help w/ Irish or Scottish song (7 nights drunk)

Subject: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From:
Date: 29 Sep 97 - 11:26 PM

I am trying to find the lyrics to an Irish or Scottish folk song. The story is about a man who gets drunk each night of the week and his wife who is cheating on him. It goes something like this: "As I came home late Monday night, as drunk as drunk can be,"

I can't remember this part - but each night the singer finds something belonging to his wife's lover - the first night it's his horse. His wife responds something like this: "You're drunk, you're drunk! You silly old man! for you can plainly see that this is only a spotted pig my mother, she gave to me"

This goes on for a full week's worth of verses. Does anyone know what this is? I'll try to check back, but my e-mail is [e-mail] Thanks!!

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 29 Sep 97 - 11:55 PM

Search the DT for Five Nights Drunk (Our Goodman). It's Child #274, and dozens of variants exist beyond the one in the DT database. I used to think of the song as "N nights Drunk" [set N=number of verses].

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Shula
Date: 30 Sep 97 - 12:03 AM

Durn! Beat me to't! Just want to add that a request for an Irish or Scottish song about getting drunk and having a faithless spouse qualifies as a generic request.

Shula

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: rechal
Date: 30 Sep 97 - 12:25 AM

This song is sometimes called "Cabbage head" in Appalachian versions. The version I know went something like this:

I came home the other night as drunk as I could be
I saw a hat sittin' on the table where my hat oughter be
So I says to my wife, my pretty little wife, "Won't you tell me please
What's this hat a-doin' here where my hat oughter be?"
She said, "You blind fool, you drunken fool, Can't you never see?
Why, that is only a bedpan that my mother gave to me."
Well, I've traveled this wide world all over 'n some crazy things I've saw
But a bedpan marked size seven and three-quarters I never seen before.

It goes on to the horse in the stable, which she insists is a milk cow, and I forget what tips him off here, and then it eventually ends up in the bedroom, where the wife's lover is sleeping. She insists that her lover's head is a cabbage head, and I forget what kind of chaos from this ensues. But try searching DT for "cabbage head" and see where it takes you.

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Sep 97 - 01:37 AM

The Weavers called this song simply "You Old Fool." Ronnie Gilbert and Lee Hays had a lot of fun singing back and forth on this one.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Lidi
Date: 30 Sep 97 - 02:15 AM

You can also search for the complete song that includes all 7 verses, 7 Drunken Nights. Try to put it in the Filter and put 365 days as age.

Cheers

Lidi

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 30 Sep 97 - 08:08 AM

The song, in the five-night version, is still active in the Appalachian oral tradition, where it is still known as Cabbagehead. One of the best versions I have ever heard was recorded by Steeleye Span, with just fiddle and vocal, but I have forgotten what they called it.

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Wolfgang
Date: 30 Sep 97 - 08:41 AM

"Four nights drunk" Steeleye Span called it on "Ten Man Mop Or Mr Reservoir Butler Rides Again (1971)"

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Nonie Rider
Date: 30 Sep 97 - 01:37 PM

There's also an ongoing thread "Seven Nights Drunk"...

Subject: Lyr Add: SHICKERED AS HE COULD BE
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 01 Oct 97 - 05:50 AM

G'day,
Here is the Aussie version:-

SHICKERED AS HE COULD BE

Child No.274

This bloke I know came rolling home shickered as he could be
He saw a horse there in the yard where his old horse should be
He says me wife, me darlin' wife now come and tell to me
How come this horse there in the yard where my old horse should be?
She said you old fool you silly old fool you're shickered and you cannot see
It's nothing but a milkin' cow me mother sent to me
Now in all the miles I've travelled in a thousand miles or more
Saddle on a milk cow I never saw before.

This bloke I know came rolling home shickered as he could be
He saw a coat upon the peg where his old coat should be
He says me wife, me darlin' wife now come and tell to me
How come this coat there on the peg where my old coat should be?
She said you old fool you silly old fool you're shickered and you cannot see
It's nothing but a blanket me mother sent to me
Now in all the miles I've travelled in a thousand miles or more
Buttons on a blanket I never saw before.

This bloke I know came rolling home shickered as he could be
He saw a hat upon the shelf where his old hat should be
He says me wife, me darlin' wife now come and tell to me
How come this hat upon the shelf where my old hat should be?"
She said you old fool you silly old fool you're shickered and you cannot see
It's nothing but a flower pot me mother sent to me
Now in all the miles I've travelled in a thousand miles or more
Sweatband on a flower pot I never saw before.

This bloke I know came rolling home shickered as he could be
He saw a stock whip on the hook where his stock whip should be
He says me wife, me darlin' wife now can you tell to me
Who owns this other stock whip here where my stock whip should be?"
She said you old fool you silly old fool you're shickered and you cannot see
It's nothing but a mousin' snake me mother sent to me
Now in all the miles I've travelled in a thousand miles or more
Plaited handle on a mousin' snake I never saw before.

This bloke I know came rolling home shickered as he could be
He saw two boots beneath the bed where his old boots should be
He says me wife, me darlin' wife now come and tell to me
Who owns these boots beneath the bed where my old boots should be?"
She said you old fool you silly old fool you're shickered and you cannot see
It's nothing but a chamber pot me mother sent to me
Now in all the miles I've travelled in a thousand miles or more
Silver spurs upon a chamber pot I never saw before.

This bloke I know came rolling home shickered as he could be
He saw a head upon the bed where his old head should be
He says me wife, me darlin' wife now come and tell to me
How come this head upon the bed where my old head should be?"
She said you old fool you silly old fool you're shickered and you cannot see
It's nothing but a baby me mother sent to me
Now in all the miles I've travelled in ten thousand miles or more
Ginger whiskers on a baby I never saw before.


Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Bert
Date: 01 Oct 97 - 10:01 AM

Alan,

That's a great one.
"Shickered" of course being what us cockneys call "three parts Olivered"

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Ricky Rackin
Date: 01 Oct 97 - 08:44 PM

Bert Lloyd and I were both amused that an obvious Yiddish word would appear so blatantly in an Aussie song. Ricky

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Bert
Date: 02 Oct 97 - 08:06 AM

That's how the folk process brings us all together.

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: leprechaun
Date: 02 Oct 97 - 02:40 PM

I get to hear the first five verses of that song every St. Patrick's Day at a celebration at our local Knight's of Columbus Hall. (Sure whiskers on a baby's face, I never thought I'd see.) The singer assures the audience that there are two more verses, but so far he has refused to sing them since the host, an Irish priest, is always in the audience, and the band members don't want to be excommunicated.

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Jon W.
Date: 02 Oct 97 - 04:08 PM

My first encounter with this song was a book called British Broadside Ballads, which was prescribed for a folklore class I took in college. The editor made a comment that the person from whom he collected it knew more verses but he didn't sing them since he had "joined the church."

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From:
Date: 02 Oct 97 - 09:50 PM

Thank you all, very much!!

-Beth (also in Alabama)

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Don
Date: 03 Oct 97 - 08:43 PM

Jerry Silverman has a "Four Nights Drunk" version in his Folk Song Encyclopedia - Volume II (page 157), which also has the tune in case there is anyone who doesn't already know it.

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: BK
Date: 04 Oct 97 - 02:45 AM

Dadgum it!! thought my rather silly joke was original when I'd say, after singing "four nights drunk," that I wan't going to do a fifth verse in mixed/proper company! I guess it was pretty obvious.. I'd actually made up an appropriately smutty fifth verse - after all, I was a sailor in those days..

Very interesting thread - haven't thought of this song in years...

cheers, BK

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Henrik
Date: 04 Oct 97 - 06:53 AM

Hi,

I'm amazed that noone in this thread has mentioned The Dubliners yet! They recorded the above-mentioned song as "Seven Drunken Nights" and it has been one of their greatest hits (although I think they only sang the first 5 verses).

Funnily enough, this song seems to exist in some form everywhere, also in Sweden where I live: A colleague of mine sang a Swedish version (different tune, same general idea, but in Swedish) of it at a staff party some time ago!

Regards,

Henrik

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: O2bnmbr1
Date: 04 Oct 97 - 03:18 PM

Hey All;

Found a web site that caters to Scotthish folk songs.

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1690/lyrics.html

happy hunting, Becky

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Carl
Date: 05 Oct 97 - 09:28 AM

Hi Henrik,

no need to be amazed. It has all been said in the thread "Seven Drunken Nights, lyrics?". There is also a thread on the Seven Deadly Sins. Sometimes stuff on one topic spreads around a lot of different threads. But I guess, there´s nothing we can do..can we?

Greetings, Carl

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Caolainn
Date: 13 Oct 97 - 02:27 PM

I heard a song sung by Niavh Parsons with(I think) The Loose Connections. The chorus went, "The Tinkerman's daughter, the red headed Ann." Can anybody help me find either a recording and/or the music for it?

Thanks.

Slainte!

Caolainn

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Click for Tinkerman's Daughter

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 13 Oct 97 - 02:35 PM

Caolainn: You'll be more likely to get a response to your request if you post it separately; as it is, it is lost in the "drunken nights" discussion.

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Steve D.
Date: 15 Oct 97 - 07:09 AM

I think the Aussie version is great! I agree about the Steeleye Span version (available over here in the UK on a budget price early Span collection - a snip at around £3.50). Good old Martin Carthy at his finest. Does anyone know where the song is actually from? Until hearing the Span version I'd always assumed it was Irish (thanks I suppose to the Dubliners' connection).

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Bruce
Date: 15 Oct 97 - 12:22 PM

No earlier version than that given by Child, #274 (also in Herd's Scots Songs, 1776), has yet been discovered.

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Johan
Date: 28 Oct 97 - 05:00 AM

Locking for the lyric to a song called "Peggy Lettermore" The hard part is that it's in gealic. Dubliners have recoded it a few times. can any one help out??? cheers pals! Johan

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Click for Peggy Lettermore

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 28 Oct 97 - 01:00 PM

Both "The Tinkerman's Daughter" and "Peggy Lettermore" were covered in threads some weeks back.

Regards

Subject: RE: help w/ Irish or Scottish folk song
From: Murray
Date: 29 Oct 97 - 02:58 AM

Henrik: it would be good if you could post the Swedish version you mention [and maybe give us an idea of the tune as well]--with a translation too. Child does mention one called "Husarerna", and others unspecified, dating to the late eighteenth century. It would be useful to compare.