Dame Durden

DESCRIPTION: "Dame Durden kept five servant maids To carry the milking pail, She also kept five lab'ring men To use the spade and flail." The sundry workers are listed, as well as their (amorous) adventures on Valentine's Day
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(2724)) (tune and song name in use in America by 1834)
KEYWORDS: courting love work servant
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, pp. 129-130, "Dame Durden" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 511)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 293, "Dame Durden" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-ASongForEverySeason, pp. 224-225, "Dame Durden" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DAMEDURD
Roud #1209
RECORDINGS:
Bob & Ron Copper, "Dame Durden" (on FSB01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2724), "Dame Durden" ("Dame Durden kept five serving girls"), J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also 2806 c.16(124), Harding B 11(4227), Firth b.25(225), Harding B 25(461), Harding B 11(779), Harding B 11(778), "Dame Durden"
LOCSinging, as102610, "Dame Durden" ("Dame Durden kept five serving girls"), Jackson & Son (Birmingham), no date; also as109790, "Dame Durden"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Under the Greenwood Tree" (form) and references there
SAME TUNE:
King Andrew (anti-Andrew Jackson song) (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 248)
King Alcohol (Hutchinson Family temperance song)
Harmonious Coons (anti-Whig song from 1848, "The coons they have five candidates, From which their chief to choose") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 322)
The Grinner's Lament ("The bosses here have many forms By which to oppress their men") (Foner, p. 65)
NOTES [27 words]: At least one of the women in this song has had a life outside Dame Durden's employ; for Dorothy Draggletail, see the notes to "Arthur O'Bradley's Wedding (III)." - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: K293

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