Chandler's Wife, The

DESCRIPTION: (The tailor's boy) goes to the chandler's shop; he hears a "knock, knock, knock" overhead. He surprises the chandler's wife with the apprentice boy. Men should either watch their wives or give them so much (knock, knock, knock) that they want no more
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (recording, Warde Ford); c. 1832? (Bodleian broadsides)
LONG DESCRIPTION: (The tailor's boy) goes to the chandler's shop; finding no one there, he hears the sounds of sex (a "knock, knock, knock") overhead. Running upstairs, he surprises the chandler's wife with the apprentice boy. She offers the interloper sex whenever he's so inclined. The moral is drawn that men should either lock their wives up, tie them down, or give them so much (knock, knock, knock) that they want no more
KEYWORDS: sex adultery infidelity promise bawdy humorous apprentice
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Bronner/Eskin-FolksongAlivePart2 72, "The Tailor Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hopkins-SongsFromTheFrontAndRear, pp. 185-186, "The Chandler's Shop" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 157, "The Chandler's Wife" (1 text)
DT, CHNDWIFE* CHNDWIF2
Roud #10256
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "The Tailor Boy" (AFS 4204 A1, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian Harding B 25(356), "The Chandler's Wife" ("A Taylor-boy went out one day"), unknown (n.d); also Harding B 27(52), "The Tailor's Boy" ("A tailor's boy went on one night some candles for to bring"), unknown (n.d.)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Farm Servant (Rap-Tap-Tap)" (plot)
cf. "The Jolly Barber Lad" (theme)
cf. "The Coachman's Whip" (theme)
cf. "The Lincolnshire Poacher" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Tailor's Boy
NOTES [48 words]: I'm astonished to not find this in the Index -- I could have sworn it was there. - PJS
Yes, but aren't you glad that *you* got to write the description? :-)
I am surprised that it's not in Cray-EroticMuse. There are similar plots, of course, but nothing I recognize as the same song. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: FSWB157A

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