. Lomax says this song is related to the Old Man's Lament. I'm not convinced, but it's worth consideration.
Miriam Berg has a version of the song here (click).
You'll find a good transcription of the lyrics and music notation in Reprints from Sing Out!, volume 1 (the pink collection, or the individual volume 1). Lyrics there are almost exactly what's in the Digital Tradition.
Reprints from Sing Out! has these notes:This song was copied from the diary of Mrs. Sara A. Price of Ottawa, Illinois. She had seven children and lost them all. Some of her sons were killed in the Civil War. Thus, this version can be dated about mid-Nineteenth Century. It sounds like a composed song, written in the United States, not Ireland; although the tradition is that of Irish topical ballads. It has been variously titled "Life Is a Toil" and "Housekeeper's Lament." It has been recorded by Walt Robertson for Folkways Records, and some half dozen words or so given here are from his version, rather than from Mrs. Price.