The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #81177   Message #1485150
Posted By: Joe Offer
15-May-05 - 12:48 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Add:Married Woman's Lament (wish I was single)
Subject: RE: A Married Woman's Lament (wish I was single)
Here's the traditional Ballad Index entry on this song. I think I count vive different "Wish I was Single" songs, and countless versions of each.
-Joe Offer, happily married-

I Wish I Were Single Again (II - Female)

DESCRIPTION: The wife complains of the troubles of matrimony. When first her husband courted her, all was kindness, but now it's nothing but work and care for the children and try to stay out of trouble. She says, "I hope I shall be hanged if I ever love again."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: fight husband marriage
FOUND IN: US(MW,NE,So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Eddy 70, "How I Wish I Was Single Again" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 366, "A Married Woman's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 26-27, "A Married Woman's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune, with the unrelated "The Sorrow of Marriage" in an appendix"
DT, SNGLGRL2*

Roud #436
RECORDINGS:
Margaret MacArthur, "Single Again" (on MMacArthur01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Wish I Were a Single Girl Again"
cf. "Single Girl, Married Girl"
cf. "When I Was Young (II)" (theme)
cf. "For Seven Long Years I've Been Married" (theme)
Notes: Characterized by a stanza format something like this:
Once I was single and lived at my ease,
But now I am married with a husband to please,
Four young children to maintain;
Oh how I wish I were single again! - RBW
File: E070

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