Stern Old Bachelor

DESCRIPTION: The singer describes his life in the "little sod shanty dear to me." He is proud that "I'm a stern old bachelor, from matrimony free." He rejoices that he can live in squalor, snore all he wants, stay out late and never have to explain where he has been
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Chubby Parker)
KEYWORDS: bachelor home
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph 481, "A Stern Old Bachelor" (1 text)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 354-355, "The Old Bachelor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #82, "The Jolly Bachelor" (1 text, with a cheerier form than the others but still clearly the same song)
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, p. 449, "The Old Bachelor" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, STRNBACH*
Roud #4306
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "Stern Old Bachelor" (Decca 5565, 1938; Montgomery Ward 8070, 1939)
Harry Conway [pseud. for Jerry White] "I'm a Stern Old Bachelor" (Radiex 4262, 1928; Van Dyke 74262 [possibly as Ben Litchfield], 1929)
Chubby Parker, "I'm a Stern Old Bachelor" (Champion 15247 [as Smilin' Tubby Johnson]/Silvertone 5012, 1927; Supertone 9188, 1928) (Conqueror 7888, 1931)
NOTES [39 words]: There is a song with a similar theme, "The Jolly Bachelor," found in many nineteenth century broadsides and songsters. I'm slightly tempted to lump them, but Roud separates them (that song is Roud V1008), so I have done the same. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: R481

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