Mick Ryan posted on mudcat 2010
'Imagine my surprise when I came across this continuing conversation about The Widow's Promise, a song I wrote in 1982 (it may have been '81). The song came about because the band I was then in (‘Crows’) needed an up tempo, light hearted song to balance our set. I extrapolated the characters from a traditional song, The Devil and the Feathery Wife, I had heard Nick Dow sing, and an original song, The Mother in Laws, written by Gerry Rees. Having said this, the story, the tune and the lyrics are my own.'