Good Old Days of Adam and Eve, The

DESCRIPTION: "I sing, I sing of days grown older... Sing high, sing ho, I grieve, I grieve For the good old days of Adam and Eve." In the good old days, the town was smaller, the people bolder, etc.
AUTHOR: Words: Thomas Hudson (source: FolkSongAndMusicHall)
EARLIEST DATE: 1824 (source: FolkSongAndMusicHall)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND IN: US(NE,So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, p. 431, "The Good Old Days of Adam and Eve" (1 text)
Leyden-BelfastCityOfSong 7, "A New Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
FolkSongAndMusicHall, "Good old days of Adam and Eve, The"
cf. Jackson-EarlySongsOfUncleSam, p. 70, "Adam and Eve" (1 excerpt, probably not this but very likely inspired by it)
Roud #7836
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(763), "The Good Old Days of Adam and Eve" ("I sing, I sing, of good times older"), J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also 2806 c.17(150), 2806 c.17(152), Firth b.26(81), "[The] Good Old Days of Adam and Eve"
LOCSinging, as107360, "The Good Days of Old Adam and Eve," Pitts (London), no date
Bodleian, Firth b.26(81), "The Good Days of Old Adam and Eve" ("I sing, I sing of good times older"), J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Meditations of an Old Bachelor (The Good Old-Fashioned Girl)" (theme)
cf. "Twenty Years Ago (Forty Years Ago)" (theme)
cf. "Why Do You Bob Your Hair, Girls?" (theme)
cf. "You Must Live Holy" (theme)
cf. "In Old Pod-Auger Times" (theme)
cf. "Maurice Hogan's Song" (theme)
cf. "It Wasna Sae" (theme)
cf. "Old-Time Lumberjacks" (theme)
cf.. "In Former Times" (theme)
cf. "The New-Fashioned Farmer" (theme)
cf. "In Our Grandfathers' Days" (theme)
cf. "The Old Chesuncook Road" (partial theme)
cf. "Jingling Johnny" (tune, according to FolkSongAndMusicHall)
SAME TUNE:
A New Song on the Times (broadside Murray, Mu23-y3:021, "A New Song on the Times" ("You people now both high and low, pray listen to these rhymes"), unknown, 19C)
An Invitation to the Log Cabin Boys to Old Tippecanoe's Raisin' ("Come all you log-cabin boys, we're going to have a raisin'") (Harrison campaign song) (A. B. Norton, _Songs of the People in the Log Cabin Days of Old Tippecanoe_, p. 16)
NOTES [182 words]: Since this song is mostly whining about the new ways of doing things, it's not too surprising that the handful of known versions (Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety's, plus several known to and assembled by Sandy and Caroline Paton) have few lyrics in common. It's just too easy to update it for the latest newfangled whatever-it-is. There is no question, though, that they're the same song. - RBW
Leyden-BelfastCityOfSong, analyzing the before and after, dates his version to Belfast in the 1820s. Most of the discussion would do as well for the Bodleian broadsides, which share some verses with Leyden and with each other, though referring to other cities. - BS
Leyden is right, and the fact that it is localized is explained by FolkSongAndMusicHall's description of the song: "It's one of those songs designed for improvisation around a simple chorus, that in some hands can seem to go on forever! In traditional versions the verses vary considerably, but the chorus stays relatively constant."
Broadsides LOCSinging as107360 and Bodleian Firth b.26(81) are duplicates. - BS
Last updated in version 7.0
File: Beld431

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