Bachelor's Lament (III), The

DESCRIPTION: Singer retells the benefits of bachelorhood, but he tires of living alone. "I'll go searching through this wide world till a partner I will find." He plans his trip throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, but assumes no one will have him.
AUTHOR: Paul E. Hall (according to Szwed and Bennett/Downey-JeromeJustOneMoreSong)
EARLIEST DATE: 1971 (Szwed; but see NOTES)
KEYWORDS: loneliness marriage sex rejection travel drink bachelor chickens
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Bennett/Downey-JeromeJustOneMoreSong 4, pp. 71-76, "The Bachelor's Lament" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: John F. Szwed, "Paul E. Hall: A Newfoundland Song-Maker And His Community of Song" in Folksongs and Their Makers (Bowling Green: Bowling Green University Popular Press, n.d.[Bennett has the date as 1971; I've seen 1970 through 1972 as a publication date mentioned in reviews of the book]), pp. 157-166, "The Bachelor's Song" (1 text) (1 tune)
Roud #24294
RECORDINGS:
Jerome Downey, "The Bachelors Lament" (on NFJDowney01)
Hector MacIsaac and Jerome Downey, "Bachelors Lament" (on NFHMacIsaac01)
Hector MacIsaac, "Bachelors' Lament" (on NFHMacIsaac02)
NOTES [90 words]: The author names himself, in the song, as the bachelor subject. Whether or not he actually made his trip he remains a bachelor.
Szwed: "The Bachelor's Song is a song in local circulation in the Codroy Valley, and was made by Paul E. Hall in the 1930's."
There are references to the bachelor bringing a hen and "stick of old Black Duck" on his tour. Szwed, quoting Hall: "Well, now there was a joke... most people here knew it... you go in there with a plug of tobacco or a hen and you could go and sleep with any woman in Journois Brook." - BS
Last updated in version 3.6
File: BeDo071

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