Subject: songs where the woman comes out on top From: GUEST,laxbey@sfu.ca Date: 08 Jun 06 - 08:17 PM I'm looking for songs where the woman comes out on top. Ballads are best. Any folk songs would be good. Where the woman doesn't end up pregnant, heart-broken, or dead. |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: jaze Date: 08 Jun 06 - 08:28 PM How about "Jackaroe"? A wealthy merchants daughter who dresses as a man to find her true love in the war and actually does! |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: freightdawg Date: 08 Jun 06 - 08:31 PM Is the title of this thread a double entendre? |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: IvanB Date: 08 Jun 06 - 08:42 PM "Willy Taylor" He's pressed before they can marry, she signs on board a ship to go find him, finds he's married a rich young lady, shoots him and is rewarded with command of a ship. "The Outlandish Knight" Child #4, also known by various other names. In most of them the maiden outwits the knight, leading to his death or to his looking the fool outside her father's gates. "A Blacksmith Courted me" Another one where the man marries another. Her response, is, basically, "Well that was stupid of me, but the best revenge is a good life." There's another one where the young lady is angered by the long lost lover's testing upon his return and tells him to get lost, but I can't remember the name. |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: GUEST,TJ Date: 08 Jun 06 - 08:49 PM "The Elf Knight", in which a young woman is lured into the woods by an unpleasant little fellow who turns out to be a serial murderer, but she successfully induces him to fall asleep and then stabs him with his own knife. Moral of the story: don't date elves. |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Susan of DT Date: 08 Jun 06 - 08:56 PM Broomfield Wager Maid on the Shore Crafty Maid's Policy Phoebe and Equinoxal/Old Grumble |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Steve Latimer Date: 08 Jun 06 - 08:58 PM Yonder Stands Little Maggie is the only Bluegrass song that I know of where the woman comes out ahead. |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Abby Sale Date: 08 Jun 06 - 09:58 PM Cherry Tree Coral Bonnie Lass of Anglesee Baffled Knight, #112 & all its varients - Shepherd L Birken Tree (not the one in DT, the one where she tricks him - again) Tailor's Breeches (in its way and all the other prostitute/beggar lass songs where he winds up with a std & she winds up with his money & clothes. Dozens of these. The Half Hitch Most songs that begin "The Female ..." Get Up and Bar the Door (?) Prince Heathen (Carthy's version, anyway) Ned of the Hill Devil And Feathery Wife Farmer's Crust Wife Oh, I think there's plenty |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: mrdux Date: 08 Jun 06 - 10:13 PM Sovay, about an apparently successful woman highwayperson, whose lover turns out to be faithful. A version is in the DT. Bert Lloyd's version adds this final verse (our heroine to her lover (and erstwhile robbery victim)): "I only did it for to know Whether you were a man or no; If you would given me that ring", she said, "I'd pull the trigger, I'd pull the trigger and shot you dead!" |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Deckman Date: 08 Jun 06 - 10:28 PM I was going to mention "EQUINOXIAL AND PHOBE", but some else already did. So, I won't mention "EQINONIAL AND PHOBE" again ... tonight ... maybe. Bob |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Little Robyn Date: 09 Jun 06 - 12:55 AM Mike Waterson's song A stitch in time. Here in Digitrad. Robyn |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Dave Hanson Date: 09 Jun 06 - 01:01 AM The Friar And The Well. eric |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: bfdk Date: 09 Jun 06 - 10:20 AM Bloke "hires" a bonny maid and refuses to pay. The song ends "For I will hae the last laugh For I've left ye wi' the pox.." From "Fair Maid of London Town", to be found on this CD. Best wishes, Bente |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: nutty Date: 09 Jun 06 - 12:03 PM I would love the words to this song .... the chorus goes something like....... So I'll go and I'll GET BLUE BLAZING BLIND DRUNK JUST TO GIVE MICKEY A WARNING AND THEN, JUST FOR SPITE, I'LL STAY OUT ALL NIGHT AND COME ROLLING HOME DRUNK IN THE MORNING |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Bill D Date: 09 Jun 06 - 12:28 PM "The Ten Dollar Bill" a young serving woman at a 'gathering' is seduced by cad who gives her a $10 note for her trouble....so next year at the gathering, he settles back to smoke cigars with the boys, when the girl walks up and plops a baby in his lap...."What's this?", he cries...."do you not remember last year when you gave a girl a note for 'services'? Here's your change." |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Bill D Date: 09 Jun 06 - 12:31 PM also...Unfortunate Miss Bailey in the DT. |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: GUEST,Jim Date: 09 Jun 06 - 12:35 PM Eggs and Marrowbone |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Little Hawk Date: 09 Jun 06 - 12:41 PM "The Fair Flower of Northumberland" - Maiden is jilted by her lover, upbraided for her foolishness by her father, but then welcomed home warmly by her mother who notes that she's not the first romantic girl who has been beguiled by young Scots, and she's still the fair flower of Northumberland regardless! This is a bit unusual in such songs, where such maidens normally end up tragically dead, to suit the style of the time. Evidently her mother had an extra measure of both common sense and compassion. She must have seen her own young self in her daughter. Then there's "She Belongs To Me", by Bob Dylan. It's quite clear that that woman always comes out on top. |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Scoville Date: 09 Jun 06 - 12:48 PM There's one I know as "Diddly-Aye" where the girl is the one who plays the field while her sailor boyfriend is away. Pretty humorous, really. I'll see if I can find the words somewhere. I know there are others. I'll have to look through my old C&W stuff tonight. This isn't really true of "Wagoner's Lad" (aka "Hard is the Fortune") but at least the girl has the satisfaction of the verse (as I learned it): "Your parents don't like me because I am poor, They say I'm not worthy of entering you door, My work it is honest, my money's my own, And if they don't like me they can leave us alone." |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Sooz Date: 09 Jun 06 - 12:50 PM The Fair Maid of Islington The Widow's promise by Mick Ryan |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Cattail Date: 09 Jun 06 - 01:08 PM The willow tree (this may have already been mentioned in other variations) A stitch in time Cheers Cattail! |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: YorkshireYankee Date: 09 Jun 06 - 01:09 PM A "maid errant" misleads several "solicitous" gentlemen and ends up a horse to the good in The Horse Thief. If you use a PC and Windows Media Player, you can hear an excerpt of Claudia Schmidt singing it here (first album, song no. 7). |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Scoville Date: 09 Jun 06 - 01:15 PM Here's a slightly different version: Twiddles Janie Meneely When the boats all get to sailing and the men are off and gone What about the women who are up and left alone? Do you think they sit and twiddle thumbs until their men come home? Oh there's other things to twiddle when a girl's left on her own. Oh, it's twiddley ai dee ai dee o, twiddley ai dee ay Well it's lots of times a man will leave you broken with dismay Oh, it's twiddley ai dee ai dee o, twiddley ai dee ay There's others willin' to twiddle when your man is gone away I remember Nelly, she was young and she was gay. She won the heart of Captain Dan but then he sailed away. He left her high and dry with just a kiss upon the chin But as his ship went sailing out another ship sailed in. And then there was Lucinda Brown as fair as any maid. Her true love he went a voyaging, a sailor man by trade. "Keep the fire burning, love," those were the words he spoke. So she found herself another man to keep the fire stoked. When Lucinda.s man came back and knocked upon her door She was as glad to see him as she'd ever been before. He left her sleeping in her bed but Lucy didn't care 'Course the poor guy in the closet sure could use a little air. Oh you hear a lot of stories 'bout the sailors and their sport. About how every sailor has a girl in every port. But if you'd added two and two you'd figure out right quick That it's just because the lassies have a lad on every ship. Oh, it's twiddley ai dee ai dee o, twiddley ai dee ay Well it's lots of times a man will leave you broken with dismay Oh, it's twiddley ai dee ai dee o, twiddley ai dee ay There's others willin' to twiddle when your man is gone away Oh, it's twiddley ai dee ai dee o, twiddley ai dee ay Well it's lots of times a man will leave you broken with dismay Oh, it's twiddley ai dee ai dee o, twiddley ai dee ay There's other Willie's willin' to twiddle when your Willie's gone away. |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 09 Jun 06 - 02:39 PM Lovely Joan, where the heroine rips off her wood-be robber & ravager, riding away on his own horse with his (no doubt ill-gotten) bags of gold. You GO girl... PS: I Freudianly mis-typed the above as his "bags of golf" - |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 09 Jun 06 - 02:40 PM I meant "would-be". Double meanings are working overtime today - |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Steve Latimer Date: 09 Jun 06 - 02:43 PM Stagger Lee. |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 09 Jun 06 - 02:54 PM Steve, is there a woman in the plot of Stagger Lee (apart from the offstage "very sickly wife")? The bulldog was barking at the two men who gambled in the dark, so I'm not clear how a woman triumphs in this story - ??? Unless I'm thinking of the wrong Stagger Lee. |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 09 Jun 06 - 03:06 PM On second thought, I like your take on it much better! |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Phil Cooper Date: 09 Jun 06 - 03:21 PM Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret. After being chased out of an abusive relationship, Lady Margaret poisons Lord Thomas and promises to bury him, as he's dying. |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 09 Jun 06 - 03:22 PM Before or after? |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: bfdk Date: 09 Jun 06 - 04:12 PM Nutty, Blue Bleezing Blind Drunk is in the database. Best wishes, Bente |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: GUEST,Jacqui Date: 09 Jun 06 - 04:46 PM Martinmas Time! (it's on the Digitrad) |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 09 Jun 06 - 04:50 PM I'm shocked! How can a thread like this come this far without mentioning The Devil & the Farmer's Wife? Also known as The Farmer's Curst Wife. Or We Never Mention Aunt Clara" (who lives on the French Riviera)? Or The Lonely Willow Tree? Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Dave the Gnome Date: 09 Jun 06 - 04:59 PM Oyster girl. She picked both his pockets and then down the stairs she went and left him with a basket of oysters... Cheers DtG |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 09 Jun 06 - 05:24 PM Isn't there a song on a simiar theme in The English Book Of Singing Penguins called The Basket Of Eggs? |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 09 Jun 06 - 06:17 PM I'd say the women come out on top a lot more often than not, in folksongs anyway. |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: GUEST,Carol Francis Date: 09 Jun 06 - 06:23 PM Fair Annie, at least in Martin Simpson's exquisite version. Carol |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 09 Jun 06 - 07:13 PM "The Ten Dollar Bill" is a modern update of an old English one... |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Teribus Date: 09 Jun 06 - 07:33 PM "Maids when you're young never wed an old man" |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Bob the Postman Date: 09 Jun 06 - 07:47 PM Uncle Dave, Abby mentioned the Farmer's CRUST Wife in post number 8. I wonder if she's related to the cherry-pie baker who was engaged to Billy Boy Billy Boy? |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Gorgeous Gary Date: 09 Jun 06 - 08:52 PM A personal favorite is Fairport Convention's "Naked Highwayman". The title character finds himself wooed, then stripped of clothes and guns by his female rival. Who then goes on to rob the coach and is last seen riding the poor highwayman's horse into the sunset... -- Gary |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Dave Ruch Date: 09 Jun 06 - 08:59 PM Wisconsin The Brisk Young Butcher |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 09 Jun 06 - 09:02 PM That's the same plotline as Lovely Joan, though I haven't heard (or else can't remember) Fairport's version, so don't know if it has a different melody or words. Great story, though. |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: GUEST,Joe_F Date: 09 Jun 06 - 09:04 PM The 19th-century English original of "Ten-Dollar Bill" is called "Christmas Goose". Eppie Morrie (Child 223). Woman abducted by a gang, one of whose members wants to marry her, wrestles with him all night & does not let him deflower her. In the morning, the man she has in mind happens by & gives her a ride home. The False Lover Won Back (Child 218). Man who has gotten a woman in trouble announces that he is deserting her, as usual. She follows him and persists in her entreaties. He tries for a while to buy her off with gifts, but at length realizes that he has been behaving badly, professes his love for her, and turns his horse around. (A Child ballad without a single felony! MacColl & Seeger sing it beautifully.) --- Joe Fineman joe_f@verizon.net ||: The distinction between qualitative and quantitative differences is one of degree. :|| |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Phil Cooper Date: 09 Jun 06 - 11:10 PM Bonnie, In Lord Thomas & Lady Margaret, she comments as Lord Thomas is saying: I"m weary, Lady Margaret, He said,I'm weary drinking with thee, and so was I Lady Margaret said, when you hunted your hounds after me. But, I'll bury you Lord Thomas She said, just as if you were one of my own, and when my good lord comes home, I'll claim you were my sister's son. Last two verses, so I guess she waits till he's dead to bury him. I wonder what he did to get banished, even by the aristocracy. |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: GUEST,Julia Date: 09 Jun 06 - 11:41 PM My favorite of these is the "Maid on the shore" last verse goes And yonder she stands all alone on the sand A-waving her handkerchief fair-o Saying "you are the Captain who plows the salt sea And I'm still the maid on the shore (oh shore) I'm still the maid on the shore And how about "Sauvey" where the girl dresses as a robber and tests her lover by trying to rob him of the ring she has given him? The Gardner Child is another where she tells him to take his paidle and.... Great stuff Julia |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: Tootler Date: 10 Jun 06 - 06:59 AM "The Highwayman Outwitted" Girl on the way home from market is held up by a highwayman. He gets her to hold his horse which she promptly jumps on and rides home to find that not only she has she escaped, but she has acquired a substantial fortune in his saddlebags. |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 10 Jun 06 - 07:31 AM In "The Dreadful Ghost" she is driven to suicide but her ghost gets him in the end... |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 10 Jun 06 - 07:50 AM ooooo, painful... |
Subject: RE: songs where the woman comes out on top From: GUEST,Kenny B Sans Kuki Date: 11 Jun 06 - 02:50 PM Jock o Hazeldean Monongaheela Sal |
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