Man That Knows It All, The

DESCRIPTION: "There's shiploads of Mormonites coming o'er, Coming o'er, bound for Utah; Oh, each has five wives and they shout for more... Oh, that's an old wrinkle in Solomon's time: Not in mine." The singer thinks one is enough; "I'm the man that knows it all"
AUTHOR: Words: Edward Harrigan / Music: David Braham
EARLIEST DATE: 1884 (play, "Investigation")
KEYWORDS: derivative humorous marriage | Mormon
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Finson-Edward-Harrigan-David-Braham, vol. II, #105, pp. 82-85, "The Man That Knows It All" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-FolkloreOfTheGreatWest, p. 263, "(no title)" (1 short text)
Roud #10950
NOTES [269 words]: The description above is of the fourth verse of this song, the only one cited in a traditional collection. Greenway-FolkloreOfTheGreatWest says this is an addition to "The Man That Knows It All," by Edward Harrigan and David Braham (for whom see "The Babies on Our Block." This is not correct; the lyric is part of the original song (verse 4). The actual song begins:
The day of election is coming on,
Coming on, coming right on;
Oh, there will be trouble and lots of storm,
Oh, what d'ye think of it now?
Oh, that's an old chestnut, I've heard it before,
Long before, oh, take it next door,
To the deaf and dumb woman upon the top floor,
I'm the man that knows it all.
It's a very topical song; in addition to the Mormon verse (which became obsolete in 1890 when the Mormons banned polygamy) it has a verse about Free Trade and the Tariff (a constant issue in this period), and another about expeditions to the North Pole (which were frequent).
The reference to the "old wrinkle in Solomon's time" is a reference to Solomon's exceptionally large harem; he was reputed to have had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3). Solomon's wives are said to have led him astray, with disastrous results (1 Kings 11:4). And Solomon himself had come to the throne as a result of a harem intrigue in which Bathsheba asked the old King David to prefer her son Solomon to the proper heir Adonijah (1 King 1). Jacob had also had problems with multiple wives. So the Biblical examples of polygamy were certainly not encouraging. But the song, while reaching the same conclusion, does not really cite the Biblical examples. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: GFGW263

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