Scolding Wife (IV)

DESCRIPTION: "Come all ye sprightly sporting youths, wherever you may be, You'll never know your misery till married that you'll be." The singer describes all the ways in which his wife makes his life miserable, and hopes she dies before she kills him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1849 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.20(109))
KEYWORDS: husband wife fight marriage courting abuse
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H145, p. 503, "The Scolding Wife" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig/Duncan7 1285, "She's Aye Scaulin' Me" (1 fragment)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, p. 151, "The Bad Wife" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Ford, editor, Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland [second series] (Paisley, 1901 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 88-91, "The Wicked Wife"
Roud #5556
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.20(109), "The Scolding Wife" ("When first I got married, a happy man to be"), J. Kendrew (York), 1803-1848
LOCSinging, as102540, "The Scolding Wife" ("I married with a scolding wife, full twenty years ago"), L. Deming (Boston), no date
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Scolding Wife (I)" (subject)
cf. "The Sporting Bachelors" (plot)
cf. "She's Aye Tease, Teasin'" (subject and form)
NOTES [87 words]: The notes in Henry/Huntington/Herrmann observe that this has the same subject and metrical pattern as "The Scolding Wife (I)." But there seem to be no common lyrics at all; I (hesitantly) declare them separate. The chorus of the Henry text is
For she's aye, aye scowlin', an' she's aye scowlin' me,
She's for everlasting scowlin' and she canna let me be.
Roud lumps this with "The Sporting Bachelors," and I cannot deny the close similarity in themes. But the two appear somewhat different in both form and emphasis. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: HHH145

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