When Adam Was Created (Wedlock)

DESCRIPTION: "When Adam was created, he dwelt in Eden's shade, As Moses has related, before his bride was made." Then Eve was made from Adam's rib. The rest of the song describes the duties of wedlock, based on this account of the creation
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1879 (journal of the ANdrew Hicks; Dumas's tune dated 1869
KEYWORDS: religious Bible marriage
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE) Britain(England(West))
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "OLD ADAM"
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 53, "When Adam Was Created" (1 text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 53, "When Adam Was Created" (2 tunes plus a text excerpt)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 193, "When Adam was Created" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-EightyEnglishFolkSongs 55, "When Adam Was Created" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol5, pp. 29-31, "The Fall of Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-TheGam-MoreSongsWhalemenSang, pp. 323-325, "A Song for a Weddling" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 567-569, "Wedlock" (1 text, 1 tune)
Baring-Gould/Sheppard-SongsOfTheWest2ndEd, #100, "Both Sexes Give Ear" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WEDLOK*
Roud #728
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Adam and Eve" (theme)
NOTES [131 words]: I can't help but note that all the details here come from the "J" account of the creation (Gen. 2:4f.). In the "P" account, which occupies Genesis 1:1-2:4, men and women were created together. Make of it what you may.
Brown quotes Jackson to the effect that this derives from Chaucer's "Parson's Tale" or its folk/churchly sources. I really doubt it; The Parson's Tale is probably the dullest of all the Canterbury Tales.
In the Sacred Harp, this appears with the tune "Edmonds," credited to E. Dumas and dated to 1869.
Bush's version does not get into the duties of wedlock, instead halting at the expulsion from Eden and then proceeding with an account of the resurrection of Jesus and his commission of the disciples. This looks like it derives from Matthew 28 or possibly Mark 16. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: SKE55

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