Come Write Me Down (The Wedding Song)

DESCRIPTION: Man offers gold and pearls; woman refuses, saying she'll never be at any young man's call. He tells her t he'll find another. He picks up his hat to leave, but she changes her mind. They are married the next day; "she'll prove his comfort day and night"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1866 (Musick-JAF-TheOldAlbumOf-William-A-Larkin); c.1840 (broadside, 2806 c.16(240))
LONG DESCRIPTION: "Come write me down the powers above/That first created a man to love." Man offers gold and pearls; woman refuses, saying she'll never be at any young man's call. He tells her to "go your way, you scornful dame"; he'll find another. He picks up his hat to leave, but, as could be predicted, she changes her mind. They are married the next day; "she'll prove his comfort day and night"
KEYWORDS: courting love marriage wedding dialog lover
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Newf) US(MW)
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "COME, WRITE ME DOWN"
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #159, p. 1, "My Joy and Comfort" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan5 980, "Look Ye Down, Ye Powers Above" (5 texts, 1 tune)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 126, "Come Write Me Down the Powers Above" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 571-572, "Oh Write Me Down, Ye Powers Above" (1 text, 1 tune)
Musick-JAF-TheOldAlbumOf-William-A-Larkin 9, "Pretty Polly" (1 text)
Bronner/Eskin-FolksongAlivePart1 10, "Polly Gathering Flowers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-ASongForEverySeason, pp. 270-271, "Come Write Me Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
Purslow-TheConstantLovers, p. 17, "Come, Write Me Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, COMWRIT1
ADDITIONAL: Jon Raven, _The Urban and Industrial Songs of the Black Country and Birmingham_, Broadside, 1977, p. 153, "Powers Above" (1 text)
Roud #381
RECORDINGS:
Cecilia Costello, "Come Write Me Down the Powers Above" (on FSBFTX13)
Charlotte Decker, "Oh Write Me Down, Ye Powers Above" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.16(240), "The True Lovers" ("Look ye down, the powers of love"), W. and T. Fordyce (Newcastle), c.1840
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Corydon and Phoebe" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Oh Write Me Down, Ye Powers Above
The Scornful DameThe Ways of a Maid
NOTES [115 words]: Like "Corydon and Phyllis," whose plot is virtually identical, this no doubt began life as a minstrel piece or "rural romance" broadside. But it's entered tradition, with over half-a-dozen collections cited by Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland. The song has long been associated with the Copper family of Rottingdean, Sussex, having been collected from them as early as 1899, but it is also found in Dorset, Hampshire, Devon -- and Newfoundland.
It is distinguished from "Corydon and Phyllis" by the characteristic phrases quoted in the [long description]. - PJS
Musick-JAF-TheOldAlbumOf-William-A-Larkin 32, "Purty Polly" is "the same as number 9, above" but does not repeat the text. - BS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: K126

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