The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #120843   Message #2632879
Posted By: Steve Gardham
15-May-09 - 06:11 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: There's nobody coming to marry me?
Subject: RE: can someone help me: Nobody's coming to marry me
Many broadsides late 18thc when the song was very popular. I suspect it was sung in the Pleasure Gardens like Ranelagh and Vauxhall. Then it had 4/5/6 verses and a chorus with first line 'Last night the dogs did bark' or 'The dogs began to bark'. Almost all of the copies I have are early but Harkness of Preston was still printing it as late as the 1860s. There are plenty of copies to look at on the Bodl under such titles as 'Nobody comes/coming to marry/woo me. There is also a related Scots version called 'The Disconsolate Maid'. As one would expect there are also oral versions in some collections.