Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me

DESCRIPTION: The girl asks the soldier to marry her. He says that he lacks suit, shoes, whatnot. She runs off to the craftsmen and fetches him everything he mentions. Now well-equipped, he tells her that he already has a wife at home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1903 (Newell-GamesAndSongsOfAmericanChildren)
KEYWORDS: courting lie request rejection soldier dialog
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,Ro,SE,So) Britain(England(West),Scotland(Bord)) Ireland Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (30 citations):
Randolph 65, "Soldier, Soldier, Marry Me" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Rainey/Pinkston-SongsOfTheOzarkFolk, p. 50, "Soldier, Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, pp. 261-262, "Soldier Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 7, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text plus 2 excerpts and mention of 3 more)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 7, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (2 tunes plus text excerpts)
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 89, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me" (1 text plus an excerpt, 2 tunes)
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 96, "Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me" (1 text)
List-SingingAboutIt-FolkSongsInSouthernIndiana, pp. 73-75, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 90, "Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol1, p. 103, "Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 254-257, "Soldier, Soldier" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Pottie/Ellis-FolksongsOfTheMaritimes, pp. 66-67, "Soldier, Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-FolkSongsFromNewfoundland 78, "Soldier, Will You Marry Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown-VermontFolkSongsAndBallads, p. 61, "The Gallant Soldier" (1 text)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #56, "Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me?" (1 text)
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 30-31, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 305, "Soldier, Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 109, pp. 224-225, "Dutchman, Dutchman, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 159, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text)
Richardson/Spaeth-AmericanMountainSongs, p. 51, "Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gainer-FolkSongsFromTheWestVirginiaHills, pp. 157-158, "Soldier, Will You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Boette-SingaHipsyDoodle, p. 160, "Soldier, Will You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roberts-SangBranchSettlers, #68, "Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Carey-MarylandFolkLegendsAndFolkSongs, p. 104, "Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text)
Newell-GamesAndSongsOfAmericanChildren, #30, "Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dallas-TheCruelWars-100SoldiersSongs, pp. 52-53, "Soldier, Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 344, "Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me" (1 text)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 237, "Soldier, Soldier" (notes only)
SongsOfAllTime, p. 61, "Lazy John"; p. 67, "Soldier, Soldier" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
DT, SOLDMARR*

Roud #489
RECORDINGS:
Colin Keane, "Soldier, Soldier" (on Lomax42, LomaxCD1742)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me" (on NLCR10)
Russ Pike, "Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (AFS, 1941; on LC02)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Soldier Will You Marry Me" (Columbia 15589-D, 1930)

File: R065

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