Our Goodman

"Our Goodman" (Child 274, Roud 114) is a Scottish and English humorous folk song. It describes the efforts of an unfaithful wife to explain away the evidence of her infidelity. A version of the song, "Seven Drunken Nights", was a hit record for The Dubliners in the 1960s.

"Our Goodman"
"Hame Cam Our Gudeman at E'en", from The Scotish Minstrel (1823)
Song
Published18th century (earliest known)
GenreBroadside ballad, folksong
Songwriter(s)Unknown

History and content

The song appeared in David Herd's 1776 compilation Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs. In it a husband (goodman) comes home to find a strange horse there. When he asks his wife what the horse is doing there she calls him stupid and blind, and says that it is a milk cow her mother sent her. The man retorts that in all his travels he never saw a saddle on a cow.

Our goodman came hame at e'en,
And hame came he:
And there he saw a saddle horse,
Where nae horse should be.

O how came this horse here?
How can this be
How came this horse here,
Without the leave o' me?

A horse! quo' she:
Ay, a horse, quo' he.
Ye auld blind dotard carl,
Blind mat ye be
'Tis naething but a bonny milk cow,
My minny sent to me.

A bonny milk cow! quo' he;
Ay, a milk cow, quo' she.
Far hae I ridden,
And meikle hae I seen,
But a saddle on a cow's back
Saw I never nane.[1]

On subsequent evenings he comes home to find other strange items, such as boots, a sword and a coat, for which his wife gives him equally far-fetched explanations. Finally, he goes to bed, where he finds a "sturdy man", who his wife tells him is a new milkmaid her mother sent her, to which he replies that "long-bearded maidens I saw never nane."[1]

Another version appeared in R. A. Smith's 1823 collection, The Scotish Minstrel, as "Hame Cam Our Gudeman at E'en" ("Home came the husband at evening"). The early verses of this are much the same as in the Herd version, but in the final verse the husband finds a highland plaid, which reveals the stranger to be a refugee from the Jacobite Wars:

Blind as ye may jibe me, I've sight enough to see,
Ye're hidin tories in the house
Without the leave o' me.[2][3]

Francis James Child, in The English And Scottish Popular Ballads (1882), noted the version published by Herd (which he called A), and a different version (B) called "The Merry Cuckold and the Kind Wife", which was published as a broadside in London. In this version the cuckold, named as "Old Wichet", comes home to find, not one, but three horses, swords, boots etc.:

O I went into the stable,
and there for to see,
And there I saw three horses stand,
by one, by two, and by three.

O I calld to my loving wife,
and 'Anon, kind sir!' quoth she:
'O what do these three horses here,
without the leave of me?'[4]

Child's B version was translated into German by Friedrich Ludwig Wilhelm Meyer in 1789, and later spread to Scandinavia and Hungary. Child gives the first lines as:

Ich ging in meinem Stall, da sah Ich, ei! ei!
An Krippen standen Pferde, eins, zwei, drei.

(I went to my stable, there I saw, ay! ay!
At cribs were standing horses, one, two, three.)

Another, quite different version, called "Marion", was popular in France and Italy.[4]

The Roud Folk Song Index has over 400 versions of the song, with titles such as "Merry Cuckold", "Old Witchet", "Three Nights Drunk" and "Seven Nights Drunk".[5] Steve Roud and Julia Bishop described it as "an immensely widespread song, probably known all over the English-speaking world, with the wording varying considerably but the structure and basic story remaining the same."[6] Bertrand Harris Bronson listed 58 versions for which tunes exist; he found considerable variety in the tunes, which he divided into eight groups.[7] John E. Housman observed that "There is much of Chaucer's indomitable gaiety in this ballad. The questions of the jealous husband and the evasions of his wife are treated here in a humorous vein".[8]

A version of the song called "Seven Drunken Nights"[9] was a hit single for Irish folk group The Dubliners in 1967, reaching No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart.[10]

A Danish version of the song featured in the historical drama series 1864, where it was sung by soldiers before a battle. It followed Child's B version ("Three Guards' horses stood in a row / And one and two and three").[11]

A Russian version, called "The Drunk Cowboy", was recorded in 2003 by Alexander Tkachev. It consists of five parts, at the end of each the wife tells the cowboy to go to sleep. The days include a horse (cow, saddled) a hat (chamberpot, from straw), pants (rags, with a zipper), a stranger's head (cabbage with a moustache), and, finally, a baby which doesn't look like the cowboy's (a log, but one which pees).[12]

Recordings

Album/SinglePerformerYearVariantNotes
Earl Johnson Vol. 1 1927Earl Johnson1927Three Nights ExperienceDocument DOCD-8005
Anthology of American Folk Music Vol 1. BalladsColey Jones1929Drunkards SpecialWife's logic fails to explain strange bedfellow to drunkard[13]
Complete RecordingsBlind Lemon Jefferson1929Cat Man BluesJSP Record JSP7706. Contains one verse and chorus
Serenade The Mountains: Early Old Time Music On RecordGid Tanner & Riley Puckett1934Three Nights DrunkJSP Records JSP7780
Deep River of Song: Black TexicansPercy Ridge1943Western CowboyRounder CD 1821
Blind Boy Fuller Remastered 1935–1938Blind Boy Fuller1936Cat Man BluesJSP Records JSP7735. Contains one verse and chorus
Cajun Rare & Authentic, Disc D, 1935 – 1939Jolly Boys of Lafayette1937Old Man Crip (Nights 1 & 5)JSP Records JSP77115D
1947–1948Tom Archia1948Cabbage Head Part 1 and Cabbage Head Part 2
The Folk Songs of Britain, Child Ballads Vol 2Harry Cox,
Mary Connors,
Colm Keane
1953
1952
1951
Our GoodmanCaedmon TC 1146 / Topic 12T 161
Track composed of three fragments from different field recordings
Colm Keane's version is in Irish Gaelic
78 recordDouglas Kennedy1954Hame Cam Oor Guidman at 'EenHMV B 10836[14][15]
Blood, Booze 'N' BonesEd McCurdy1956Four Nights DrunkElektra – EKL-108
Down and Out BluesSonny Boy Williamson1959Wake Up BabyChecker LP-1437[16][17]
Morrissey and the Russian Sailor and Other Irish Songs (EP)Joe Heaney1960The Good ManCollector Records (UK) JEI 5[18]
Traditional Music of Beech Mountain 1Hattie Presnell1961Five Nights DrunkFolk-Legacy FSA 22
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: Vol. 1 – Child BalladsEwan MacColl1961Oud Goodman (Our Gudeman, Child 274)Folkways Records FG 3509[19]
Sing Out!The Limeliters1962Pretty Far OutModernized American version, Cadillac is a freezer with fins
Folk BalladeerJohn Jacob Niles1965Our Goodman or Old CuckoldCompilation LP later reissued as My Precarious Life in the Public Domain.
SingleThe Dubliners1967Seven Drunken NightsMajor Minor MM506.[20]
Jack Elliott of Birtley, The songs and stories of a Durham minerJack Elliott1969The Blind FoolRecorded in a club. Jack is persuaded by the audience to sing the final verse.
Ten Man Mop, or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides AgainSteeleye Span1971Four Nights DrunkPegasus PEG 9[21]
House Party New Orleans Style Professor Longhair 1971 Cabbage Head Composer: Henry Roeland Byrd/Mac Rebennack
The Voice of the People Vol 13George Spicer1972Coming Home Late
Digital Library of AppalachiaJenes Cottrell1973Four Nights DrunkRecorded at the Mountain Heritage Festival in Carter County, Kentucky.
Mrs 'Ardin's KidMike Harding1975The Drunken TacklerUpdated with a Lancashire theme
Daft DittiesAlex Beaton1987Seven Drunken Nights
Goin' Back to New OrleansDr. John1992Cabbage Head
Irish Beer Drinking FavoritesThe Kilkenny Brothers1998Seven Drunken Nights.
Digital Library of AppalachiaSheila K. Adams1998Four Nights DrunkRecorded at the Berea College Celebration of Traditional Music 10-22-98.
Murder, Misery and Then GoodnightKristin Hersh1998Three Nights Drunk
Going Up the Missouri: Songs & Dance Tunes from Old Fort OsageJim Krause1999Cabbagehead.
The Dickel Brothers Vol 1.Dickel Brothers1999Three Nights ExperienceEMPTY 376
Debasement TapesTom Smith1999Seven Drunken Nights In SpaceScience Fiction filk version
Морщина времениAlexander Tkachev2003Пьяный ковбой (The Drunk Cowboy)Russian version[22]
Underneath The StarsKate Rusby2003The Goodman.
The Continuing Tradition, Vol 1: Ballads, A Folk-Legacy SamplerMax Hunter2004Five Nights DrunkFolk-Legacy CD75 –
The Birds Upon the Tree and other traditional songs and tunesAlice Francombe2004The Old Drunken ManMusical Traditions Records MTCD333

References

  1. Herd, David (1776). Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, Etc. Vol. 2. Edinburgh. pp. 172–5. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  2. Carroll, Jim. "Five Nights Drunk". Songs of Clare. Clare County Library. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  3. Smith, Robert Archibald (1823). The Scotish minstrel: A Selection from the Vocal Melodies of Scotland, Ancient and Modern. Vol. 4. Edinburgh: Robt. Purdie. pp. 66–7. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  4. Child, Francis James (1882). English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Vol. V. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin. pp. 88–95. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  5. "Roud No. 114". Roud Folksong Index. Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  6. Roud, Steve & Julia Bishop (2012). The New Penguin Book of Folk Songs. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-141-19461-5. p. 450
  7. Bronson, Bertrand Harris (1972). The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads, Volume 4: With Their Texts, according to the Extant Records of Great Britain and America. Princeton University Press. pp. 95–129. ISBN 9781400867523. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  8. Housman, John E. (1952). British Popular Ballads. Harrap. p. ?.
  9. Roud Folksong Index
  10. "Seven Drunken Nights". The Official Charts. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  11. Bornedal, Ole (23 November 2014). 1864. Episode 7 (in Danish). 11 minutes in. DR1.
  12. "Лсгшйюкэмши Унярхмц.Рйювеб Юкейяюмдп Оерпнбхв. Рйювеб Юкейяюмдп Оерпнбхв". Mp3.music.lib.ru. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  13. Smith, Harry (1952) Notes to Anthology of American Folk Music
  14. "Hame Can Oor Guidman at 'Een". The Internet Archive. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  15. Dean-Myatt, William. "Discography section 12: K" (PDF). National Library of Scotland. p. 7. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  16. "Sonny Boy Williamson (2) - Down and Out Blues". Discogs. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  17. "Record Reviews" (PDF). The Jazz Review. 3 (6): 34–5. July 1960. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  18. "Joe Heaney (Seosamh Ó hÉanaí): EP Releases". The Balladeers. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  19. "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: Vol. 1 – Child Ballads". Smithsonian Folkways. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  20. "The Dubliners - Seven Drunken Nights". Discogs. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  21. "Steeleye Span: Ten Man Mop or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again". Mainly Norfolk. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  22. "Лсгшйюкэмши Унярхмц.Рйювеб Юкейяюмдп Оерпнбхв. Рйювеб Юкейяюмдп Оерпнбхв". Mp3.music.lib.ru. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
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