My Good Old Man

DESCRIPTION: Wife asks husband where he is going. He says, grumpily,"Out" (or the like). She asks about supper. He: Eggs. She: How many? He: A bushel. She: They'll kill you. He: Then I'll haunt you. She: You can't haunt a haunt
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1885 (Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle)
KEYWORDS: dialog wife husband shrewishness hardtimes ghost
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South)) US(Ap,MW,So)
REFERENCES (18 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "GOOD OLD MAN"
Randolph 426, "The Best Old Feller in the World" (2 texts plus a fragment, 3 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 325-327, "The Best Old Feller in the World" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 426A)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 191, "The Good Old Man" (2 texts)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 104A, "The Best Old Feller in the World"; 104B, "My Good Old Man" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople 36, "Good Old Man" (1 text)
Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle 52, "Good Old Man" (1 text)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 230, "The Good Old Man" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Ritchie-SingingFamilyOfTheCumberlands, pp. 12-14, "[My Good Old Man]" (1 text, 1 tune)
McIntosh-FolkSongsAndSingingGamesofIllinoisOzarks, pp. 33-35, "Kind Old Husband" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, pp. 128-129, "Where Have You Been, My Good Old Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dunson/Raim/Asch-AnthologyOfAmericanFolkMusic, p. 88 "Le Vieux Soulard Et Sa Femme (The Old Drunkard and His Wife)" (1 text, in French with English translation, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 344, "Where Are You Going, My Good Old Man" (1 text)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 64, "Yr Hen wr Mwyn [The Gentle Old Man]" (1 text in Welsh + translation, 1 tune)
GirlScouts-SingTogether, p. 89, "The Good Old Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
SongsOfAllTime, p. 75, "Good Old Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
OneTuneMore, pp. 42-43, "Good Old Husband" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GDOLDMAN
Roud #240
RECORDINGS:
Cleoma Breaux & Joseph Falcon, "Le Vieux Soulard et sa Femme" [in Cajun French] (Columbia 14301D, 1928; on AAFM3)
Texas Gladden, "My Lovin' Old Husband" (AFS 5233 A2; on USTGladden01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Tam Buie (Tam Bo, Magherafelt Hiring Fair)" (form)
NOTES [146 words]: The plot of this song varies widely, as does the final line ("My good old man," "The meanest man in the world," "The best old fellow in the world," "Best Old Soul in the World"). But the format is constant: First the wife asks a long, involved question, e.g.
Where are you going, my good old man?
Where are you going, my honey, lovey dove?
Where are you going, my good old man?
Best old man in the world.
Then the man replies (spoken, not sung) in the shortest set of monosyllables possible.
The final element, about the ghost, disappears in many versions.
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland's Welsh text doesn't look that much like the English versions to me, at least in terms of plot; it may be an analog rather than a version of the same song. But it's filed here rather than include it in a separate entry, which it does not deserve in an English-language index. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: R426

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography