MY HUSBAND'S GOT NO COURAGE IN HIM (O DEAR O)

As I I walked out one May morning
To view the fields and the leaves a-springing
I saw two maidens standing by
And one of them her hands was wringing.

CHORUS:
Oh dear, oh!
What shall I do?
My husband's got no courage in him.
Oh dear, oh!

All sorts of victuals* I did provide
All sorts of meats that's fitting for him
With oyster pie and rhubarb too
But nothing will put courage in him.

My husband can dance and caper and sing
Or do anything that is fitting for him
But he cannot do the thing that I want
Because he has no courage in him.

My husband's admired wherever he goes
And everyone looks well upon him
With his handsome features and well-shaped leg
But still he has no courage in him.

Seven long years I've made his bed
And every night I've laid aside him
But this morning I rose with my maidenhead
For still he has no courage in him.

I wish my husband he was dead
And in the grave I'd quickly lay him
Then I'd try some other one
That's got some little courage in him.

*pronounced 'vittals' which is what Purslow printed


Singer: Jesse Steer, Stratton, Dorset, November 1906

Source: The Wanton Seed: English Folk Songs from the Hammond and Gardiner Manuscripts
Revised by Malcolm Douglas and Steve Gardham
page 111

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This version is very similar to the second version in the Digital Tradition - more-or-less the version recorded by the Silly Sisters.

There is a melody in the book - I'll transcribe it if requested.