> Eliza Carthy > Songs > Tuesday Morning

Married Next Monday Morning / Tuesday Morning

[ Roud 579 ; Master title: Married Next Monday Morning ; Ballad Index ShH38 ; Wiltshire 391 ; trad.]

The Idiom of the People One Hundred English Folksongs

Next Monday Morning is a song from the repertoire of Norfolk singer Harry Cox. Peter Kennedy recorded him singing this song at home in Catfield, Norfolk, in October 1953. This recording was included in 1965 on his EFDSS LP Traditional English Love Songs.

Frank Purslow and John Pearse sang Monday Morning on their 1960 album Rap-a-Tap-Tap: English Folk Songs Miss Pringle Never Taught Us, and Purslow included this as Married Next Monday Morning in his book The Foggy Dew.

William Harrison Burnett of Fayetteville, AR, sang I’ll Get Married A-Sunday in a recording made by Sandy Paton in 1962. It was included in 2000 on the Folk-Legacy anthology Ballads and Songs of Tradition.

John Goodluck sang as Monday Morning in 1977 on his Traditional Sound album Monday’s Childe.

Eliza Carthy sang this song as Tuesday Morning in 1998 on her album Rice accompanying herself on fiddle and with Ed Boyd playing guitar and Saul Rose playing one-row accordion.

Kieron Means sang this song as The Farmer’s Daughter in 2006 on his Fellside CD Far As My Eyes Can See.

The Foxglove Trio sang The Sign of the Bonny Blue Bell in 2013 on their EP Like Diamond Glances. They commented:

We took this song from Ohe Hundred English Folksongs for Medium Voice edited by Cecil Sharp and published in 1975. A sixteen year old girl is offended when an older man spurns her attentions because of her youth. We think the reference to the sign of the Bonny Blue Bell means she was a publican’s daughter and that her keenness to marry on one particular day of the week is based on the old superstition that those who get married on a Tuesday will be blessed with wealth.

Rosie Upton sang Monday Morning in 2014 on her CD Basket of Oysters. She noted:

Learnt from a broadside ballad. I’ve been singing this since I first saw it printed in the former British Museum Reading Rooms when I was doing some research into pamphlet literature as a student. I can’t remember where I heard the tune. A bawdy ballad but at least the man is giving the young woman some good advice!

The Hungarian group Simply English sang Monday Morning on their 2017 CD Long Grey Beard and a Head That’s Bald.

Owen Ralph sang The Sign of the Bonny Blue Bell on his 2018 EP Chamber Folk.

Lyrics

Harry Cox sings Next Monday Morning

As I was a-walking, one morning in spring
I heard a fair damsel, so sweetly did sing.
As she was a-milking, when this she did sing,
“I ’m going to get married next Monday morning.”

“O where is your dwelling, fair maid,” I recall.
“I dwell in yon house, I’m the fairest of all.
I dwell in yon cot at the foot of yon hill
And I’m going to get married next Monday morning.”

“O fifteen years old is to young for to marry,
A year or two longer, I’ll have you now tarry.
For young men are false, their vows to fulfil
So put off your wedding next Monday morning.”

“O you talk like a man without sense, without skill!
Three years now I’ve tarried against my own will,
I have made a vow that I mean to fulfil
I’m going to get married next Monday morning.

“So next Sunday night, I mean to prepare
To comb out my locks and to curl up my hair
And six pretty fair maids, so neat and so trim
Shall dance at my wedding next Monday morning.

“So next Monday night when I go to my bed
So close to my true-love I will lay my head.
If a maid I remain when I rise again
I shall wish I had never a-seen Monday morning.

“So next Monday morn when I put on my rings
Now my husband he gave me two far finer things.
Two precious jewels he gave my adorning,
So I be his bride next Monday morning.”

Eliza Carthy sings Tuesday Morning

As I walked out one morning in spring
To view the birds and the nightingales sing
I heard a maiden so sweetly did sing, saying,
“I shall be married on Tuesday morning.”

I stepped up to her and this I did say,
“Pray tell me your name and where do you belong?”
“I belong to the sign of the Bonny Bluebell,
My age is sixteen and you know very well.”

I said, “Sixteen years is too young to marry,
The other five years, love, I hardly tarry.”
“Well, you talk like a man without any skill,
Five years I have tarried against my own will.”

“On Monday night, it is all my care
To powder my nose and to curl my hair,
And two pretty maidens to wait on me there
To dance at my wedding on Tuesday morning.”

“My husband will give me a guinea gold ring
And at night he will give me a far better thing.
With two precious jewels he’ll be me adorning
When I am his bride on Tuesday morning.”

As I walked out one morning in spring
To view the birds and the nightingales sing
I heard a maiden so sweetly did sing, saying,
“Good morning, fair maidens, on Wednesday morning.”

The Foxglove Trio sing The Sign of the Bonny Blue Bell

As I was a-walking one morning in spring
For to hear the birds whistle and the nightingale sing,
𝄆 I heard a fair damsel so sweetly sang she,
Saying, “I will be married on a Tuesday morning.” 𝄇

I stepped up to her and this I did say:
“Pray tell me your age and where you belong.”
𝄆 “I belong to the sign of the Bonny Blue Bell;
My age is sixteen, and you know very well.” 𝄇

“Sixteen, pretty maid, is young for to marry.
I’ll leave you the other four years for to tarry.”
𝄆 “You speak like a man without any skill;
Four years I’ve been single against my own will.” 𝄇

On a Monday evening when I go there
For to powder my face and to curl my hair,
𝄆 There were three pretty maidens for me a-waiting;
Singing “I will be married on a Tuesday morning.” 𝄇

On a Tuesday morning the bells they shall ring,
And three pretty maidens for me shall sing:
𝄆 “So neat and so gay is my golden ring”,
Saying, “I will be married on a Tuesday morning.” 𝄇

Acknowledgements

Transcribed from the singing of Eliza Carthy by Kira White. Thanks from Garry Gillard. Thanks also to Steve Willis for further suggestions.