Bald-Headed End of the Broom, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer warns men against marriage: It's fun at first, but wait till you're stuck "with a wife and (sixteen) half-starved kids." "So keep away from the girls... For when they are wed, they will bang you on the head With the bald-headed end of a broom"
AUTHOR: Harry Bennett
EARLIEST DATE: 1877 (Copyright)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage warning wife children family hardtimes poverty
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So) Australia Ireland
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Randolph 386, "The Bald-Headed End of the Broom" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 313-315, "The Bald-Headed End of the Broom" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 386A)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 206, "Boys, Keep Away from the Girls" (1 text)
Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric 64, "Boys, Keep Away from the Girls" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Henry-SongsSungInTheSouthernAppalachians, p. 34, "Advice to the Boys" (1 fragment, only two stanzas and without a reference to the broom but with lyrics and theme much like this)
Beck-LoreOfTheLumberCamps 101, "Boys, Stay Away from the Girls" (1 text, probably this although it doesn't mention the bald-headed end of the broom)
Fahey-Eureka-SongsThatMadeAustralia, pp. 190-191, "The Bald-Headed End of the Broom" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 193, "The Bald-Headed End of the Broom" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-FolksongsFromMarthasVineyard, pp. 55-57, "Blue Glass" (1 text, 1 tune, part "The Bald-Headed End of the Broom," part "Blue Glass," a song which seems otherwise unattested)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 273-274, "Baldheaded End of the Broom" (1 text)
Gilbert-LostChords, p. 105, (No title) (1 partial text)
Rorrer-RamblingBlues-LifeAndSongsOfCharliePoole, p. 94, "Look Before You Leap" (1 text, probably somewhat rewritten and without a chorus)
DT, BALDBROM BALDBRM2*
Roud #2129
RECORDINGS:
Martha Gillen, "Bald-Headed End of the Broom" (on FSBFTX19)
Grandpa Jones, "The Bald Headed End of A Broom" (King 717, 1948)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Look Before You Leap" (probably rewritten; Columbia 15601-D, 1930; on CPoole03)
George Reneau, "Bald Headed End of The Broom" (Vocalion 14930, Silvertone 3052, 1924; Vocalion 5052, c. 1926)
Walter "Kid" Smith & Norman Woodlief with Posey Rorer, "The Bald-Headed End of a Broom" (Gennett 6887/Champion 15772 [as by Jim Taylor and Bill Shelby]/Supertone 9454 [as by Jerry Jordan], 1929; on GoodForWhatAilsYou)
Mike Seeger, "The Baldheaded End of a Broom" (on MSeeger01)\
File: FaE190

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