The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #96789 Message #1897329
Posted By: Richie
01-Dec-06 - 07:35 AM
Thread Name: Origin: The Old Sow/Old Molly Hare
Subject: RE: Lyr origin: The Old Sow/Old Molly Hare
Thanks Bert,
That is the song I was looking for. It's also named the "Old Sow Song." There isn't much info about it in the DT. Someone said it was from the 1700's. The Traditional Ballad Index only had 1931:
Sow Took the Measles, The DESCRIPTION: The singer founds his property on a sow. When the sow takes the measles and dies, he makes a saddle of her hide, a thimble of her nose, a whip of her tail, pickles and/or glue of her feet, etc. AUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Fuson) KEYWORDS: animal talltale technology disease FOUND IN: US(Ap,NE,So,SE) REFERENCES (7 citations): Randolph 412, "The Measles in the Spring" (1 text, 1 tune) BrownIII 177, "My Old Sow's Nose" (1 text) Linscott, pp. 253-255, "The Old Sow Song" (1 text, 1 tune) Fuson, p. 185, "The Old Sow" (1 text, in which the old sow "died in the winter last spring") Lomax-FSNA 15, "The Sow Took the Measles" (1 text, 1 tune) Silber-FSWB, p. 405, "The Sow Took The Measles" (1 text) DT, SOWMEASL* Roud #17759 CROSS-REFERENCES: cf. "The Red Herring" (theme)