Origins: I'll Not Marry at All

Subject: Tune Req: I'll not Marry at all
From: GUEST,fiddler434
Date: 29 May 05 - 02:32 AM

I would like to find a midi file for the old song "I'll not marry at all". Can anyone come up with it? Thanks

Subject: RE: Tune Req: I'll not Marry at all
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 May 05 - 04:03 AM

Well, let's see what we can dig up. The Digital Tradition has a version from Pound's American Ballads and Songs. The Pound book has just the text, no melody. Note that some of the books cited by the Traditional Ballad Index have tunes. I should be able to get a MIDI posted and linked to this thread by Monday. -Joe Offer-

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Here's the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index.:

I'll Not Marry at All

DESCRIPTION: The single woman proudly proclaims her intent to die an old maid. She reels off the defects of all sorts of men -- rich, poor, fat, lean, farmer, e.g. "I'll not marry a man that's rich, He'll get drunk and fall in the ditch, I'll not marry at all...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1913 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: oldmaid
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,Ro,So)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Eddy 72, "Shab-i-da Ru-dy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden, pp. 262-263, "I Wouldn't Marry" (2 texts)
Randolph 364, "The Old Maid's Song" (3 texts, 1 tune)
BrownIII 17, "I Wouldn't Marry" (7 text (some short) plus 6 excerpts, 1 fragment, and mention of 5 more, of which "H," "J," "O," and "P" apparently belong here)
Linscott, pp. 211-212, "I'll Not Marry at All" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 72, "The Old Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, pp. 91-92, "I'll Not Marry At All" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 99, pp. 208-209, "I'll Not Marry at All" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 78, "I Won't Marry" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, NOTMARRY
Roud #2774
RECORDINGS:
Kentucky Thorobreds, "I'll Not Marry at All" (Paramount 3080, 1928; Broadway 8184 [as Old Smokey Twins], n.d.; rec. 1927)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Maid's Song (I)" and references there
cf. "A Young Virgin" (theme)
cf. "The Song of the Southern Volunteers" (form)
Notes: Linscott, or her informants, thought this Irish. She cites no evidence, and the collections seem to be all, or nearly all, from the United States and Canada. - RBW
File: E072

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Subject: ADD Version: I'll Not Marry at All
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 May 05 - 04:30 AM

I'll Not Marry at All

I'll not marry a man that's old
He'll come home to fret and scold.
I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all.

I'll not marry a man that's old,
He'll come home to fret and scold.
I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all.

I'll not marry a man that's young,
He'll come home with a flattering tongue.
I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all.

I'll not marry a man that's poor
He'll go beg from door to door.
I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all.

I'll not marry a man that's rich,
He'll get drunk and fall in the ditch.
I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all.

He loves me a little, not much, none at all,
He will marry me if he could but he can't,
This year, next year, next year, next year,
This year, next year, year after - NEVER (spoken).


source: Linscott: Folk Songs of Old New England

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Click to play

Subject: ADD: I Won't Marry
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 May 05 - 04:57 AM

I Won't Marry

Oh, I won't marry a man who's rich
For he'll get drunk and fall in a ditch.
Oh, I won't marry a man who's rich,
No, I won't marry at all.

Chorus:
I'll take my stool and sit in the shade
For I am bound to die an old maid.
No, I won't marry at all, at all;
No, I won't marry at all.


Oh, I'll not marry a man who's poor
For he would beg from door to door.
Oh, I'll not marry a man who's poor,
No, I won't marry at all.
Chorus

source: A Prairie Home Companion Folk Song Book, Pankake

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Click to play

Subject: RE: Origins/Tune Req: I'll Not Marry at All
From: Goose Gander
Date: 29 May 05 - 03:20 PM

I WOULDN'T MARRY....

I wouldn't marry a man too rich
Shabby de-rue de-rue
He'll keep me whipping from stitch to stitch
Shabby de-rue de-rue
Shabby de-rue to-little to-little to too
Shabby de-rue de-rue

I wouldn't marry a man too poor
He'll keep me begging from door to door

I wouldn't marry a man to old
His face grows wrinkled, his love grows cold

I wouldn't marry a man to young
His wavering mind, his perlathing tongue

I wouldn't marry a man at all
I'll stay at home and keep maiden's hall

The saddle and bridle are on the fence,
If you want any more you can sing it yourself


"Secured by Mrs. George H. Barnett in 1913 from Mrs. Sarah Henry, who learned it in Saline County about 1865-70."
Printed in H.M Belden's Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society (Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Studies, 1940), 262.