Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me

DESCRIPTION: The girl asks the soldier to marry her. He says that he lacks suit, shoes, whatnot. She runs off to the craftsmen and fetches him everything he mentions. Now well-equipped, he tells her that he already has a wife at home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1903 (Newell-GamesAndSongsOfAmericanChildren)
KEYWORDS: courting lie request rejection soldier dialog
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,Ro,SE,So) Britain(England(West),Scotland(Bord)) Ireland Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (30 citations):
Randolph 65, "Soldier, Soldier, Marry Me" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Rainey/Pinkston-SongsOfTheOzarkFolk, p. 50, "Soldier, Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, pp. 261-262, "Soldier Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 7, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text plus 2 excerpts and mention of 3 more)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 7, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (2 tunes plus text excerpts)
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 89, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me" (1 text plus an excerpt, 2 tunes)
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 96, "Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me" (1 text)
List-SingingAboutIt-FolkSongsInSouthernIndiana, pp. 73-75, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 90, "Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol1, p. 103, "Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 254-257, "Soldier, Soldier" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Pottie/Ellis-FolksongsOfTheMaritimes, pp. 66-67, "Soldier, Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-FolkSongsFromNewfoundland 78, "Soldier, Will You Marry Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown-VermontFolkSongsAndBallads, p. 61, "The Gallant Soldier" (1 text)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #56, "Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me?" (1 text)
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 30-31, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 305, "Soldier, Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 109, pp. 224-225, "Dutchman, Dutchman, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 159, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text)
Richardson/Spaeth-AmericanMountainSongs, p. 51, "Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gainer-FolkSongsFromTheWestVirginiaHills, pp. 157-158, "Soldier, Will You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Boette-SingaHipsyDoodle, p. 160, "Soldier, Will You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roberts-SangBranchSettlers, #68, "Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Carey-MarylandFolkLegendsAndFolkSongs, p. 104, "Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text)
Newell-GamesAndSongsOfAmericanChildren, #30, "Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dallas-TheCruelWars-100SoldiersSongs, pp. 52-53, "Soldier, Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 344, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me" (1 text)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 237, "Soldier, Soldier" (notes only)
SongsOfAllTime, p. 61, "Lazy John"; p. 67, "Soldier, Soldier" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
DT, SOLDMARR*
Roud #489
RECORDINGS:
Colin Keane, "Soldier, Soldier" (on Lomax42, LomaxCD1742)
Amy Michels, "Soldier John" (Piotr-Archive #162, recorded 05/10/2022)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me" (on NLCR10)
Russ Pike, "Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (AFS, 1941; on LC02)
Roxana Robinson, "Soldier, Soldier" (Piotr-Archive #695, recorded 10/01/2023)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Soldier Will You Marry Me" (Columbia 15589-D, 1930)
Miriam "Mimi" Wright, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me Now?" (Piotr-Archive #352, recorded 11/09/2022)
NOTES [69 words]: The Amy Michels text is an interesting variant which, as usual, ends with the soldier saying he can't marry the girl, but says it is because of all the fine clothes rather than having a wife at home.
The "Lazy John" cited in SongsOfAllTime is genuinely this song, not the pop-folk song about a man toiling in the sun on for poor pay while envying the comfortable Lazy John, who seems to loaf in the shade all day. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: R065

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