Lyr Add: Hard is the Fortune of All Womankind

Subject: Lyr Add: HARD IS THE FORTUNE OF ALL WOMANKIND
From: Tinker
Date: 14 Sep 00 - 09:39 AM

Mary in KY thanks for all your praise on Hearme. So much for jitters you guys make me feel great. I've got a new CD of Street Walkin Blues(1924-56) and as I get down the tunes and lyrics I'll send you a PM if you'd like. Hope you'll add the midi file because this took several trips to the newcomer's thread.I'm amazed at how my tech skills are growing just because I wanted to clean up my old scout songbook. Besure to check The Ladys Case in the DT for Additional Lyrics. There is also some song history there.

Joe, Sorry sorry for the mess I left in the biblical and humorous thread ( missing words, typos etc.) But I really do learn from my mistakes. I will figure out how to do this right. It just might take a few trys.

Tinker


HARD IS THE FORTUNE OF ALL WOMANKIND
(TRADITIONAL)


Oh, hard is the fortune of all womankind,
We're always controlled and were always confined,
And when we get married to end all our strife,
We're slaves to our husbands for the rest of our lives.

All young girls take warning, take warning from me,
Never place your affections on a young man so free,
They will hug you and kiss you and tell you more lies,
Than the cross-ties on the railroad or the stars in the sky.

Of meeting is a pleasure and parting is a grief,
And a false-hearted lover is worse than a thief,
For a thief will just rob you and take what you have,
But a false-hearted lover will make you his slave.

He'll call you his darling, he'll call you his pearl,
And go behind you with some other girl;
You'll cook just to please him and scrub all his floors,
And if you won't love him, he'll call you a whore.

Repeat first Verse




Same tune as Wagoner's Lad. Joan Baez used the first verse to open Wagoner's Lad In Joan Baez Vol. 2
. Taken from Folk Singer's Wordbook. Additional lyrics see The Lady's Case. KAD

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hard is the Fortune of All Womankind
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 14 Sep 00 - 09:44 AM

Thanks Tinker. Like I said, this is one of my all time favorites. If you don't have a midi of this one, I'll send one to Dick.

Mary

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hard is the Fortune of All Womankind
From: Tinker
Date: 14 Sep 00 - 10:58 AM

Thanks Mary, my skills don't extend to midi files yet. I need to get the fall schedule in full swing before I try to figure that one out. Oh, I lost the web address you gave me at hearme, can you post or PM it? My two middleschoolers came in as I was singing and began rolling on the floor at the sight of mom singing to the computer. In the confusion who knows where it went.

Blessings

Tinker

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hard is the Fortune of All Womankind
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 14 Sep 00 - 11:24 AM

The site is Lesley Nelson's wonderful folk music site where you can hear midis of many folk songs, and also see the words and lots links and info!

Folk Music of England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and America (www.contemplator.com/folk.html)

Be sure to use the search engine to find songs fast. I'm also sending you a PM with more info.

Mary

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hard is the Fortune of All Womankind
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 14 Sep 00 - 04:43 PM

Henry Carey's "The Ladies Case", c 1730, is also in the Scarce Songs 1 file on my website (in Mudcat's Links), and its original tune, by Mr. Gouge, is given as an ABC, LADYSCS, in file S1.HTM.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hard is the Fortune of All Womankind
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Apr 10 - 04:27 PM

An English Friend of mine sings this keeping the melody of 'The Wagoner's Lad" but with only two verses. The first is consistent with the usual opening the second differs so that the words I learned are as follows;

How hard is the fortune of all womankind,
Forever subjected, forever confined,
The parent controls us until we are wives,
The husband enslaves us the rest of our lives.

If fondly we love, yet we dare not reveal,
But secretly languish, compelled to conceal,
Deny'd every freedom of Life to enjoy,
We're sham'd if we're kind, we're blamed if we're coy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hard is the Fortune of All Womankind
From: GUEST,Alinya
Date: 08 Apr 10 - 04:28 PM

The lyrics I learned were somewhat different. They came from an English friend who used the melody discussed above only sang instead;
How hard is the fortune of all womankind,
Forever subjected, forever confined,
The parent controls us until we are wives,
The husband enslaves us the rest of our lives.

If fondly we love, yet we dare not reveal,
But secretly languish, compelled to conceal,
Deny'd every freedom of Life to enjoy,
We're sham'd if we're kind, we're blamed if we're coy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hard is the Fortune of All Womankind
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 09 Apr 10 - 04:23 PM

One of the great things about Mudcat is being able to piece together the evolution of songs, from Scotland, Ireland or England, for example, to Appalachia and beyond. This is one example. Another of my favorites is the "Moonshiner" variants, from Ireland to the U.S. with many changes in tune and tempo along the way. Fascinating stuff.

"Wagoner's Lad," with variations, was the only one I had heard in the States.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Hard is the Fortune of All Womankind
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Apr 10 - 11:45 PM

From The Gentleman's Magazine, by Sylvanus Urban (pseud.) (London: Printed by John Nichols, Vol. 48, Part 1, No. 5, May, 1798), page 426:


SONG.

How hard is the fortune of all womankind!
For ever subjected, for ever confin'd!
The parent controuls us until we are wives;
The husband enslaves the rest of our lives.

If fondly we love, yet we dare not reveal,
But secretly languish our sighs to conceal;
Deny'd, ev'ry freedom of life to enjoy;
Asham'd if we're kind, and condemn'd if we're coy.