Sweet Little Man, The

DESCRIPTION: "All the brave boys under canvas are sleeping, Each one striving to march with the van," but the "sweet little man" is not serving in the armies. The song repeatedly insults him for not joining the army that fights against the enemy
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Shoemaker-MountainMinstrelsyOfPennsylvania)
KEYWORDS: soldier home clothes accusation questions
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Shoemaker-MountainMinstrelsyOfPennsylvania, pp. 207-209, "The Sweet Little Man" (1 text)
Roud #15023
NOTES [52 words]: The notes in Shoemaker-MountainMinstrelsyOfPennsylvania say that this is a satire against those who shirked fighting in the Civil War (in essence it seems to call the Sweet Little Man an effeminate). This seems likely enough, but there are no actual Civil War references, so I have not assigned that keyword. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: Shoe207

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

The Ballad Index Copyright 2024 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.