The Old Maid's Song

The Old Maid's Song is an American folk song. It recounts the story of a woman whose younger sisters have married, while she has remained a spinster into middle age. During the chorus of the song, the narrator defines a loose criterion for a husband.

The song is derived from the broadside ballad "The Wooing Maid," a song which dates to the seventeenth century. ^[1]

Variations

The chorus lyrics vary between different versions of the song. In a version collected in Dover, Vermont in 1919, the chorus is sung:

A linman, a tinman, a tinker, a tailor,

A fiddler, a peddler, a plough-man, a sailor;

Come gentle, come simple, come foolish, come witty,

Don't let me die an old maid, but take me out of pity! ^[2]

In another variation heard in Pulaski County, Kentucky and published in 1917 differs slightly:

Come a landsman, a pinsman, a tinker or a tailor,

A fiddler or a dancer, a ploughboy or a sailor,

A gentleman or a poor man, a fool or a witty,

Don't you let me die an old maid, but take me out of pity. ^[1]

In "The Wooing Maid," the ballad from which the song is derived, the first two lines of the chorus belong instead to the first verse:

[...]

Come tinker, come broomman:

She will refuse no man.

Come gentle, come simple, come foolish, come witty,

Oh! if you lack a maid, take me for pitty. ^[3]

The song is known by many titles, including "Sister Susan", ^[4] and "The Spinster's Lament", ^[2] "Old Maid's Complaint", "Old Maid's Lament," "Old Maid in the Garrett," and "Old Maid's Petition". ^[5]

Pete Seeger recorded a rendition of the song for the Smithsonian Folkways label.

The Kingston Trio's "Take Her Out of Pity", included on their 1961 album Close-Up , is based on the song. ^[6]

References

1. Kittredge, G. L. (Jul–Sep 1917). "Ballads and Songs". The Journal of American Folklore. 30 (117): 355–6. doi:10.2307/534379. JSTOR   534379.
2. Atwood, James; Atwood, Mary; Sturgis, Edith; Hughs, Robert (2010). Songs and Verse from the Hills of Vermont. East Dover, Vermont: The Dover Historical Society. pp. 18–21.
3. Chappell, William (1880). The Roxburghe Ballads, Volume 3. Ballad Society. pp. 52–3.
4. Flanders, Helen Hartness; Brown, George (1968). Vermont Folk-Songs and Ballads. Hatboro, Pennsylvania: Folklore Associates, Inc. p. 102.
5. Quinn, Jennifer Post (1983). An Index to the Field Recordings in the Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College. Middlebury, Vermont: Middlebury College. p. 117.
6. Bush, William J. (2013). Greenback Dollar: The Incredible Rise of the Kingston Trio. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 224. ISBN   9780810881921.