Brisk Young Bachelor (I), The

DESCRIPTION: Young man, recently married, laments the hard work his wife forces him to do and counsels other bachelors, before marrying, to reflect on his fate.
AUTHOR: unknown ("The Party That Wrote Home Sweet Home Never Was a Married Man" by Fleta Jan Brown)
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland)
KEYWORDS: marriage shrewishness work nonballad humorous bachelor
FOUND IN: Britain(England,Scotland(Aber)) US(SE) Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "BRISK YOUNG BACHELOR, THE"
Greig/Duncan7 1291, "The Poor Man's Labour" (7 texts, 4 tunes)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 142, "The Old Bachelor" (1 text)
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, p. 31, "The Poor Man's Labor's Never Done" (1 text)
Sharp-OneHundredEnglishFolksongs 69, "The Brisk Young Bachelor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople 19, "Brisk Young Bachelor" (5 texts)
Karpeles-TheCrystalSpring 133, "The Brisk Young Bachelor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Purslow-TheConstantLovers, pp. 71-72, "Poor Man's Sorrows" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood-NewLostCityRamblersSongbook, pp. 72-74, "The Man Who Wrote Home Sweet Home Never Was a Married Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1572
RECORDINGS:
Eddie Morton w. orchestra, "The Party That Wrote Home Sweet Home Never Was a Married Man" (Victor 5513, 1908; Victor 16758, 1911; on Protobilly)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Man Who Wrote Home Sweet Home Never Was a Married Man" (on NLCR03)
Charlie Parker & Mack Woolbright, "The Man Who Wrote Home Sweet Home Never Was A Married Man" (Columbia 15236-D, 1928; rec. 1927; on GoodForWhatAilsYou, Protobilly)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 14(152), "Poor Man's Labour Never Done," unknown, n.d.; also 2806 c.16(22), "Poor Man's Labour Never Done"; Harding B 25(1535) [partly illegible], "A Poor Man's Labour's Never Done"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Sporting Bachelors" (plot)
cf. "Young Munro" (tune, per Greig/Duncan7)
cf. "Home, Sweet Home (Parody)" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Was a Young Man
NOTES [120 words]: Although the theme is identical with "The Sporting Bachelors", it's a separate song, in my opinion.
Although the tune, chorus, etc. of ["The Man Who Wrote Home Sweet Home Never Was a Married Man" ] are completely different from the British song, I unhesitatingly lump them together; the verses are essentially identical, although not identically worded.
The compilers of the compilation "Good For What Ails You" have unearthed the fact that the lyricist of the original "Home Sweet Home," John Howard Payne, in fact never was a married man. - PJS
Lyle Lofgren writes that Fleta Jan Brown wrote "The Party That Wrote Home Sweet Home Never Was A Married Man" in 1908. So it presumably is a knock-off of the British song. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: ShH69

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography