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-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety)
KEYWORDS: oldmaid
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,Ro,So,SE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (19 citations):
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 72, "Shab-i-da Ru-dy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 262-263, "I Wouldn't Marry" (2 texts)
Randolph 364, "The Old Maid's Song" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, pp. 218-219, "The Old Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #80, "I'll Not Marry at All" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 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)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 17, "I Wouldn't Marry" (5 tunes plus excerpts of texts, of which "H" and "O" belong here)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #80, "I'll Not Marry at All" (2 texts)
Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric 56, "The Old Maid's Song" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 211-212, "I'll Not Marry at All" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wyman/Brockway-LonesomeSongs-KentuckyMountains-Vol2, p. 72, "The Old Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson-BalladsOfTheKentuckyHighlands, pp. 91-92, "I'll Not Marry At All" (1 text)
Henry-SongsSungInTheSouthernAppalachians, p. 26, "The Old Maid" (1 text)
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, p. 173, "I Never Will Marry" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 99, pp. 208-209, "I'll Not Marry at All" (1 text)
Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 78, "I Won't Marry" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-FolksongsFromSouthernNewBrunswick 100, "I Never Will Marry a Man Who Is Rich" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pottie/Ellis-FolksongsOfTheMaritimes, pp. 86-87, "I Never Will Marry a Man who is Rich" (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)
cf. "Yon Bonnie Lad" (theme)
NOTES [92 words]: 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.
The idea of a catalog of undesirable occupations can be traced all the way back to ancient Egypt, though there it was a young man being advised against them. The "Instruction of Duauf" consists of a father telling the son what's wrong with each job, e.g. a smith smells worse than fish roe. (The piece was apparently used to train scribes; the one form of employment it approves of is scribe.) - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: E072

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