Lyr Add: Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown

Subject: Lyr Add: Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Aug 21 - 06:04 PM

transcription coming

https://www.loc.gov/resource/sm1856.600240.0?st=gallery

Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown

DESCRIPTION: Phoebe loves Reuben; her parents disapprove, and Reuben doesn't think much of them either. They determine to marry; her father grabs a shotgun. He accidentally kills his daughter. Reuben kills the father -- and awakes from his terrible dream
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1896 (Phineas Garrett's "One Hundred Choice Selections")
LONG DESCRIPTION: Phoebe loves Reuben; her parents disapprove, and Reuben doesn't think much of them either. The young people determine to marry, and start for the parsonage in the rain, while her father grabs a shotgun. Instead of hitting Reuben, he kills his daughter. Reuben kills the father, tears his hair -- and awakes from his terrible dream
KEYWORDS: hardheartedness courting elopement love violence homicide revenge death dream humorous recitation father children
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, pp. 297-298, "Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5414
RECORDINGS:
Hamilton Lobdell, "Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown" (AFS, 1941; on LC55)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Young Sailor Bold (I) (The Rich Merchant's Daughter)" [Laws M19] (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Love, Murder, and Almost Matrimony
NOTES [43 words]: Each verse has the third line recited as prose, rather than sung. - PJS
This reportedly originated in one of the Hamlin's Wizard Oil songsters. I can't find any references in Spaeth, but this really sounds like something Charlie Case might have written. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.6
File: RcRWaPB

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check the "Flashes of Merriment" book

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Feb 22 - 04:38 PM

still needs lyrics

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown
From: JohnBaxter
Date: 07 Mar 24 - 10:52 AM

From Sheet Music (c1855)

Reuben Wright & Phoebe Brown. A Tale of a Dismal Swamp.
Composed and sung by Sam Cowell

In Manchester a maiden dwelt,
Her name was Phoebe Brown;
Her cheeks were red, her hair was black,
[SPOKEN: And she was considered by good judges to be by all odds the]
best looking girl in town.]

Ri Chooral, li chooral, ri chum choo-ral lay;
Ri Chooral, li chooral, ri chum choo-ral lay.

Her age was nearly twenty one,
Her eyes were sparkling bright;
A very lovely girl she was,
[SPOKEN: And for about a year and a half there had been a young man paying his attention to her, by the]
Name of Reuben Wright.

Ri Chooral, li chooral, ri chum choo-ral lay;
Ri Chooral, li chooral, ri chum choo-ral lay.

Now Reuben was a nice young man
As any in the town,
And Phoebe lov'd him dearly,
[SPOKEN: But, on account of his being obliged to work for a living, he never could make himself agreeable to]
Old Mr. and Mrs. Brown.

Ri Chooral, etc

Her parents were resolved
Another she should wed,
A rich old miser in the place,
[SPOKEN: And old Brown frequently declared, that rather than have his daughter marry Reuben Wright, he'd sooner]
Knock him in the head.

Ri Chooral, etc

But Phoebe's heart was brave and strong,
She feared not her parent's frowns;
And as for Reuben Wright so bold,
[SPOKEN: I've heard him say more than fifty times that, (with the exception of Phœbe) he didn't care a cent for the]
Whole race of Browns.

Ri Chooral, etc

So Phoebe Brown and Reuben Wright
Determined they would marry;
Three weeks ago last Tuesday night,
[SPOKEN: They started for old Parson Webster's, determined to be united in the holy bonds of matrimony, though it was tremendous dark, and]
Rained like Old Harry.

Ri Chooral, etc

But Captain Brown was wide awake,
He loaded up his gun,
And then pursued the loving pair;
[SPOKEN: He overtook 'em when they'd got about half way to the Parson's, and then Reuben and Phoebe started]
Off upon the run.

Ri Chooral, etc

Old Brown then took a deadly aim
Toward young Reuben's head,
But, oh! it was a bleeding shame,
[SPOKEN: He made a mistake, and shot his only daughter, and had the unspeakable anguish of seeing her]
Drop right down stone dead.

Ri Chooral, etc

Then anguish filled young Reuben's heart,
And vengeance crazed his brain,
He drew an awful jack-knife out,
[SPOKN: And plunged it into old Brown about fifty or sixty times, so that it's very doubtful about his ever]
Coming to life again.

Ri Chooral, etc

The briny drops in frenzy tore
The hair from off his head
And when half-scalp'd the pain was such
[SPOKEN: That he awoke, and discovered himself lying flat on his back with his bootjack on his chest, and his nightcap brimful of the briny torrents, - having been out to a tea party, and having so regaled himself on muffins and crumpets hot, that the nightmare he had got on]

Getting into bed.

Ri Chooral, etc

MORAL
Young men - when out to tea and sup
And spend a pleasant night
If you must feast, then let it be
[SPOKEN: With your eyes, on the charms of the ladies, and your ears, in listening to their delightful conversation, and thus avoid the distressing calamity that]
Befell poor Reuben Wright

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown
From: JohnBaxter
Date: 07 Mar 24 - 10:54 AM

Alternative ending missing last verse and Moral:

The briny drops from Reuben's eyes,
In torrents poured down
He yielded up the ghost and di-ed
SPOKEN: And in this melancholy and heartrending manner terminates the history of Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown, and likewise]
Old Captain Brown


The Lancaster Examiner
Lancaster, Pennsylvania · Wednesday, February 25, 1852

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 07 Mar 24 - 11:47 AM

Thanks to JohnBaxter for finding this! The information here will be cited in the next Ballad Index release, with credit.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown
From: JohnBaxter
Date: 16 Mar 24 - 03:38 AM

I've now published my notes on this one - i'm not completely convinced that it was by Cowell...
Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 16 Mar 24 - 07:12 AM

JohnBaxter wrote: I've now published my notes on this one - i'm not completely convinced that it was by Cowell...

One possibility is that Cowell set the music -- note that the sheet music cover says it was "composed and sung" by Cowell, not that he wrote the text. Though it sounds rather like his work. Possibly he took an existing piece and modified it.

Maybe we should give him credit for being the only person willing to actually put his name on it. :-)