The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #75743   Message #4098365
Posted By: GUEST,#
19-Mar-21 - 12:57 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Cruel Mother (from Dave & Toni Arthur)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cruel Mother (from Dave & Toni Arthur)
From Roberto's post:

"They said – O mother, when we were yours
You neither dressed us in silk nor coarse (???)"

Coarse is correct. Other version say fine nor coarse, so I assume the line refers to the grade/quality of material with which to dress a child.

"Spend seven years like an owl (???) in the wood
And seven more like a wild (?????) in the sea"

The question marks after owl should be removed. Owl is the word that was sung. I'm pretty sure the following line should read "And seven more like a whale in the sea". It's just his pronunciation of the word that throws folks off.

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