Will the Weaver [Laws Q9]

DESCRIPTION: The newly married man regrets his hasty marriage. He is told that his wife is seeing Will the Weaver. He surprises them at his home. Will hides up the chimney. The husband smokes him out, beats him, and sends him away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1793 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: marriage infidelity humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,Ro,SE) Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (28 citations):
Laws Q9, "Will the Weaver"
Greig "Folk-Song in Buchan," p. 20, "Will the Weaver" (1 fragment)
Greig/Duncan7 1461, "Will the Weaver" (11 texts, 7 tunes)
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, pp. 106-108, "Will the Weaver" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Bk 27)
McNeil-SouthernFolkBalladsVol2, pp. 64-65, "Willy Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner-TraditionalAmericanFolkSongsFromAnneAndFrankWarnerColl 47, "Bill the Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 199, "Father, Father, I Am Married" (1 fragment, so short that it could be a form of "Devilish Mary" but seeming by its form to belong here )
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 199, "Father, Father, I Am Married" (1 excerpt, 1 tune)
Chappell-FolkSongsOfRoanokeAndTheAlbermarle 53, "Will the Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-ASongCatcherInSouthernMountains, pp. 237-238, "Will the Weaver" ("Will de Weaver") (1 text; tune on p. 418)
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 98, "Will the Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 140, "Will, the Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shoemaker-MountainMinstrelsyOfPennsylvania, pp. 135-137, "Will the Weaver" (1 text) (pp. 115-116 in the 1919 edition)
Gainer-FolkSongsFromTheWestVirginiaHills, pp. 146-147, "Will the Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 154, "Will the Weaver" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol3, pp. 69-70, "Bill Weever" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Shellans-FolkSongsOfTheBlueRidgeMountains, p. 22, "Johnny and Old Mr. Henly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #124, "Will the Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 133, "Bill the Weaver" (1 text)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood-NewLostCityRamblersSongbook, pp. 152-154, "Everyday Dirt" (1 text, 1 tune, rewritten by Dave McCarn)
Chase-AmericanFolkTalesAndSongs, pp. 184-185, "Will the Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H682, p. 505, "Will the Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Dan Patterson, "23-244-5, "Willy Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune))
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 146-147, "Will the Weaver" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 170, "Everyday Dirt" (1 text)
DT 345, WILLWVR1* WILLWVR2* WILLWVR3 WILLWVR4
ADDITIONAL: Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 130, "Will the Weaver" (reproduction of a broadsheet designed to be folded into a booklet with four songs; this is the only song with its title and initial stanzas on the visible side)
Archie Green, "'Will the Weaver's Hillbilly Kinfolk,'" article published 1959 in _Caravan_; republished on pp. 111-120 of Norm Cohen, editor, _All This for a Song_, Southern Folklife Collection, 2009
Roud #432
RECORDINGS:
Bill Carlisle, "Jumpin' and Jerkin' Blues" (Vocalion 02984, 1935; Conqueror 8789, 1937; Romeo 70264, prob. 1937, and issues on Banner, Melotone, Oriole and Perfect)
Dave McCarn, "Everyday Dirt" (Victor V-40274, 1930)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Everyday Dirt" (on NLCR02)
Charlie Parker & Mack Woolbright, "Will the Weaver" (Columbia 15694-D, 1931; rec. 1927; on ConstSor1)
Mike Seeger, "Will the Weaver" (on MSeeger01)
Doc Watson, "Every Day Dirt" (on Watson01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(2078), "Will the Weaver" [almost entirely illegible], J. Evans (London), 1780-1812; also Harding B 28(151), "Will, the Weaver," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; Harding B 11(4247), "Will, the Weaver"; Firth c.18(255), Firth c.18(254), "Will the Weaver"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Boatsman and the Chest" [Laws Q8] (plot) and references there
NOTES [43 words]: This and similar songs are sometimes traced back to a story in Boccaccio (seventh day, second story: Gianella, Peronella, and her husband). But the story is really one of the basic themes of folktale, and doubtless predates Boccaccio as well as these songs. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: LQ09

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