Alice, there's another verse to your pioneer song, I believe, where one of the insulting drummers turns out to be the long lost brother. Of course he changes his tune when the girl in question is HIS sister!

Also, love your words to the Gaelic song. I think we have a copy of "songs of Ireland" so will try to find the tune.

RS (and anyone else), if you really want the recipe for cherry rum walnut pie, send e-mail to zither@erols.com. It's an original recipe and I'd love to pass it on. At a potluck, one friend told me sheepishly that she'd eaten four slices! Boy, did that please me. I've never quite mastered the womanly art of cooking and I'm trying to catch up now. Next year I'll try for the womanly art of housekeeping.

Here are the words to "Standing Behind Some Man." I'll see if I can get a midi version posted to the database so you can have the tune. Or e-mail me and we can try to arrange something over the phone.

STANDING BEHIND SOME MAN. Written by Jane Voss (I think)

1. Behind every man who makes a great name,
It's said a woman does stand,
Faithful and true, willing to do
And play any part in his plan.
Oh how many lives have been lived out that way,
As somebody else's right hand,
How many women without faces or names
Standing behind some man?

2. Once upon a time I called a man mine
And I waited at his every whim
In worry and fear cried many a tear
In the long nights waiting for him.
Oh the years that I've wasted, the love that I've lost
Measure it nobody can
I sold my birthright for a warm bed at night
To be standing behind some man.

3 Oh the love of a man is a beatiful thing,
A joy and a comfort so kind
But if the loving you crave just makes you a slave
You're selling yourself down the line.
Each person must have their own work to do,
Each life its own special plan
And a woman is lost who pays the great cost
To be standing behind some man.

4 If you take a butterfly by the wings,
You know it will never more fly;
If my life must be some small captive thing,
You know that I'd sooner die.
Lovers may come, lovers may go,
But I only have what I am,
And I'd rather be lonesome and free
Than be standing behind some man.

You know I'd rather be flying lonesome and free,
Than be standing behind some man.