Lyr Req: The Bachelor (Battlefield Band)

Subject: Lyr Req: The bachelor
From: Laurent
Date: 27 Oct 02 - 05:47 PM

Does someone have the words of a song called "the bachelor", sung by Pat Kilbride on Battlefield Band's "At the Front"?

Laurent

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The bachelor
From: Gurney
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 03:58 AM

On a LP somewhere I have one called "The Old Bachelor' about an old man courting a young woman, advice to the ignorant sort of thing. Doesn't seem likely to be on a record called 'At the Front' but if you'd like, I'll try to find it. Don't 'bate your breath, though, it's buried somewhere.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The bachelor
From: Joe_F
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 06:58 PM

Around 1950 I heard a song titled "The Bachelor", with a refrain that began

Shut that door! I feel a draft
Creeping up my spine.
If I should die of carelessness,
I'm sure you'd think it fine.

Is that the one?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The bachelor
From: Declan
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 10:13 AM

Is it the song that starts "Now when I was a bachelor young and airy,
Idle of mind I was content" (or something like that) ?

If so I'm not sure if I have the lyrics but I know it was sung by both Jimmy Crowley and (I think) Len Graham which might help you to search for them. I don't know if I have any recordings of this song, but if I do I'll try to get you some lyrics in the next few days, if someone doesn't beat me to it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The bachelor
From: MartinRyan
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 02:16 PM

No. I know the song - it's probably around here somewhere, but where.....

Ah Yes! The usual title is "A Poor Man's Labour is Never Done". Lots of versions. variously regarded as either Irish or English as occasion demands.

Regards

p.s. Which Pat Kilbride sang with the Battlefield Band (and when?)? The bodhran player/lilter?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The bachelor
From: MartinRyan
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 02:22 PM

There's a version in the Digital tradition HERE . Also, a search on "poor man's labour" will turn up some relevant threads.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The bachelor
From: Laurent
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 03:10 PM

Thank you all foryour answers.

Declan, it seems to be that one. Next goes "I found me a wife for to lie by me which causes me for to lament..."

Martin Ryan, it might be one of the versions too. Pat Kilbride played guitar and cittern for battlefield Band during the last seventies (At the front was released in 1978) and joined the Batties again in 2002.

Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN I WAS A BACHELOR and THE BACHELOR
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 09:03 PM

The Battlefield Band learned it from Jimmy Crowly who in turn had it from Len Graham. The Graham text, titled 'When I Was a Bachelor, is in the booklet to his 'Ye Lovers All' and his source was Joe McKeever of Brockaghbuoy, Co Derry, and he follows it with a reel called 'Mary McMahon from Drummuck'. The Battlefield version has some textual variations from Graham's.

Here is the Graham text, followed by the Battlefield text. I am not certain of the two words I have put within square brackets in the latter. It is a bit muffled; he could be singing something else, but not 'hag' or 'coat'.

WHEN I WAS A BACHELOR

Ah, when I was a bachelor young and airy, ah, but my mind was content
I married a wife for to lie by me causes me for to lament
And when I came home both wet and weary, wet and weary do I come
My wife's in bed 'til after eleven, the longest day in the month of June

And the first half year that we were married I never could get one wink of sleep
She scratched my shins 'til the blood did trickle, 'Husband dear stretch down your feet'
Aye, but when I asked her that question, it's 'Husband dear oh, come, come, come'
Young women, you know, they must have pleasure, a poor man's labour is never done

And the second half year that we were married, she bore to me a loving son
And she sat me down for to rock the cradle and gave me kisses when I'd done
If he cries, she beats and scolds me and, if he squeals, I'm the first to run
I'm away from the hag with my coat and britches, a poor man's labour is never done

So come all ye young men, I pray take warning, be sure you choose a loving wife
Aye, and ne'er take home my wife's sister or she'll plague you all your life
Aye, and ne'er take home my wife's mother or she'll plague you even more
Here take from me my wife and a welcome, then my trouble and care is o'er

Source: copied from transcription in booklet accompanying Len Graham 'Ye Lovers All' Claddagh CC41CD.


THE BACHELOR

Ah, when I was a bachelor young and airy, hearty was I and content
I married a wife for to lie by me which causes me for to lament
When I come home both wet and weary, wet and weary do I come
Me wife's in bed 'til after eleven and the longest day in the month of June

Well, the very first year me wife I married, scarce could I get one wink of sleep
For she rubbed me shins 'til the blood did trickle, saying, 'Husband dear put down your feet'
But when that I asked her that question, it's 'Husband dear, now come, come, come'
Young women, you know, they must have pleasure, and a poor man's labour is never done

Well, the very next year me wife I married, she bore to me a loving son
And she sends me down for to rock the cradle and she gives me kisses when I'm done
If he cries, she beats and bangs me and, if he roars, I'm the first for to run
I'm away from the [hearth ?] with me [brogues ?] and me britches, a poor man's labour is never done

Well, come all ye young men, I pray take warning, be sure you choose a loving wife
Aye, and don't take home my wife's mother or she'll plague you all your life
And don't take home my wife's sister or she'll plague you even more
Ah, come and take me wife with a welcome and then me troubles will be o'er

Source: transcription from The Battlefield Band 'At the Front' Topic LP 12T381.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The bachelor
From: Wolfgang
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 02:33 AM

Martin,

Pat Kilbride comes from Ireland. He has played music from an early age, learning first the classical piano and then later becoming involved in blues, pop, folk - good time music! - and finally developing a deep love for Irish traditional music. During these years he taught himself guitar and cittern.

In 1975 he went to England to study and at the same time began a period of intense musical activity. He became involved in an experimental kind of folk club neral Bolton; he made some films and wrote the music for them; he played solo at various clubs and universities in the north of England. Then he joined Battlefield Band and worked with them for a year...

(written in 1980 on the sleeve of the Pat Kilbride LP 'Rock and Roses')

Stewie,

I don't have the recording but I have a xerox of someone else's transcription of the recording.
He has 'hearth' as you have and 'coat' where you have 'brogues'. I can't tell you whether he's reliable.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The bachelor
From: nutty
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 03:20 AM

The Bachelor seems very closely associated with this broadside (from the Bodleian Museum) printed in Durham ..... unfortunately no date is given.

href="http://bodley24.bodley.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/acwwweng/ballads/image.pl?ref=2806+c.16(22)&id=13446.gif&seq=1&size=0">Poor
Mans Labour never done

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The bachelor
From: nutty
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 03:23 AM

wooops ... I'll try that link again

Poor mans labour never done

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The bachelor
From: Declan
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 05:14 AM

Pat Kilbride came back to Ireland for a while after the Batties and formed a duet for a while with a guy called Tom Guinan. He then went across the pond and was involved in Kipps Bay Ceili Band (I think for a while). More recently he was living in London and played with a band in The Swan in Stockwell for a while on Monday nights, which also featured Miriam Kavanagh on Fiddle and Brian Kelly on Banjo.

Thanks for the lyrics Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The bachelor
From: Laurent
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 05:41 PM

Once again thank you Stewie

Laurent

Subject: Lyr Add: POOR MAN'S LABOUR NEVER DONE (Bodleian)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Jun 07 - 01:41 PM

From Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads Firth b.27(467). Two other copies are nearly identical: Harding B 14(152), and 2806 c.16(22).

POOR MAN'S LABOUR NEVER DONE.

When I was a young man, I lived rarely.
Still my mind was discontent.
I married a wife to lie by me.
That was a thing I did lament.
      Fal lal, &c.

The very first night that we were married,
I could not get a wink of sleep.
She scratched the skin all off my shins.
I said, "My honey, keep down your feet."

In nine months' end we got a babby.
I took care and she neglect.
I went dandle, dandle, dandle.
I went dandle when it waked.

When I came home both wet and weary—
Wind and weather could na' shun—
She set me down to rock the cradle.
The poor man's labour is never done.

Now, all young men that do love women,
Mind who you take for a wife,
For if you get our Peggy's sister,
She will lead you such a life.

For she set me down to change the hippens
Which was a thing I was na' fit,
So I turned the bairn o'er and o'er
Till I got my hands all o'er the ——.
      Fal, lal, &c.

Subject: Lyr Add: A POOR MAN'S LABOUR'S NEVER DONE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Jun 07 - 02:13 PM

I like this version a bit better, although it's incomplete. I suspect it's older than the version above, although neither has a date. Maybe someone can contrive an ending to this one based on the other versions.

From Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads Harding B 25(1535).

A POOR MAN'S LABOUR'S NEVER DONE.

When I was a bachelor, I lived rarely.
O, my mind it was content!
I married a wife for to lie by me,
Which makes me now for to repent.
When I fetched (?) a servant to her,
To milk her cows and black her shoon,
Women's ways they must have pleasure.
A poor man's labour's never done.

The first half-year that we were married,
I scarce could get one hour's sleep.
She rubbed my shins till blood did trickle,
Crying, "Husband, keep down your feet."
When I asked her the reason,
She cried, "Husband, come, come, come!"
Women's ways they must have pleasure.
A poor man's labour's never done.

She would embrace me in her folding arms
At eleven o'clock all in the night.
She bereaves me of the blankets,
And if I speak, I'm forced to run,
Wanting wig, waistcoat, or breeches.
Then my sorrows are begun.
Women's ways they must have pleasure.
A poor man's labour's never done.

The next half year that we were married,
She bore to me a lovely babe.
She sets me down to rock the cradle.
She gives it cordials when it wakes.
If it cries, she bitterly scolds me.
Then my sorrows are begun.
Women's ways they must have pleasure.
A poor man's labour's never done.

When I rise early in the morning
For fear my work ...
My wife's in bed till eleven o'clock
...

[The remainder of the lyrics are mostly illegible, due to the poor quality of the digital image.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The bachelor
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 01 Jun 07 - 02:58 PM

Number 1572 in the Roud Folk Song Index.

Available evidence would suggest an origin in the late 18th century or perhaps the early 19th. Normally I'd expect the sheet issued by Jennings of London (see link below; the image, unfortunately, is illegible) to be the earliest, but note the "bachelor" variant in one example without imprint (Jim posted most of it while I was checking this), from which some oral versions seem to derive. The edition by Walker of Durham may be a 'northernisation', but he only started printing about 15 years after Jennings. By at least 1845 the song was current in Ireland, where it was included in Michael Joseph Barry's The Songs of Ireland (Dublin: James Duffy). It has been found in oral tradition in the south of England and the north east of Scotland (and at least once in Nova Scotia); fewer examples are listed from Ireland, but others (or, more precisely, the lineage of one) are noted above and it seems to have persisted longest there.

Broadside examples at the Bodleian Library

Subject: Lyr Add: THE POOR MAN'S LABOUR'S NEVER DONE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Jun 07 - 03:32 PM

Using Google Book Search, I found this in The Dublin Magazine, 1842. The editor says: "It was got from an old woman at Castlemartyr, in the county of Cork.... When a girl she had heard it from her grandfather. We have not found it in any published collection."

THE POOR MAN'S LABOUR'S NEVER DONE.

I married a wife for to sit by me, which makes me sorely to repent.
Matches, they say, are made in heaven, but mine was for a penance sent.
I soon became a servant to her, to milk her cows and black her shoon,
For woman's ways, they must have pleasure, and the poor man's labour's never done.

The very first year that we were married, she gave to me a pretty babe.
She sat me down to rock its cradle, and give it cordial when it waked.
If it cried, she would bitterly scold me, and if it bawled I should run away,
For woman's ways, they must have pleasure, and the poor man's labour's never done.

So all ye young men that are inclined to marry, be sure and marry a loving wife,
And do not marry my wife's sister, or she will plague you all your life.
Do not marry her mother's daughter, or she will grieve your heart full sore,
Take from me my wife, and welcome—and then my care and trouble is o'er.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The bachelor
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Feb 19 - 07:48 AM

I saw the Battlefield Band on tour in Ireland in the Tom McHale folk club in Athlone, Ireland around the late 70s. I also have the LP of the band called At the Front with Pat singing the Bachelor. It was recordred in 1978. They learned it from Jimmy Crowley who they think learned it from Len Graham. They also heard it in Bolgers Hotel at the Tullamore folk club. Tom Guinan, also known as Jagger Guinan is a great bouzouki player from Clonfanlagh near Clonmacnoise, also in the middle of Ireland. He is currently living in Germany. He was a regular performer in the folk scene in the midlands, at the Tom McHale folk club etc and later in Dublin. It is a song that is often heard in these regions down the years.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The bachelor
From: RunrigFan
Date: 20 Feb 19 - 03:12 PM

Ah, when I was a bachelor young and airy, hearty was I and content
I married a wife for to lie by me which causes me for to lament
When I come home, wet and weary, it's wet and weary do I come
Me wife's in bed 'til after eleven and the longest day in the month of June

Well, the very first year me wife I married, scarce could I get one wink of sleep
For she rubbed me shins 'til the blood did trickle, saying, 'Husband dear put down your feet'
But when that I, asked her that question, it's 'Husband dear, now come, come, come'
Young women, you know, they must have pleasure, and a poor man's labour is never done

Well, the very next year me wife I married, she bore to me a loving son
And she sends me down for to rock the cradle and she gives me kisses when I'm done
And If he cries, she begs and bangs me and, if he roars, I'm the first for to run
Tis a way from the hardworking with me for Johnny Bridge and the poor man's labour is never done

Well, come all ye young men, I pray take warning, be sure you choose a loving wife
Aye, and don't take home my wife's mother or she'll plague you all your life
And don't take home my wife's sister or she'll plague you even more
Ah, come and take me wife with a welcome and then me troubles will be o'er

Subject: Lyr Add: THE ROVING BACHELOR
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 21 Feb 19 - 02:35 AM

Perhaps this one
Jim Carroll

The Roving Bachelor
Tune:)Gardiner H. 1089.William Bone, Medstead, Hants. Nov. 1907. Additional verses Text: (from Gardiner S.61.Harry Conybeare, Combe Florey, Somerset, 1905.

I am a roving bachelor
And have been all my life
And now I am resolving
To look me out a wife
To my fal-le-ral-la - rel - li-gee-wo,
Fal-le-ral-larel li - gee-wo.


Oh! such a wife as I shall choose,
She is not to be found,
Oh! such a wife as I shall choose,
She is not on the ground.

If I should marry a young one,
She'd kill me by her pride,
If I should marry an old one,
She'd lie grunting by my side.

If I should marry a tall one,
She'd crack me on the crown,
If I should marry a short one,
She'd pull me to the ground.

If I should marry an ugly one,
The boys would laugh at me,
If I should marry a pretty one,
A cuckoo I should be.

One night as I lay on my bed,
How strange it came to pass,
Who did I see by my bedside,
But a handsome roving lass.

The first thing that I asked of her,
If ever she were a maid,
The answer that she gave to me,
"Oh! yes, I am a maid. "

The next thing that I asked of her,
If ever she had a man,
The answer that she gave to me,
"Oh! yes, and when I can. ”