The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #47698   Message #712420
Posted By: framik
17-May-02 - 01:29 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: A ballad about illegitimacy?
Subject: A ballad about illegitimacy?
I once heard a ballad in English, which I think was of Irish origin, that spoofed illegitimacy and extra-marital sex. The successive verses told of a young woman repeatedly going to her father to tell him that she was in love and wanted to marry a handsome lad from the village. Each time, her father replied that he was sorry to say that she couldn't marry the lad, "because I'm the one that father'd him and so he's kin to you." After six or seven such verses, the poor maid goes to her mother to complain that her father seems to have sired every eligible male in town. Her mother urges her not to judge her father too harshly, and reminds her that her father has been a good provider and a kind father, and then the very last line was, "And he's not the one who fathered you, so marry whom you will." Does anyone know the name of this song or have the full lyrics? Thanks.