Old Adam and Eve

DESCRIPTION: "The praise of dear women I'll sing." Adam had food, a garden, horses and foxes to hunt. His happiness was not complete until his wife was taken from his side to be his equal and partner. A man without a wife is a beggar; a beggar with a wife is blessed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1840 (Fisher)
KEYWORDS: marriage Bible nonballad wife gardening animal
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North,South),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #148, p. 2, "Adam and Eve" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan7 1269, "Old Adam and Eve" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, pp. 215-216, "Old Adam" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 378)
Dixon-AncientPoemsBalladsSongsOfThePeasantryOfEngland, Song #35, pp. 230-232,250, "Old Adam" (1 text)
Bell-Combined-EarlyBallads-CustomsBalladsSongsPeasantryEngland, pp. 451-452, "Old Adam" (1 text)
Kidson-TraditionalTunes, pp. 153-154, "When Adam Was First Created" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: John Fisher, The Honeymoon (London, 1840 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 164 [Note 3], ("When Adam was first created") (1 fragment (two verses))
Roud #728
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.25(242), "Adam & Eve" ("Both sexes give ear to my fancy"), W. Ford (Sheffield), no date; also Harding B 28(19), "In Praise of Dear Women I Sing ("Both sexes give ear to my fancy")
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "When Adam Was Created (Wedlock)" (theme)
NOTES [130 words]: Greig/Duncan7: "Fifty-three years ago." [1905]
Apparently broadside Bodleian, 2806 c.13(192), "When Adam was first created" ("Both sexes give here [sic] to my fancy"), J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866 is this song but I could not download and verify it. - BS
The tale of the creation of the woman from the rib of the man is told in Genesis 2:21-22 (with the description of her as his partner continuing until 2:24, and the statement that none of the animals was a partner fit for him in 3:20). The other account of the creation, in Genesis 1:27, strongly implies that men and women were created at the same time (implying, obviously, a different sort of partnership). This account also places the creation of humanity at the end of the creation of life, not the beginning. . - RBW
Last updated in version 3.0
File: GrD71269

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