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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: WISH I WERE SINGLE AGAIN From: Flash Company Date: 14 May 05 - 09:58 AM I married a wife, oh then, oh then, I married a wife, oh then, I married a wife, the plague of my life, I wish I was single again. Ch. Again and again and again, again, Again and again and again, I married a wife, the plague of my life, I wish I was single again. My wife took a fever, oh then, oh then, My wife took a fever, oh then, My wife took a fever, I hoped wouldn't leave her, I longed to be single again. Ch... My wife she died, oh then, oh then, My wife she died , oh then, My wife she died, I laughed till I cried, To think I was single again. Ch..... I married another, oh then, oh then, I married another, oh then I married another, she turned out a bugger, I long for the first one again! Ch..... Learned in childhood from my old Gran! Probably from a Music Hall source. Next to last line sung as ' She's worse than the other' in polite company! As I've said before, God, the rubbish I remember! FC |
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Subject: RE: ADD: I Wish I Was Single Again (oh then) (male From: Joe Offer Date: 15 May 05 - 01:11 AM The Male "Wish I Was Single" song in the DT is I Wish I Was Single Again (Oh Then). Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song: I Wish I Were Single Again (I - Male)DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the happy days when he was single. He recalls marrying a wife, "the plague of my life." She died and was buried, so he went and married again, to find that he "wished for the old one again"AUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1904 KEYWORDS: funeral marriage shrewishness wife FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So) Canada(Mar) Britain(England,Scotland) REFERENCES (21 citations): Randolph 365, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (4 texts, 1 tune) Randolph/Cohen, pp. 329-331, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 365A) Eddy 69, "When I Was a Young Man" (2 texts, 2 tunes) Kennedy 204, "I Wished To Be Single Again" (1 text, 1 tune) BrownIII 19, "When I Was Single" (3 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 13 more, though most of the omitted texts are single stanzas) Chappell-FSRA 75, "When I Was Single" (1 text) McNeil-SFB2, pp. 47-50, "I Wish I Was Single Again"; "I Wish I Were Single Again" (2 texts, 2 tunes) Warner 127, "When I Was Single" (1 text, 1 tune) Belden, pp. 437-439, "When I Was Single" (3 texts, plus a text of "I Wish I Were a Single Girl Again") Fuson, pp. 85-86, "Oh Then" (1 text, in which the second wife apparently plans to hang the husband before she, like the first, falls sick) Sandburg, p. 47, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (1 text, 1 tune) Creighton/Senior, pp. 215-217 , "When I Was Single" (1 text, 1 tune) Scott-BoA, pp. 169-171, "When I Was Single" (1 text, 1 tune) Combs/Wilgus 177, pp. 181-182, "The Married Man" (1 text) Lomax-FSUSA 13(B), "When I Was Single (II)" (1 text, 1 tune) Lomax-ABFS, pp. 156-158, "When I Was Single" (1 text, 2 tunes) LPound-ABS, 98, pp. 207-208, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (1 text) Darling-NAS, pp. 274-275, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (1 text) Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 276-277, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (1 text, 1 tune) Silber-FSWB, p. 172, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (1 text) DT, WISHSNGL Roud #437 RECORDINGS: Foster & James, "When I Was Single My Pockets Would Jingle" (Gennett 6434/Supertone 9260, 1928) Riley Puckett, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (Columbia 15036-D, 1925) (Bluebird B-8066, 1939) Arthur Tanner, "When I Was Single My Pockets Would Jingle" (Silvertone 3515, 1926) Welby Toomey, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (Gennett 3202, 1926) Tom Watson, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (Silvertone 3263, 1926) Henry Whitter, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (OKeh 40375, 1925) (OKeh 45045, 1926) CROSS-REFERENCES: cf. "When I Was Single (II)" cf. "Poor Married Man" (theme) Notes: Characterized by a stanza format something like this: When I was single, oh then, When I was single, oh then, When I was single, my money would jingle; I wish I were single again. Laura Ingalls Wilder, in By the Shores of Silver Lake (chapter 22) has a slightly different form, allegedly from 1880:
When I was young and single, Go to the Ballad Search form The Ballad Index Copyright 2005 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle. |
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Subject: RE: Add: Oh, I Wish I Were Single Again/Single Gir From: Barry Finn Date: 15 May 05 - 06:02 AM The Menhaden Fishermen (on CD) used this song as a net hauling shanty. What they once used to sing in dories while fishing they now preform in concert. I've never heard a more sweeter version, ten men singing in what almost sounds like ten part harmoney "Wish I were single again(2x) When I was single my pockets they would jingle Wish I were single again They tell me what to do & it's aways something new Wish I were single again They tell me what to do & it's aways something new Wish I were single again When I was single my pockets pockets they would jingle Now that I'm married I can now longer tarry Wish I were single again" I'm sure I don't have it right(memory gap)but I think it's pretty close. Barry |
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Subject: RE: ADD: I Wish I Was Single Again (oh then) (male) From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 15 May 05 - 12:58 PM Not to be confused with Single Girl (for example) which often shares the same title. The song seems to have been re-made a number of times in the music halls. The verse quoted above from Laura Ingalls Wilder looks to be from a later form of The First Wife the Best, for which, see Harding B 25(657) at Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads: The first wife the best ("When I was a young man, O then ...") Sam Cowell had a song made on the same framework, When I was a Maid, O Then (120 Comic Songs sung by Sam Cowell, c.1850). A L Lloyd (Penguin Book of English Folk Songs and Classic English Folk Songs 118) rather thought that the "man's" song was based on an earlier one from a woman's perspective, but I'd say that the book is open on that one so far, though Cowell's song does appear to borrow detail from songs like The Joyful Maid and Sorrowful Wife. |
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Subject: RE: ADD: I Wish I Was Single Again (oh then) (male) From: Leadfingers Date: 15 May 05 - 01:18 PM I have an extra verse , NOT in the DT version either ,which follows the 'My wife she died ' verse ! I went to her wake oh then (oh then) I went to her wake oh then I went to her wake , but not for her sake But to view the young women again . And the last verse - I Married another Far worse than the other , which is a little less harsh on the lady perhaps ! |
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Subject: RE: ADD: I Wish I Was Single Again (oh then) (male From: Joe Offer Date: 15 May 05 - 04:48 PM Leadfingers, are those verses your own creation, or where did they come from? -Joe- |
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Subject: Lyr Add: I WISH I WAS SINGLE AGAIN From: chico Date: 15 May 05 - 04:53 PM D A I married a wife, oh then, oh then A7 D I married a wife, oh then D D7 G A7 I married a wife, she's the plague of my life! D G A7 D I wish I was single again. D A Again and again and again and again, A7 D Again and again and again! D D7 G Em I married a wife, she's the plague of my life! D G A7 D I wish I was single again. My wife took a fever I prayed wouldn't leave her For I wished to be single again. My wife then she died. I laughed 'till I cried I was glad to be single again. I went to her wake oh then (oh then) I went to her wake oh then I went to her wake , but not for her sake But to view the young women again . I went to the funeral The band it played, And I danced all the way For the joy to be single again! I looked by the graveside, And saw a fair maid, And I wished to be married again I married another, o then I married another, o then I married another, she was worse than the other. And I wish I was single again! |
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Subject: RE: ADD: I Wish I Was Single Again (oh then) (male From: Sandy Paton Date: 15 May 05 - 04:55 PM Didn't Burl Ives sing: I married another, oh, then, I married another, oh, then, I married another The devil's grandmother, I wish I was single again. (?) |
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Subject: RE: ADD: I Wish I Was Single Again (oh then) (male) From: Tannywheeler Date: 16 May 05 - 12:29 AM The Weavers did a version of this song -- very late 1940s or very early 1950s?? -- and possibly Burl Ives did it also. I remember a verse about kids and a chorus: "We had 7 children, oh then (oh then). We had 7 children, oh then. We had 7 children -- It sure was bewild'rin' -- And I wisht I was single again. (cho; Dooooon't never git married, Don't take you a wife. It's hard times and troubles The rest of your life.)" There was a "moral" last verse: "Young men, take a warning from this (from this) Young men, take a warning from this: Be good to the first, Or the second is worst, And you'll wish you was single again." A word to the wise.... Tw |
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Subject: RE: ADD: I Wish I Was Single Again (oh then) (male) From: Flash Company Date: 16 May 05 - 08:02 AM A mate called Mike Landsborough used to sing a version with... ... When I was single, my pockets would jingle... can't remember it though. There is also:- Oh the day, rue the day ever I married, How I wish to be single again, For it's weeping and wailing and rocking the cradle, And rocking a baby that's none of my own. FC |
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Subject: RE: ADD: I Wish I Was Single Again (oh then) (male From: Abby Sale Date: 16 May 05 - 08:16 AM Sandy, Yes. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: I WISH I WAS SINGLE AGAIN From: Goose Gander Date: 31 Aug 05 - 01:49 AM "I Wish I Was Single Again" ...from great collection at the... Wolf Folklore Collection: Lyon College I WISH I WAS SINGLE AGAIN (WHEN I WAS SINGLE) Sung by: Mrs. W.B. Apple Recorded on 7/20/62 I wish I was single again, again, I wish I was single again, And when I was single My pockets did jingle, And I wish I was single again. I married me a wife, oh then, oh then, I married me a wife, oh then. I married me a wife, She ruined my life, And I wish I was single again. She beat me, she banged me, oh then, oh then, She beat me, she banged me, oh then. She beat me, she banged me, And swore she would hang me, And I wish I was single again. She went for a rope, oh then, oh then, She went for a rope, oh then. She went for the rope-- Thank goodness it broke-- And I wish I was single again. My wife, she died, oh then, oh then, My wife, she died, oh then. My wife, she died; I laughed 'til I cried To think I was single again. I married another, oh then, oh then, I married another, oh then. I married another; She's the Devil's stepmother; I wish I was single again. I wish I was single again, again, I wish I was single again. And when I was single, My pockets did jingle, And I wish I was single again. (Dr. Wolf: "Well, that's a good one. Where'd you learn that?" Mrs. Apple: "I don't remember. I was very small when I learned that, and I don't remember.") Also found in Randolph, Vol. III, #365, "I Wish I Was Single Again"; Brown, Vol. III, #19, "When I Was Single"; Belden, p. 437, "When I Was Single." |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Wish I Was Single Again (male) From: Amos Date: 31 Aug 05 - 02:46 AM I learned that about fifty years ago, and thanks for reminding me of it! A |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Wish I Was Single Again (male) From: Jim McLean Date: 31 Aug 05 - 05:47 AM The Scottish version always ends withe the line: Oh the world must be coming to the end. Ah sent her for breid an' she drappt doon deid, Oh the world must be comin' tae the end. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Wish I Was Single Again (male) From: GUEST,MikeL Date: 18 May 09 - 03:36 PM hi FC Just came across this thread - how are you and WHO are you ?? yea I used to sing both versions. Mike Landsborough |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Wish I Was Single Again (male) From: GRex Date: 19 May 09 - 05:15 AM I sing the Flash Company version, but with an additional final verse: So young men take a warning from me, from me Young men take a warning from me Look after the first for the next could be worse And you'll wish you were single again GRex |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Wish I Was Single Again (male) From: GUEST Date: 24 Jan 14 - 04:38 PM heard an old man sing this song today it was really funny so when igot to my mothers who is 87 i asked her about it she sang another great version i asked how she knew it and she told me my grand father who worked backstage in greenock variety theartre in the late 1800s used to sing it all the time archie mitchell greenock scotland |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Wish I Was Single Again (male) From: GUEST,jim bainbridge Date: 25 Jan 14 - 08:21 AM Bob Davenport recorded the song on the LP 'Bob DAVENPORT & the MARSDEN RATTLERS' recorded at Newcastle Guildhall in 1969 by Bill Leader. Bob probably got it from an Irish source (Frank Lee or Frank Quinn etc) although I have never asked him. Some years later, I got another last verse which I currently use- think it was from Taffy Thomas in his Suffolk days- some folk (not me!!) may find it relevant... Come listen to me you young men Come listen to me you young men Just stay with the first 'un The second's the worst 'un I wish I was single again |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Wish I Was Single Again (male) From: and e Date: 09 Jun 23 - 10:05 PM I LONG TO BE SINGLE AGAIN Pg 33, Songs and Ballads: Folk Material and Old Favorites, by James Kenneth Larson. Idaho. Undated [c1933]. See online here: https://archive.org/details/1933-1972jameskennethlarson/page/n31/mode/1up |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Wish I Was Single Again (male) From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler Date: 10 Jun 23 - 06:55 AM Don't forget the Kippers song "! wish I was plural no more". Robin |
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