Unhappy Jeremiah (The Brats of Jeremiah)

DESCRIPTION: The singer, Jeremiah, takes a wife. But soon she turns her attention from her husband to a lodger. She bears two children, but "they did not look... one bit like Jeremiah." At last she runs off with the lodger, "and left the brats for Jeremiah"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1858 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: family children husband wife infidelity
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 134, "The Brats of Jeremiah" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #2403, pp. 161-162, "Unhappy Jeremiah, a Highly Popular Comic Song" (2 references)
Dime-Song-Book #3/72, p. 69 and #3/62, p. 44, "Unhappy Jeremiah" (1 text, followed by a sort of answer, "Happy Hezekiah," beginning, "Old Jeremiah you have heard so oft relate his troubles")
ST FSC134 (Partial)
Roud #4610
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rocking the Cradle (and the Child Not His Own)" (plot)
cf. "Hush-a-Bye, Baby" (plot)
NOTES [34 words]: Although rare in tradition, this song seems to have been very popular in print; indeed, the broadsides listed in Wolf-AmericanSongSheets bear the title "Unhappy Jeremiah A Highly Popular Comic Song." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: FSC134

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