Drunkard's Dream (I), The

DESCRIPTION: The singer meets (Dermot) and expresses surprise at how healthy and prosperous he looks. Dermot explains that he had had a dream which showed him the consequences of his actions. Awakening in relief, Dermot has reformed his ways
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1842 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.25(31))
KEYWORDS: dream drink love promise wife
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,Ro,SE,So) Canada(Newf,Ont) Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (21 citations):
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 469-470, "The Drunkard's Dream" (1 text)
Randolph 307, "The Drunkard's Dream" (2 texts plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 254-256, "The Drunkard's Dream" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 307A)
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 101, "The Drunkard's Dream" (1 text, 1 tune)
List-SingingAboutIt-FolkSongsInSouthernIndiana, pp. 242-247, "The Drunkard's Dream" (2 texts, 2 tunes, plus a sheet music reprint)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 129, "The Drunkard's Dream" (2 texts)
Roberts/Agey-InThePine #120, "Drunkard's Dream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 22, "The Drunkar's Dream (I)" (1 text plus 2 excerpts and mention of 2 more)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 22, "The Drunkard's Dream (I)" (2 tunes plus textual excerpts)
Richardson/Spaeth-AmericanMountainSongs, p. 41, "The Drunkard's Dream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolfe/Boswell-FolkSongsOfMiddleTennessee 71, pp, 118-118, "The Drunkard's Dream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-ASongCatcherInSouthernMountains, pp. 366-372, "The Drunkard's Dream" (4 texts; 3 tunes on pp. 455-456)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #107, "The Drunkard's Dream" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 73, "The Drunkard's Dream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Vikár/Panagapka-SongsNorthWoodsSungByOJAbbott 42, "The Drunkard's Dream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-WeepSomeMoreMyLady, p. 193, "The Drunkard's Dream" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, p. 67, "The Husband's Dream" (1 text)
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Mi 595, "Husband's Dream" (1 text)
Thompson-BodyBootsAndBritches-NewYorkStateFolktales, pp. 202-203, "(Samuel, You Look Healthy Now)" (1 text, based on this but modified by informant "Blind Sam" Taylor to describe his own circumstances)
DT, DRUNKDRM*
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), pp. 210-211, "The Drunkard's Dream" (1 text)
Roud #722
RECORDINGS:
Morgan Denmon, "Drunkard's Dream" (OKeh 45327, 1929)
Betty Garland, "Drunkards Dream" (on BGarland01)
Frank McFarland, "Drunkard's Dream" (Brunswick 203, 1928; Supertone S-2027 [as Kentucky Mountain Boys], 1930; rec. 1927)
Charlie Oaks, "The Drunkard's Dream" (Vocalion 15195, 1926)
Riley Puckett, "The Drunkard's Dream" (Columbia 15035-D, 1925)
Jim Rice, "The Drunkard's Dream" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.25(31), "The Husband's Dream", Birt (London), 1833-1841; also Harding B 11(3168), Firth c.22(81), Harding B 18(264), Harding B 18(265), Johnson Ballads 552, Harding B 11(1609), Harding B 11(1608), "The Husband's Dream"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Drunkard's Wife's Dream" (sequel of sorts)
NOTES [246 words]: This song seems to have followed different paths on different sides of the Atlantic: In the U. S., it is "The Drunkard's Dream"; in Europe, "The Husband's Dream." But both versions are about drunken Dermot and his dream; while odds are that one version or the other was reworked in broadsides, I say they're the same song. - RBW
Is this a sequel to "The Wife's Dream" or is that, if it exists, just a prequel to "The Husband's Dream?"
In "The Wife's Dream" Mary explains her happy disposition though married to a drunkard by a dream she had: having wished her husband dead, she dreamed that he were and was happy at waking to find him alive but unreformed. She hopes "by patience I can change, my husband's wandering life" and then she'd "bless the hour that dream was sent to his neglected wife."
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3669), "The Wife's Dream", Walker (Durham), 1797-1834; also Firth b.27(135), Harding B 15(375a), Firth c.26(53), Harding B 11(4203), Harding B 11(4207), Harding B 11(4208), Harding B 11(4205), Harding B 18(745), Firth b.26(253), "The Wife's Dream"; Harding B 11(4206), "Wife's Dream!"
There is another "Answer to the 'Wife's Dream'": "The Drunkard Reformed" in which Dermot was about to murder Kathleen in a jealous drunken rage, but is saved in time by her prayer:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3249), "The Reformed Rake", E. Hodge's (London), 1846-1854; also Firth b.26(205), Harding B 11(996), Harding B 11(997), Harding B 17(79a), "The Drunkard Reformed" - BS
Last updated in version 6.7
File: R307

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