Bachelor's Lament (II), A

DESCRIPTION: "As I was walking all alone, I heard an old bachelor making his moans: I wonder what the matter can be, Dog them pretty girls won't have me." The bachelor describes those he has courted, the offers he has made, the horses he has ruined -- to no avail
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety)
KEYWORDS: bachelor loneliness courting
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,So)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, p. 263, "The Old Bachelor" (1 text)
Arnold-FolkSongsofAlabama, p. 18, "The Old Bachelor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, pp. 119-121, "The Bachelor's Lay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 160, "A Bachelor's Lament" (1 short text)
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 70, "The Old Bachelor" (1 text)
List-SingingAboutIt-FolkSongsInSouthernIndiana, pp. 225-226, "The Old Bachelor's Mourn" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST JHCox160 (Partial)
Roud #3771
RECORDINGS:
Eugene Jemison, "The Bachelor's Complaint" (on Jem01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bachelor's Hall (II)" (subject, lyrics)
NOTES [125 words]: The texts in Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety and Cox have hardly a word in common, but the themes and forms are so similar that I don't hesitate to lump them. Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana's and List-SingingAboutIt-FolkSongsInSouthernIndiana's texts are similar to the one in the description. - RBW
Paul Stamler notes that at least one version ends with the bachelor dying; the singer tells women to put him in the ground, for fear he might come back to life and keep trying to find a wife.- (PJS, RBW)
The Jemison recording includes at least one verse that overlaps Fiddlin' John Carson's version of "Bachelor's Hall." I called that "Bachelor's Hall (II)"; the Jemison recording sounds more like "Bachelor's Hall (I)." - PJS
Last updated in version 5.3
File: JHCox160

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