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16 Jan 08 - 02:11 PM (#2237843) Subject: Origins: My Mother-in-Law From: Goose Gander My Mother-in-Law As sung by Mrs. Sullivan at Shafter, 1940 Now friends if you'll listen I'll sing you a ditty Of the ugliest old woman That ever you saw. She is so ugly She frightens the children When they go for a walk Out on the street. With a hole in her head Like a crack in a punkin And a hump on her back And such very large feet. O my life is all trouble No pleasure I see Wherever I go That old lady watches me. I'd rather be drug off To jail or to congress Then spend all my life with My mother-in-law. I told that old lady When I married her daughter I didn't intend The whole family to wed. Then quickly she picked up A bucket of water And taking good aim Let fly at my head. O my life is all trouble No pleasure I see Wherever I go That old lady watches me. Meade's Country Music Sources credits this to German-dialect comedian Gus Williams (1876), but I haven't been able to locate the original. Interestingly, this is one of the few German-American music hall songs that made it into tradition. |
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16 Jan 08 - 02:52 PM (#2237872) Subject: RE: Origins: My Mother-in-Law From: Mick Pearce (MCP) I've checked several of the digital sheet music collections (Hist.Am.Sheets, Levy, Indiana, UCLA, Baylor, Bodleian, Nat.Lib.Australia and a couple of others) without finding it (although Williams used the first 2 lines in Gus Williams' German Band). There are (at least) two other collected version in the Max Hunter Collection (Nos.1033 and 1077 from 1969 and 1972 respectively). The Bodleian Library appears to hold 2 copies of a song My Mother-In-Law from London, 1877, one specifying from Ward, Lock &Co's Humorous Songs, but not composer appears to be given and there's not text available to check if it's the same song. Sorry it's all negative. Mick |