Lyr Req: There's nobody coming to marry me?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: There's nobody coming to marry me?
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Feb 22 - 12:16 PM

Well done, RA. I should have connected those versions.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: There's nobody coming to marry me?
From: GUEST,RA
Date: 23 Feb 22 - 03:19 PM

For comparison, 'Slighted Nansy' from Allan Ramsay's 'Tea Table Miscellany' (I just noticed the connection):

[To the Tune of, The Kirk wad let me be]

Slighted Nansy

‘TIS I have seven braw new gowns,
And ither seven better to mak,
And yet for a’ my new gowns;
My wooer has turn’d his back.
Besides I have seven milk-ky,
And Sandy he has but three;
And yet for a’ my good ky,
The ladie winna ha’e me.

My dady’s a delver of dikes,
My mither can card and spin,
And I am a fine fodgel lass,
And the siller comes linkin in:
The siller comes linkin in,
And it is fou fair to see,
And fifty times wow! O wow!
What ails the lads at me?

When ever our Baty does bark,
Then fast to the door I rin,
To see gin ony young spark
Will light and venture but in:
But never a ane will come in,
Tho’ mony a ane gaes by,
Syne far ben the house I rin;
And a weary wight am I.

When I was at my first prayers,
I pray’d but anes i’ the year,
I wish’d for a handsome young lad,
And a lad with muckle gear.
When I was at my neist prayers,
I pray’d but now and than,
I fash’d na my head about gear,
If I get a handsome young man.


Now when I’m at my last prayers,
I pray on baith night and day,
And O! if a beggar wad come,
With that same beggar I’d gae.
And O! and what’ll come o’ me?
And O! what’ll I do?
That sic a braw lassie as I
Shou’d die for a woer I trow.

Subject: RE: can someone help me: Nobody's coming to marry me
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 07 Nov 09 - 05:13 PM

Since the last posting I have acquired an earlier sheet music version.
NOBODY COMING TO MARRY ME, Ballad, sung by Miss Tyrer at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. arranged for the Pianoforte or harp, London, printed & sold by Preston at his Wholesale Warehouse 97 Strand.
Music is in Bb and time sig is 6/8. Date I would guess at c1810

When I was a smart young girl
Of fifteen or sixteen years old
Oh then I had plenty of suitors
But now there(sic) grown wonderous (sic) cold.
    Oh what will become of me
    Oh what shall I do
    Nobody coming to marry me
    Nobody coming to woo
    Nobody coming to woo.
My father's a hedger and ditcher
My mother does nothing but spin
I once was a pretty young Maid
But the money comes slowly in.

Last night when the Dogs did bark
I went to the door to see
And every Lass had a spark
But no one came to me.

Oh dear how shocking the thought
that all my beauty must fade
I am sure it is not my fault
That I must die an old Maid.

I was in the BL earlier this week and I'm sure I noted an 18thc version. I'll check when I'm typing them up.

Of course the second verse has extra interest because of its bawdy connection. 'My god how the money rolls in'. There is also a similar verse in 'Dick Darby (Old Hewson) the Cobbler.

I have a hunch it's much older than even the late 18thc, possibly of the same era as Gossip Joan, late 17th.

Subject: RE: can someone help me: Nobody's coming to marry me
From: Artful Codger
Date: 07 Nov 09 - 03:16 AM

Since no one has posted an early version of this song HERE, allow me.

From The Royal Minstrel; or Melodist's Pocket Songster, published by J.S. Pratt, London, 1844.

NOBODY COMES TO MARRY ME.

Last night the dogs did bark,
   I went to the gate to see,
When ev'ry lass had her spark,
   But nobody comes to me.
      And its oh, dear, what will become of me ?
         Oh, dear what shall I do?
      Nobody coming to marry me,
         Nobody coming to woo.

My father's a hedger and ditcher,
   My mother does nothing but spin ;
And I am a pretty young girl.
   But money comes slowly in.
      And its oh, dear, &c.

They say I am beauteous and fair.
   They say I am scornful and proud,
Alas! I must now despair,
   For, ah, I am grown very old.

And now I must die an old maid,
   Oh, dear, how shocking the thought!
And all my beauty must fade.
   But I'm sure it is not my fault,
      And its oh, dear, &c.

Although this is a relatively "late" version, the same version, with only slight variations appears in texts from (or reprinted from) the 1820s, such as The Lyre and The Vocal Library.

In English Minstrelsie, Volume 2 (1895), pp. 120-22, Sabine Baring-Gould provides a score for this song which bears some resemblance to the tune sung by Prior and Tabor, but not a strong one.

In digging about, I found that the song was especially popular on the American side of the pond, popularized as a sort of signature song for Eliza Poe, stage sensation and mother of Edgar Allan Poe. The song was published over here at least as early as 1811 (in The Songster's Repository, Nathaniel Dearborn, New York). Another common title for the song was "Last Night the Dogs (Did Bark)."

Subject: RE: can someone help me: Nobody's coming to marry me
From: GUEST,jeddy
Date: 15 May 09 - 09:38 PM

TO OPEN MIC
thanks for asking but i'm already married, but if i ever get divorced i'll let you know. do we know you already from english festivals? x

Subject: RE: can someone help me: Nobody's coming to marry me
From: Susan of DT
Date: 15 May 09 - 07:46 PM

There are a number of old maid songs in the DT.
   I Wonder When I shall be Married
   Old Maid Song
   Old Maid in a Garret, mentioned above
   Poor Old Maid
   The Old Maid (4)
   Time to be made a Wife
   Black Chimney Sweeper

Subject: RE: can someone help me: Nobody's coming to marry me
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 May 09 - 07:11 PM

One mentioned by Stave at the Bodleian, "Nobody Coming to Marry Me," dated 1806, was sung at the Royal Drury Lane (Harding B10(39). A parody also is listed.

Subject: RE: can someone help me: Nobody's coming to marry me
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 15 May 09 - 06:11 PM

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.

Subject: RE: can someone help me: Nobody's coming to marry me
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 May 09 - 01:50 PM

Adding some background to the lyrics posted by Peace-
According to a note in Mustrad, Gavin Grieg considered this song to be a variant of the English ballad "Nobody's Coming to Marry Me."
The same verses (from Wiltshire) appear in Alfred Williams, "Folksongs of the Upper Thames," 1923, p. 226. The song has been printed in a number of books in England and Scotland. "...curiously, hers [Mary Ann Carolan] is the only instance of the song in Ireland."
Buchan furnished the version "My Daddy's a Delver of Dykes."
A version coll. in Michigan (Gardiner & Chickering no. 181 begins "Me father's a lawyer in England, Me mother's a justice of the peace," but contains the verse "Me father's a hedger and ditcher etc.". "The basic ingredients of the song also appear as floating verses in many American songs as, e. g., the well-known "Roll Me in My Sweet Baby's Arms."

My Father's



Other threads have the variants listed above.

Subject: RE: can someone help me: Nobody's coming to marry me
From: GUEST
Date: 15 May 09 - 10:13 AM

THANK YOU PEACE thats going to save me hours of brain numbing infuriating searching!!!!!!!!!!!!
well now you have solved my problem is there anything i can help you with?   
we just got a bnp leaflet through the door so we are a bit worried that with all the scandals lately that they might just get in. so fingers crossed that people are sensible enough so see through them.
take care and thanks again from jeddy x

Subject: RE: can someone help me: Nobody's coming to marry me
From: Newport Boy
Date: 15 May 09 - 04:32 AM

Re The Old Maid in the Garret - Isobel Sutherland regularly sang this, and always looked sideways when Robin Hall joined in the last line as:

If I can't get a man, then I'll have to get a carrot!

Phil

Subject: RE: can someone help me: Nobody's coming to marry me
From: open mike
Date: 14 May 09 - 11:10 PM

HELP YOU FIND THE SONG, OR HELP YOU GET MARRIED?

Subject: RE: can someone help me
From: Fergie
Date: 14 May 09 - 09:49 PM

Or maybe this one (from the DT)

OLD MAID IN THE GARRET

Now I've often heard it said from me father and me mother
That the going to a wedding is the making of another
Well, if this be true, I will go without a biddin
O kind providence, won't you send me to a wedding

And its oh dear me, how would it be,
if I die an old maid in a garret

Well, there's my sister Jean, she's not handsome or good looking
Scarcely sixteen and a fella she was courting
Now at twenty-four with a son and a daughter
Here am I at forty-five and I've never had an offer

And its oh dear me, how would it be,
if I die an old maid in a garret

I can cook and I can sew and I can keep the house right tidy
Rise up in the morning and get the breakfast ready
There's nothing in this whole world would make me half so cheery
As a wee fat man to call me his own deary

And its oh dear me, how would it be,
if I die an old maid in a garret

So come landsman or come pinsman, come tinker or come tailor
Come fiddler or come dancer, come ploughboy or come sailor
Come rich man, come poor man, come fool or come witty
Come any man at all that will marry me for pity

And its oh dear me, how would it be,
if I die an old maid in a garret

Well now I'm away home for nobody's heeding
Nobody's heeding and nobody's pleading
I'll go away to my own bitty garret
If I can't get a man, then I'll have to get a parrot

And its oh dear me, how would it be,
if I die an old maid in a garret

Subject: RE: can someone help me
From: Peace
Date: 14 May 09 - 09:45 PM

http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:XWCWLg1OvdcJ:www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/june.tabor/songs/hedgerandditcher.html+hedger+and+ditcher&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca

http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:XWCWLg1OvdcJ:www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/june.tabor/songs/hedgerandditcher.html+h

Subject: ADD: Hedger and Ditcher
From: Peace
Date: 14 May 09 - 09:44 PM

HEDGER AND DITCHER
^^
My father's a hedger and ditcher
my mother does nothing but spin
They say I'm a pretty young girl
but the money comes slowly in

Chorus:
Oh dear, what shall become of me
Oh dear, what shall I do
There's nobody coming to marry me
Nobody coming to woo

The doggie began to bark
and I looked out to see
I saw two young men out a-hunting
but nobody's hunting for me

Chorus:

Oh, must I die an old maid
Oh dear, how shocking the thought
There's nobody coming to marry me
Surely it's not me own fault

My father's a hedger and ditcher
my mother does nothing but spin
They say I'm a pretty young girl
but the money comes slowly in

Chorus


As recorded by the Silly Sisters (Maddy Prior and June Tabor) for their second album, No More to the Dance.

Subject: can someone help me
From: GUEST,jeddy
Date: 14 May 09 - 09:41 PM

there is a song that i heard on mick petes' folkwaves years ago and he doesn't know what it is. the chorus goes NOBODIES COMING TO MARRY ME, SURELY IT'S NOT ME OWN FAULT OH MUST I DIE AN OLD MAID OH DEAR HOW SHOCKING THE THOUGHT      
the track i'm after sounds quite old but maybe not?    if anyone has a clue what i'm on about i would be really REALLY grateful!!!!
thankyou for reading my plea    from a female in distress x x x