In the DT:
OLD CRUMLEY or MORE WORK IN A DAY (Jean Ritchie version)
FATHER GRUMBLE
(Randolph's Ozark version)
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From The Traditional Ballad Index, s.v. Father Grumble:
Father Grumble [Laws Q1]
DESCRIPTION: Grumble says he can do more work in a day than his wife can do in three. She offers to exchange tasks for a day; he agrees. She gives him a long list of household chores and sets out to plow. He fails in most of his tasks and admits his wife's superiority
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1825
KEYWORDS: contest husband wife work humorous feminist
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland) Ireland US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES (15 citations):
Laws Q1, "Father Grumble"
Randolph 74, "Father Grumble" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Eddy 43, "Father Grumble" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 191-193, "The Wife of Auchtermuchty" (1 text)
Leach, pp747-748, "Father Grumble" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 443, "Father Grumble" (1 text)
Scott-BoA, pp. 41-43, "The Old Man Who Lived in the Woods" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 10, "Father Grumble" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 579-580, "The Old Man Who Lived in the Wood" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H702, pp. 504-505, "The Wealthy Farmer" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 36, pp. 82-84, "Father Grumble" (1 text)
JHCox 156, "Father Grumble" (7 texts)
Silber-FSWB, p. 188, "Little Phoebe"; p. 189, "Old Man In The Wood" (2 texts)
BBI, ZN1410, "In Auchtermuchty lived a man" (?)
DT 343, WIFEWORK WIFEWRK2* WIFEWRK3*
RECORDINGS:
Jean Ritchie, "Father Grumble" (AFS; on LC14)
Margaret MacArthur, "Old Mr. Grumble" (on MMacArthur01)
Pete Seeger, "Equinoxial" (on PeteSeeger12)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
John Grumlie
Equinoxial
Old Daddy Grumble
File: LQ01
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Recordings list from Folk Music - An Index to Recorded Resources:
Equinoxial and Phoebe
Rt - Father Grumble
1. Gribi, Gerri. Womansong Collection, Gribi, CD (1996), cut# 7
2. Paley, Tom. Old Tom Moore and More, Global Village C 309, Cas (1991), cut# 20 (Little Pheobe)
3. Petric, Faith. As We Were, Center 37, LP (1986), cut#B.01
4. Seeger, Peggy. Folksongs and Ballads, Riverside RLP-12-655, LP, cut# 9
5. Seeger, Peggy. Everybody Sing, Vol 2., Riverside RLP-1419, LP (196?), cut# 9a
Father Grumble [Laws Q 1]
Rt - Equinoxial and Phoebe ; Darby and Joan ; Mulbery Hill
At - Old Man in the Woods ; John Grumlie ; Old Man and His Wife
1. American Ballads and Songs, Scribners, Sof (1972/1922), p 82
2. Sweet Bunch of Daisies, Colonial Press, Bk (1991), p139 (There Was an Old Man)
3. American Balladry from British Broadsides, Amer. Folklore Society, Bk (1957), p273
4. Gibson, Bob. Folk Songs of Ohio, Stinson SLP 76, LP (195?), cut#B.04
5. Ginandes, Shep. Dogwood Soup, Pathways of Sound POS 1023, LP (196?), cut#B.05
6. House, Bob. Kirkland Recordings, Tennessee Folklore Soc. TFS-106, LP (1984), cut# 6 (Old Grumble)
7. MacArthur, Margaret. Almanac of New England Farm Songs, Green Linnet SIF 1039, LP (1982), cut# 7 (Old Mr. Grumble)
8. MacArthur, Margaret. Folksongs of Vermont, Folkways FH 5314, LP (1963), cut#B.01 (Old Mr. Grumble)
9. McCutcheon, John. Howjadoo, Rounder 8009, Cas (1987), cut#B.06
10. Ritchie, Edna. Edna Ritchie, Viper Kentucky, Folk Legacy FSA-003, LP (1962), cut#A.05 (Old Crumley)
11. Ritchie, Jean. High Hills & Mountains, Greenhays GR 701, LP (1979), cut# 10 (Old Daddy Grumble)
Mulbery Hill Rt - Father Grumble
1. Galt, Nellie. Folk Songs of America. The Robert Winslow Gordon Collection...., Library of Congress AFS L68, LP (1978), cut# 14b
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EQUINOCTIAL AND PHOEBE
"An American descendent of the old Scottish 'John Grumble'. Halliwell has found it in manuscripts from the time of Henry VII and Ritson says that 'the subject of this poem seems to be borrowed from the first part of a story in the Silva Sermonum Jucundissimorum, Basil, 1568...though certainly from a more ancient authority.' It is found in America in the traditional form and also in a doctored version by Heneywell, featuring stereotyped Darby-and-Joans as central figures.'--Peggy Seeger
[B7]Equinoctial swore by the [E]green leaves on the tree
That [A]he could do more [E]work in a day than [B7]Phoebe could do in [E]three, three,
That [A]he could do more [E]work in a day than [B7]Phoebe could do in [E]three.
"If tha be so," Phoebe said, "then this you must allow:
You must do my work for a day, and I'll go follow the plow, plow,
You must do my work for a day, and I'll go follow the plow.
"You must milk the Tiny cow for fear that she go dry,
And you must feed the little pigs that live in yonder sty, sty,
And you must feed the little pigs that live in yonder sty.
"You must watch the speckled hen that she does not run astray,
And you must wind the hank of yarn that I spun yesterday,
And you must wind the hank of yarn that I spun yesterday."
Phoebe took the staff in her hand and went to follow the plow,
The old man took the pail in his hand and went to milk the cow, cow,
The old man took the pail in his hand and went to milk the cow.
But Tiny hinched and Tiny flinched, and Tiny buckled her nose,
She hit the old man such a blow that the blood ran to his toes, toes,
She hit the old man such a blow that the blood ran to his toes.
And when he'd milked the Tiny cow that she would not go dry,
He went to feed the little pigs that lived in yonder sty, sty,
He went to feed the little pigs that lived in yonder sty.
But while he fed the little pigs, the hen did run astray,
He forgot about the hank of yarn that sh'd spun yesterday,
He forgot about the hank of yarn that sh'd spun yesterday.
He looked to the east, he looked to the west, he looked to the setting sun,
He swore to his heart it had been a long day, and Phoebe would never come, come,
He swore to his heart it had been a long day, and Phoebe would never come.
He swore by all the stars in the sky and all the skies in heaven
That Phoebe could do more work in a day than he could do in seven,
That Phoebe could do more work in a day than he could do in seven.
SOURCE: Folk Songs of Peggy Seeger (Oak, 1964, p 26)
~Masato