Lyr Req: 'I Once Had a Husband'

Subject: Lyr Req: 'I Once Had a Husband'
From: GUEST,Mike Whitaker
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 06:26 AM

Request via my dad, who is trying to help a fellow care-home resident track down a presumably old poem or possibly song with "I Once Had A Husband" as the opening line. The lady in question thinks it may have been called "The Crofter's Lament" but the opening line's all she can remember.

I'm *guessing* it's probably humorous, and dating back a fair way (as they're both in their 80s).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'I Once Had a Husband'
From: Robert B. Waltz
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 07:12 AM

I think we can rule it out as a traditional song. There is no song in either the Roud Index or the Traditional Ballad Index with that first line. Neither is there a song "The Crofter's Lament." Ord has a song he calls "The Exiled Crofter's Lament," but it doesn't have that line (and isn't humorous).

Not much help, I realize, but it might save people some time looking.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'I Once Had a Husband'
From: maeve
Date: 06 Mar 25 - 02:31 PM

One possibility:
https://www.bloodbrothersmusical.com/music-and-lyrics/ Scroll down for lyrics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Brothers_(musical) General information on the musical.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'I Once Had a Husband'
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 09 Mar 25 - 06:28 PM

Unlikely candidate, there's a line in the fourth verse of the poem Angel On A Bar-Stool by Cheryl Davis Miller :


Said, 'Well I once had a husband,
little girl, a home and all.
It got old and life seemed empty.
Hey, I heard the wild call.
Looked around and found lots of things,
to fill the lonely hours.
Too late found cheatin', cheated me
sure ain't been hearts and flowers'.



www.poemhunter.com/poem/angel-on-a-bar-stool/