Sally's Love for a Young Husband

DESCRIPTION: The singer complains that her parents married her to a rich old man. She would prefer a "young man without a penny." When her old man dies she marries a young man who rolls her from the wall but kills her dog and breaks her china
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1813 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 25(955))
LONG DESCRIPTION: Although the singer would rather have a young man, she or her parents apparently find a marriage to the old suitor convenient when he offers Sally such things as a "jaunting car," muslin gowns, china or a lap dog. When her old man dies she marries a young man who rolls her from the wall but kills her lap dog and breaks her china.
KEYWORDS: age marriage sex money dog wife youth bargaining bequest husband youth
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North,West),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "HIGH, JEANIE, HIGH"
Greig/Duncan7 1362, "To Row Me frae the Wa" (2 texts)
Porter/Gower-Jeannie-Robertson-EmergentSingerTransformativeVoice #43, pp. 190-192, "O Haud Your Tongue, Dear Sally" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-EnglishCountrySongbook, #99, "Oh, It Was My Cruel Parents" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-SongsOfTheMidlands, p. 40, "Oh, It Was My Cruel Parents That Did Me First Trepan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2897
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(955), "The Jaunting Cur" ("I have often heard of an old man"), J. Evans (London), 1780-1812; also Firth c.20(74)[some words illegible], Harding B 25(954), "The Jaunting Car"; Harding B 25(953), "The Jaunting Carr" or "Sally's Love for a Young Husband"
NOTES [284 words]: Among the identifying lines you may find in a version are: "It was my cruel parents, that first did me trepan" -- an apparent mangling of .".. as you may understand"; the title line that "I'll buy for you a lap-dog To follow your jaunting car"; and the complaint about an old man that "his pipes are out of order And his chanter ne'er in tune."
[The "trepan/trapan" line may be original -- one of the meanings of "trepan" is a trick. So the parents might have tricked the girl. However, this is a rare usage. - RBW]
The title of the earliest Bodleian broadside, "The Jaunting Cur," appears not to be a misprint. When the old man offers to buy her "a little lap-dog To follow you to the fair," she says "I do not value your lap-dog Nor you, you jaunting cur." The answer in later broadside becomes "To the Devil with your Lapdog, Your jauunting car also." In Greig/Duncan7 he buys her the dog and car but her young husband "killed my little wee lap dog and broke my jaunting car."
Greig/Duncan7 1362A tells the essential story. The broadsides may end with the singer's complaint about an old man (Bodleian Harding B 25(955) and Firth c.20(74)), or when she takes a young lover (Bodleian Harding B 25(953)), or with her old man's death and her marriage to a young man, or with her dissatisfaction, after all, with the young man she married (Bodleian Harding B 25(954)). The advice in the Greig/Duncan7 text is "Far better to be an auld man's pet with servants at my call For you can easily hire a young man to roll you from the wall." This solution to the problem is also in "The Whirley Wha." - BS
As Porter and Gower note, the song may have journeyed from Scotland to Ireland and then back (p. 192). - DGE
Last updated in version 6.8
File: GrD71362

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