Lyr Req/Add: I'm Gonna Be a Bachelor (Wheeler)

Subject: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be A Bachelor
From: GUEST,licette
Date: 23 Oct 10 - 05:36 AM

Hi

I'm searching for the lyrics of "I'M GONNA BE A BACHELOR" composed by Billy Edd WHEELER and sung by Lonnie DONEGAN in 1965

Thank you so much

Regards

Licette

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be A Bachelor
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 05:49 PM

I was able to transcribe this much from a sample at Allmusic.com:


...But I would give them all away if I could marry you.

[CHORUS?] For I'm gonna be a bachelor, a bachelor, a bachelor.
I'm gonna be a bachelor if you won't marry me.
Yes, I'm gonna be a bachelor, a bachelor, a bachelor.
I'm gonna be a bachelor if you won't marry me.

If I was a fox so fine and fresh and you's a hopping hound,
I'd run into my home and wait until you put your sweet note(?) down,
And then I'd kiss you once or twice....

Subject: ADD: The Bachelor (Billy Ed Wheeler)
From: Stewie
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 12:07 AM

The actual title is 'The Bachelor'. Billy's recording is a duet with an unknown (to me) female - there is no mention of her in the notes to the reissue compilation. Below is how I hear it. The first chorus begins with 'For' and subsequent ones with ''Cos'. I am not sure of the phrase in brackets in the second line of stanza 3, but that is what it sounds like. At first I thought it might be 'plainsfolk colour', but that didn't make much sense and there is a definite 'str' sound.


THE BACHELOR
(Billy Edd Wheeler)

I used to be the kind of guy who always came to town
With money in my pockets and the time to run around
And play with all the gay and lovely girls as bachelors will do
But I would give them all away if I could marry you

CHORUS:
For/'Cos I'm gonna be a bachelor, a bachelor, a bachelor
I'm gonna be a bachelor if you won't marry me
I'm gonna be a bachelor, a bachelor, a bachelor
I'm gonna be a bachelor if you won't marry me

If I's a fox so fine and fresh and you the hawk and hound
I'd run into my hole and wait until you put your sweet nose down
And then I'd kiss you once or twice, keep you from the trail
And maybe this romance would start another folksy tale

CHORUS

If I's a bull I'd moo at you every time you passed
And like a [plain stroke colour] my long tail'd fan the grass
As you walked along and sang a song, could cause the milk to curd
I'd be the first bull known to man to sing out like a bird

CHORUS

If I's a cat and you the mouse, I'd hang around your nest
And if you wouldn't play with me, I'd beat upon my chest
Until my own heart's blood began to boil, I'd fall upon my knees
I'd spend my money buying you the best imported cheese

CHORUS

So listen all you married men who often envy me
Don't give up your home cookin' to go buzzin' like the bee
Who sees the pretty flowers in the fields and thinks, oh what a treat
To gather honey from them all for someone else to eat

CHORUS

Source: transcription from reissue CD 'Billy Edd Wheeler - A Big Bag of Songs' Omni CD 133.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Req: I'm Gonna Be A Bachelor (Billy Ed Wheeler)
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 03:02 AM

Hi

Thank you for the lyrics

Billy Edd got a lot of humour in that song
It's really a song to Lonnie Donegan
Licette

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be A Bachelor (Billy Ed Wheeler
From: GUEST,Steve Lohmeyer
Date: 03 Jul 13 - 11:02 PM

Dear Group:

A while back somebody asked who the girl is singing backup on Billy Edd Wheeler's own recording of his song "The Bachelor."

Isn't it a young Judy Collins?

Didn't she tour with him for a time when she was young?

I remember SOMEBODY mentioning touring with Billy Edd Wheeler as she introduced "Coal Tattoo" in concert, and I think it was Judy Collins.
I can't think of another female folk singer who performed "Coal Tattoo" in concert. Can you?

If it isn't her, it's somebody trying AWFULLY hard to sound like a young Judy Collins. Mine is a very fine 33rpm LP called "Midnight Hoot," and I'm pretty sure that's a young Judy Collins.

- Steve Lohmeyer (5,000 transcriptions from the folk music revival period of the 50s and 60s and counting)

Subject: RE: req/ADD: I'm Gonna Be A Bachelor(Billy Ed Wheeler)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Jul 13 - 11:49 PM

Hi, Steve -

Legendary discographer Stefan Wirz says it's Joan Toliver. Great voice, isn't it?

Hey, and the producers of this recording were....Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller.

-Joe-