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Marrow Bones
Marrowbones / Tigery Orum / The Old Woman of Wexford
[
Roud 183
/ Song Subject MAS765
; Master title: Marrowbones
; Laws Q2
; G/D 2:318
; Henry H174
; TYG 6
; Ballad Index LQ02
; VWML HAM/3/16/23
; Wiltshire
914
; Eggs and Marrowbones at Fire Draw Near
; Folkinfo 30
, 455
; DT MARBONES
, MARBONE5
; Mudcat 50419
; trad.]
Norman Buchan: 101 Scottish Songs Steve Gardham: A Yorkshire Songster Kathy Henderson with Frankie Armstrong and Sandra Kerr: My Song Is My Own John Howson: Songs Sung in Suffolk Mary and Nigel Hudleston: Songs of the Ridings Gale Huntington, Lani Herrmann, John Moulden: Sam Henry’s Songs of the People Maud Karpeles: Cecil Sharp’s Collection of English Folk Songs The Crystal Spring John Morrish: The Folk Handbook Dáibhí Ó Cróinín: The Songs of Elizabeth Cronin Roy Palmer: Everyman’s Book of British Ballads Frank Purslow: Marrow Bones James Reeves: The Idiom of the People Steve Roud, Julia Bishop: The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs Stephen Sedley: The Seeds of Love Sam Richards and Tish Stubbs: The English Folksinger
Mary Connors and Paddy Doran of Belfast sang The Blind Man He Can See to Peter Kennedy and Sean O’Boyle) in August 1952. An abbreviated version of this BBC recording 18584 was included on the anthology Fair Game and Foul (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 7; Caedmon 1961; Topic 1970); the foll recording was included in 2014 on the Topic anthology of traditional songs, airs and dance music in Ulster, The Flax in Bloom (The Voice of the People Series Volume 27). The Caedmon album’s booklet noted:
This might be called the ballad of the perfect crime. An old man discovers his wife’s unfaithfulness and her intention to murder him. He pretends blindness and asks her to lead him to the river, saying that he wishes to drown himself. When his wife attempts, at his suggestion, to push him in, he steps to one side and she falls in the water and drowns in his place. Cecil Sharp heard the song in the West country with the following ending:
The old woman, being gone to the bottom,
And could no more be seen;
The old man, he went laughing home,
And gained his sight again.
So there’s an end to my song, sir,
And I can sing no more;
And they that say that I can, sir
Be a liar and son of a whore.Collectors have recorded this cruelly humorous jape in Scotland, England, frequently in Ireland, and in many parts of the United States. Perhaps the finest of all of the tune settings comes by a Negro convict in Texas whose nickname was Ironhead.
Gavin Greig, Folk Songs of the North-East XIII, The Wily Auld Carle,
Herbert Hughes, Irish Country Songs, Vol. (iv), Tigaree Torum Orum,
Sam Henry, No. 174, The Aul’ Man and the Churnstaff.
Harry Cox sang Marrowbones in a recording made by Peter Kennedy in between 1953 and 1956 on the 1965 EFDSS album Traditional English Love Songs. Peter Kennedy and Frances Collinson noted:
This is a very widespread song, taking many different forms but all on the same theme. In Ireland it is often known as The Blind Man He Can See; Gavin Greig has a Scots version called The Wily Auld Carl (cf. Chaucerian ‘carle’, a fellow), and in America it is usually The Rich Old Lady. See also Marrow Bones Publ. E.F.D.S. Publications, and Folktape FTB 101.
Sarah Makem sang The Canny Oul Lad in 1955 and in 1962 to Diane Hamilton. These recordings were included in 2011 on her Musical Traditions anthology As I Roved Out. A third recording made in 1956 was included in 2012 on her Topic anthology The Heart Is True (The Voice of the People Series Volume 24). Rod Stradling noted on the MT anthology:
A very well-known song, with 181 Roud instances, although more than half of these are from the USA and Canada. Only 24 are from Ireland, although important names like Elizabeth Cronin, Thomas Moran, Joe Heaney and John Reilly are amongst them. Unusually, in Sarah’s version, the murderous wife is saved in the final verse.
There are 55 sound recordings listed, but only the following are still available on CD: Joe Heaney (TSCD518D); Red Mick McDermott (MTCD 329-0); Jimmy Knights (12TS375 and Helions Bumpstead NLCD 14); Maggie Parker Hammons (Rounder CD 1504/05); Sidney Sandell (Helions Bumpstead NLCD 54).
Dominic Behan sang The Blind Man He Could See, “a dose of Irish nonsense that outdoes Ogden Nash for poetic acrobatics” [sleeve notes], in 1958 on his Topic album Irish Songs and in 1964 on his Topic EP Dominic Takes the Floor.
Arthur Wood (82) of Middlesborough sang Marrow Bones in a 1962 recording made by Colin S. Wharton for his Leeds University degree. The songs from Wharton’s collection were released in 2019 on the Musical Traditions anthology Songs of the North Riding. Wood’s version was also printed with the title The Old Woman in Yorkshire in Sam Richards and Tish Stubbs’ 1979 book The English Folksinger.
The Ian Campbell Folk Group sang The Blind Man He Could See in 1964 on their Transatlantic album Across the Hills. This track was also included in 2003 on Dave Swarbrick’s Free Reed anthology Swarb!. Ian Campbell noted on their album:
This song is common all over the English-speaking world. This particular version is Irish, and was given to us by A.L. Lloyd.
Joe Heaney sang The Old Woman of Wexford at Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger’s home in Beckenham in 1964. These recordings were released in 2000 on his Topic CD The Road From Connemara.
The Exiles sang this song as The Toon o’ Kelso in 1965 on the Topic anthology New Voices From Scotland. Arthur Argo and Peter Hall noted:
Some collectors consider that part of this song is missing and that there should be some indication of collusion between the doctor and the husband. Few people recognise immediately the catch in the lines:
By the time ye suck the marra’ oot
Ye canna see ony at a’ …which, of course, indicated that you can see through the bone when the marrow is removed. If the husband, the doctor, and of course, the audience, know the saying and the wife does not, this would make sense of the situation. The tune gives us yet another example of the infinite adaptability of melody in the hands of traditional singers, for variants of this air are used for two more songs on this disc, Sleepytoon and Tae the Beggin’, and a lightly more distant cousin for The Kirk o’ Birnie Bouzle.
A.L. Lloyd sang this ballad as Tigery Orum in 1966 on his LP The Best of A.L. Lloyd; he was accompanied by Alf Edwards on concertina. Lloyd noted:
This waggish ballad seems to have begun life as a folk tale. It has very frequently been recorded in England, Scotland and Ireland, but for some reason seldom been published. It’s also called: The Young Woman of Oxford or (in Scotland) The Wife of Kelso. It was exported to USA and took vigorous root there. A version without the marrowbone-blindness motif was adapted and copyrighted in the mid-19th century under the title: Johnny Sands; as such it was carried to various parts of the States by the Hutchinson family of entertainers. In our text, the point of the marrowbones joke show a bit clearer than usual. To judge by the tune, this version came into England from Ireland. It’s a great favourite with children.
John Reilly sang this song as Tippin’ It Up to Nancy in a recording made by Tom Munnelly in his own home in Dublin in winter 1967. It was released in 1977 on his Topic album of songs of an Irish Traveller, The Bonny Green Tree. Tom Munnelly noted:
Generally referred to as Marrowbones, this song is found in one form or other in almost any spot where you can hear folksong in the English language. The theme itself is international and is directly related to The Outlandish Knight whose far-flung popularity and thematic dissemination is discussed with bewildering thoroughness by Child in the introduction to Lady Isobel and the Elf-Knight, number 4 in his collection.
Christy Moore sang Marrow Bones in 1969 on his Mercury album Paddy on the Road. Tony Wilson noted:
[…] On a lighter side, the tuneful Spanish Lady tells of the admiration from afar of a beautiful woman by a young man and contrasts strongly with Marrow Bones, a West of Ireland variant of The Blind Man He Could See, another chapter in the battle of the sexes—ending in a male victory!
Steeleye Span recorded Marrowbones in 1971 for their third album, Ten Man Mop or Mr Reservoir Butler Rides Again, with Martin Carthy singing lead. The sleeve notes commented cryptically:
Or “Gullibility rewarded by a ducking” … or “The pact between the doctor and the butcher” … or even “The saga of who plays the mandolin” … blindman awarded both ears and the tail … ¡ole!
Steeleye Span’s live recording from Buxton Opera House on 9 October 2018 was released in 2019 on the DVD of their Park album 50th Anniversary Tour.
The Druids sang Marrowbones in 1972 on their Argo album Pastime With Good Company. They noted:
[…] Two songs here are common to most clubs in the country. Marrowbones and The White Cockade never seem to fade in popularity. This version of Marrowbones comes from the late Harry Cox.
The Clancy Brothers with Louis Killen sang The Old Woman From Wexford in 1973 on their Vanguard album Greatest Hits.
John Maguire of Co. Fermanagh sang Marrowbones on his 1973 Leader album Come Day, Go Day, God Send Sunday.
Jimmy Knights sang Marrowbones in his home in Little Glenham, Suffolk in a recording made by Keith Summers on 3 April 1975. This track was included in 1978 on the Topic LP of traditional songs and music from Suffolk, Sing, Say and Play and in 1998 on the Topic anthology Tonight I’ll Make You My Bride (The Voice of the People Series Volume 6).
Frankie Armstrong sang Marrow Bones in 1976 on the LP Here’s a Health to the Man and the Maid. The album notes commented:
Right wins out when the old woman gets her comeuppance for trying to blind the husband. Marrow Bones began as a folk tale. It appears in England, Scotland, Ireland, and America under many different names (Johnny Sands [which is a different though related song!], Betsy Hague, The Blind Man He Can See, The Young Woman of Oxford). In the United States, the Hutchinson Family popularised Johnny Sands, a version without the marrowbones/blindness motif, which was copyrighted in the mid-19th century.
Derek, Dorothy and Nadine Elliott learned The Old Woman from Yorkshire from the singing of Arthur Wood and recorded it in 1976 for their Traditional Sound album Yorkshire Relish. Derek and Dorothy Elliott also sang it in 2002 on their CD Ship to Shore.
Derek Sarjeant and Hazel King sang Marrowbones on their 1976 album Hills & Dales. They noted:
Many variants of this song are sung and have been widely collected throughout Britain, Ireland and America. This text is published in Marrow Bones and was collected by the Hammond brothers in Bridport, Dorset, 1906.
Cilla Fisher and Artie Trezise sang The Wicked Wife in 1979 on their Topic duo album Cilla & Artie. They noted:
A Fife version of the well-known ballad, given to us by Eck Harley from Cupar. The method of administering the potion is unique to this version, as far as we know.
Red Mick McDermott sang Marrowbones to Keith Summers and Peter McDermott in Donagh Lounge and Grill, Donagh, Co Fermanagh in 1980. This recording was included in 2004 on the Musical Traditions anthology of football, hunting and other traditional songs from around Lough Erne’s shore from the Keith Summers collection, The Hardy Sons of Dan. Rod Stradling noted:
Roud’s 185 instances show this to have been a pretty popular song, both in these islands and North America—and until fairly recently, too, if his 33 sound recordings are any indication. Practically every book and journal available seems to have a version but, strangely, only one broadside printing is found in the Roud Index.
Tony Harvey sang Marrowbones on The Old Hat Concert Party’s 1986 cassette of music, songs and step-dancing from East Anglia, The Old Hat Concert Party.
Phyllis Marks sang She Was a Lady Gay to Gwilym Davies in Glenville, West Virginia on 7 March 1998. This recording was included in 2020 on the Musical Traditions anthology of songs from Davies’ collection, Catch It, Bottle It, Paint It Green, that accompanied his book of the same name. Rod Stradling noted:
This is a version of the song universally known as Marrowbones or The Blind Man He Could See. Ironically Phyllis Marks was herself blind. The last verse is unusual and perhaps comes from another song.
Bob Blair sang It Was in the Toon o’ Kelso in 2000 on his Tradition Bearers album Reachin’ for the High, High Lands.
Kate Burke and Ruth Hazleton sang Marrowbones on their 2000 album A Thousand Miles or More. They noted:
This song is essentially the body of two songs rearranged and turned upside down by Ruth. Marrowbones is a well known traditional song also known as The Woman From Wexford or The Blind Man He Can See. The essential story is about a woman who tries to make her husband go blind so he won’t notice her lover around the house. After consuming the marrowbones and pretending to be blind, the husband leads his wife to the river feigning suicide. As she goes to push or ‘help’ him in, he moves aside. She falls in and well, he can’t help her, can he? He’s blind! The middle section of the song is from another classic English folk song commonly known as Seven Nights Drunk or Our Goodman (Child 274). All three versions used to compile this song were taken from BBC archival recordings from England and Ireland.
Carnival of Souls sang Marrowbones on their 2000 album Carnival Oddities.
Chris Bartram sang Marrowbones on his 2005 album Yorkie. He noted:
[…] There’s hyperbole and surreal imagery in The Crocodile, and Three Yorkshiremen; echoes of the archetypal Trickster in Ben Was a Hackney Coachman Rare , The Yorkshire Horse-Dealer and The Ruffian Robber; cheating and poetic justice in Abergronw and Marrowbones.
Daoirí Farrell sang Tippin’ It Up to Nancy on his 2009 CD The First Turn. He noted:
There are some songs you just know, and this one is one of those songs. When I was a child I could never sleep because I use to think that there were cats at the end of the bed, or there was someone in the room. I suppose this is normal for a kid that doesn’t want to go sleep—great excuses! So my father used to play me some of his favourite music to try and shut me up and put me to sleep. This is one of these songs he used to play, along with many of the other songs of Planxty, Bothy Band, the Fureys, Moving Hearts etc. I think this is where I first got my love for music and many of the songs that I know today. Tom Munnelly collected this song among others including The Raggle Taggle Gypsies and The Well Below the Valley from a traveller from Boyle, Co. Roscommon called John Reilly. I believe that if Tom had not have collected these songs from John Reilly they would have died with him never to be sung again.
Christi Andropolis sang Marrowbones in 2010 on her Furrow album Rust & Holler.
Jon Boden sang Marrowbones as the 14 October 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.
Pete Coe sang The Blind Man He Can See in 2010 on his CD Backbone. He noted:
I took a few liberties with this song, adding more marital machinations, localising it and immortalising The Halifax Evening Courier and The Yorkshire Post. For a while, recording engineer, Joss [Worthington], was convinced it was a real story. It will be soon, but you heard it here first… although Arthur Wood of Middlesborough had a version of this yarn which he sang to Colin Wharton and which was printed in The English Folksinger, compiled by Sam Richards and Tish Stubbs.
Lucy Pringle & Chris Wright sang The Auld Woman o Kelso on their 2010 CD The Speaking Heart. They noted:
Versions of this humorous traditional song (also known as Marrowbones) are common throughout Britain and Ireland. This version was collected in 1967 by Hamish Henderson from Janet Lynch of Newton Stewart.
Jackie Oates sang Marrowbones in 2011 on her CD Saturnine. She noted:
I first came across this version of the song via Barry Lister at a singaround in the Devonshire Inn, Sticklepath. Barry says that he learnt it from A.L. Lloyd (titled Tigery Orum). Perhaps the lady in the song is a witch. Or perhaps she simply cannot swim. Either way she is very naive.
The tune at the end of the song was written to commemorate the first anniversary of Bristol’s Nonesuch Morris in April 2010.
Cath and Phil Tyler sang Old Lady in 2015 on their Ferric Mordant EP The Song-Crowned King.
Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin sang Eggs and Marrowbone on the 2017 Appalachian ballad tradition anthology Big Bend Killing.
Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne sang The Rich Lady on his 2024 album of English Folk Song in the Caribbean and Black America, Play Up the Music!. He noted:
This song appears in two slightly different versions in Alan Lomax’s Folk Songs of America and Alan and John Lomax’s Our Singing Country, the source seems to be James ‘Iron Head’ Baker, one of the many Black prison inmates record by the Lomax family.
The story is a familiar one within the English folk canon, with many English versions going under the title Marrowbones, and it is also closely related to Johnny Sands (Roud 184), John Sinclair’s music hall retelling of the story from around 1840.
Lyrics
Mary Connors and Paddy Doran sing The Blind Man He Can See
O there being a woman in this town,
A woman I knows well,
She loved her husband dearly
And another man twice as well.
Chorus:
With me skinner-o-lair-o-lair-o,
And me skinner-o-lair-o-lee,
With me skinner-o-lair-o-lair-o,
And the blind man he can see.
She went down to the doctors
Some medicine for to find;
“Have you anything at all
That’d make an old man blind?”
Saying, “If you get some marrowbones
And make ’im suck ’em all,
And then he’ll get so blind,
Sure, he won’t see you at all.”
She got him the marrowbones
And made ’im suck ’em all,
He said: “My loving wife,
Sure, I can’t see you at all.
“I have no pleasure in this world,
In it I won’t stay,
I would go and drown myself,
If I would know the way.”
Saying: “If you wish to drown yourself,
You shall not go astray;
If you wish to drown yourself,
Sure, I’ll show you the way.”
She caught him by the arm,
She led him to the brim;
He says: “My loving wife,
Will you give me a little shove in?”
The woman got behind
To give him a little shove in,
The blind man he shot over away,
Before him she went in.
When that she was drownding,
’Twas on him she did call,
He said: “Me loving wife
Sure, I can’t sec you at all.”
Twas then she started swimming
And coming towards the brim;
The old man got the linen stick
And shoved her farther in.
Sarah Makem sings The Canny Oul Lad
O there was lady in this town,
And in this town did dwell
And she loved her ould man dearly
But another man twice as well
Chorus:
An me rickety rorum borum
An me rickety rorum dee
An me rickety rorum borum
And a canny oul’ lass was she.
O she went unto the doctor
To see what she could find,
Saying “Doctor, give me something
For to set me ould lad blind.”
“O boil him eggs and marrowbone
And make him sup them all
And it won’t be very long after
’Til he can’t see you at all.”
So she boiled him eggs and marrowbone
And made him sup them all
And it wasn’t very long after
’Til he couldn’t see her at all.
“O I’m tired of me life,
And I’m tired of me wife,
And I think I’ll go and drown myself
And that will end all strife.”
“All for to drown yourself, John,
You know it would be a sin,
But, sure I will go along with you
And help to throw you in.”
So they walked and they talked
’Til they came to the river brim.
Says the canny ould lad “I won’t drown myself
Unless you throw me in.”
Then she placed him on the water edge
Took a raise to throw him in
But the canny ould lad he stepped one side
And she went tumbling in.
Then she hauled and she bawled
’Til she came to river brim
But the Canny oul’ lad with the point of his stick
He dibbled her farther in.
Well, when she was near drownded
He took her out on land
Saying “I’ll bet you the notion’s out of your head
To flip in another man.”
Arthur Wood sings Marrow Bones
There was an old woman in Yorkshire, in Yorkshire she did dwell,
She loved her husband dearly and another man twice as well.
Chorus:
To me fal-der-diral-i-do, Fal-der-do-ral-a.
She went unto the doctor to see what she could find,
To know what was the very best thing to make her husband blind.
You get a stone of marrowbones and make him eat them all
And after he has eaten them he’ll not see nowt at all.
She bought a stone of marrowbones and made him eat them all.
The old man said: 1 am so blind I can’t see nowt at all.
The old man broken-hearted, he unto her did say:
I’m sure that I would drown myself if 1 could find the way.
If you will go and drown yourself and that without delay
If you will go and drown yourself then I’ll show you the way.
So they both went hand in hand unto the river’s brim.
The old man wouldn’t drown himself unless she shoved him in.
So she stepped back a yard or two to push him o’er the brim.
The old man quickly stepped aside and she went tumbling in.
Good Lord O she did holler, good Lord O she did bawl.
The old man said: I am so blind I can’t see nowt at all.
She swam until she floated unto the river’s brim.
The old man took his walking stick and shoved her further in.
So now my song is ended and what do ye all think?
He is a damned poor singer if he doesn’t earn a drink.
Joe Heaney sings The Old Woman of Wexford
There was an old woman in Wexford
and in Wexford Town did dwell.
She loved her husband dearly
but another man twice as well.
Chorus:
With me right fol die fa diddleo
and me racks fol die fol dee.
One day she went to the doctor
some medicine for to find.
She said, “I want something for to make
my old man blind.”
“O feed him eggs and marrow bones
and make him suck them all.
It won’t be so very long after till
he can’t see you at all.”
So the doctor wrote a letter
and he sealed it with his hand,
And he sent it to the old man
just to let him understand.
And she fed him eggs and marrow bones
and made him suck them all.
It wasn’t so very long after
till he couldn’t see the wall.
O says he, “I’d go and drown myself,
but that would be a sin.”
She said, “I’ll come to the water’s edge
and help to push you in.”
So they jogged and jogged and jogged
along till they came to the water’s brim.
She said, “You came here to drown yourself
and me to push you in.”
So the old woman stepped back a bit
for to push him in,
But the old man quickly stepped aside
and she went tumbling in.
O how loudly did she yell
and how loudly did she bawl,
“Arrah, whist your tongue, dear woman”,
he said, “sure I can’t see you at all.”
And she swam and swam and swam around
till she came to the farther brim,
But he grabbed a sally wattle
and he pushed her further in.
Now eggs and eggs and marrowbones
may make your old man blind,
But if you want to drown him,
you must creep up close behind.
A.L. Lloyd sings Tigery Orum
There was a pretty young woman and in Oxford she did dwell
She loved her darling husband and another man twice as well
Chorus (after each verse):
To me tigery orum orum and beware of the likes of she
Tigery orum orum and the blind man he can see
Well she went to the doctor shop to see if she could find
Anything at all that would make her old man blind.
“O just you get some marrowbones and put them on to boil
And when he suckles the marrow out he won’t nothing see at all.”
Now the doctor sent to this old man and told him what she spoke.
The husband thanked him kindly and he said he saw the joke.
Well she got a pound of marrowbones and put them on to boil
And when he suckled the marrow out he couldn’t see anymore.
“Which now I’m blind and comfortless and here I can’t remain
And I think I’d like to drown myself if I could find the stream.”
“You poor old man, you blind old man, I well see what you mean
If you’d really like to drown yourself I’ll take you to the stream.”
He says, “I’ll stand on the river bank and you run up the hill
And then run down and shove me in.” Says she, “me love I will”
So he stood on the river bank and up the hill she run
And when she run down he stepped aside and headlong she went in.
“O help, O help, my husband dear,” so loudly she did call,
“O don’t you remember that I’m gone blind and can’t see nothing at all?”
Now the old man being kindhearted and he knew she couldn’t swim
He got himself a very long pole and shoved her further in.
John Reilly sings Tippin’ It Up to Nancy
There was a woman in our town,
A woman you all know well
She really loved ‘er husband
An’ another man twice as well.
Chorus (after each verse):
With me right finnigo neario
Tip finnigo war,
With me right finnigo neario
Tippin’ it up to Nancy.
For she went to the chemist shop
some remedies for to buy:
“Is there anything in the chemist shop
would put an old man blind?”
For he gave three marrowbones
for him to suck them all;
Before he had the last one sucked
he couldn’t see at all.
“For in this world I cannot be
or in this world I cannot see
I’d rather go an’ drown meself.”
“Come one al’ I’ll show you the way.”
For she brought him to the river,
she brought him to the brim;
But sly enough of Martin
it’s her he did shove in.
For she swum through the river
she swum unto the brim;
“Martin, dear Martin, don’t leave me behind!”
“Go along out (of) that you silly old fool,
you know poor Martin is blind.”
For now l’ve nine in family
an’ none of them my own,
But I wish to the Lord that every man
would come an’ claim his own.
Steeleye Span sing Marrowbones
There was a woman in our town and in our town did dwell,
She loved her old man dearly but another man twice as well.
Chorus:
And sing fal-the-lal-lal-the-lal-li-day
Fal-the-lal lal-li-day
She went down to the doctor to see if she could find
Anything in the whole world to make her old man blind.
“O take him sixteen marrowbones and make him eat them all,
And when he’s finished he’ll be so blind, he won’t see you at all.”
So the doctor he wrote a letter and he sealed it with his hand,
And he sent it up to the old man to make him understand.
But the old man being a crafty bugger he knew it all before,
He ate ’em up and he says, “My dear, oh I can’t see you at all.”
Says he, “I’ll go to the river and there myself I’ll drown.”
Says she, “I’ll walk along with you to see that you don’t fall down.”
They walked along together till they come to the river’s brim,
So gently there she’s kissed him and she crept away behind.
She ran and she ran behind him to try to push him in,
But the old man heard and he jumped aside and she went tumbling in.
So loudly she did holler and loud for mercy call,
But the old man says, “I am so blind, I can’t see you at all.”
She swam and she swam and she swam around till she came to the further brim,
But the old man got the barge pole and he pushed her further in.
“O it may take sixteen marrowbones to make your old man blind,
But if you want to murder him you must creep up close behind.”
Jimmy Knights sings Marrowbones
Now, there was an old woman in Ireland,
In Ireland she did dwell.
She loved her old husband right dearly,
And another man twice as well.
Chorus:
To my riddy-fa-lol, my riddy-fa-lol,
My riddy-fa-loral day.
My/right riddy-fa-lol, right riddy-fa-loral,
My riddy-fa-loral-day
Now, the old woman she went to the doctor’s
To see what she could find.
She said she wanted something
That would turn the old man blind.
Now, the doctor advised her marrowbones
And beer both large and small,
And give the old man strong ale and wine
Till he can’t see you at all.
Now, the old women she took the marrowbone home
And beer both large and small,
And give the old man strong ale and wine
Till he can’t see you at all.
Now, the old man said he’d drowned hisself,
Because he’d lost his sight.
The old girl said, “I’ll go with you,
And see if you do it right.”
Now, as they were a-walking,
A-walking to the brim,
The old man he shoved out his foot,
And he pushed the old gal in.
My God, how she did holler,
My God, how she did scream.
And the old man he picked up a pole,
And he pushed her farther in.
And now my song is ended,
I’ve got no more to sing.
The old gal she got drownded,
The old man can rejoice again.
Cilla Fisher & Artie Trezise sing The Wicked Wife
There was an old lady who in Dundee did dwell,
She loved her husband dearly an’ another man just as well.
Chorus:
Wi ma titty fal ae
Right fal ae
Titty faloo ra lay
She gaed tae a doctor tae see if she could find
Some curious sort of a medical tae mak’ her auld man blind.
The doctor gaed her a marrowbone tae grind it very sma’
An’ blow it intae her husband’s eyes so he couldna see ony at a’.
The doctor wrote a letter and signed it wi’ his hand.
An’ posted it on tae the auld man so he wid understand.
So early next mornin’ the auld man he did say,
“Auld wife, I think I’ll droon masel fir I canna find ma way.”
“It’s oh, dear husband, it’s wait till break o’ day,
An’ I’ll gang steadily wi’ ye fir I‘m feart ye’ll lose yer way.”
At last they cam’ tae the water, the water bein’ dim.
“Auld wife I canna droon masel, ye’ll hae tae shove me in.”
She steppit firrit, she steppit back, an’ wi’ an awful’ rin_
The silly auld devil he stood aside an’ she gaed headlang in.
Splashin’ dashing’ like a duck, “O, help me,” she did roar.
O wisna she a silly auld bitch, she couldnae swim ashore.
There cam’ a kindhearted gentleman who couldnae watch her droon,
An’ wi’ the end o’ his walkin’ stick he shoved her the further doon.
Red Mick McDermott sang Marrowbones
Spoken: I’ll sing you Billy’s.
O there was an old woman in our town,
And in our town she did dwell.
She loved her own man dearly,
But another boy twice as well.
Chorus:
With my right fol toor a laddie,
And my whack fol toor a lee.
O this old doll she went up to a chemist’s shop,
Some stuff in it for to find.
For to see was there anything about the place,
That’d knock the old boy blind?
Now he says, “If you boil him eggs and marrowbones,
And make him sup them all,
I’ll guarantee in a fortnight after them
O he’ll not see you at all.”
Well, she boiled him eggs and the marrowbones,
And she made him sup them all.
But in less than an hour after them
He was trying to get through a wall.
Well, she walked him down, she walked him down,
Aye, to the water’s brim.
She says, “Thank God he’ll drown himself
When I will shove him in.”
Here the old doll she takes a running race
For to throw the old boy in.
But the old boy he drew to the one side
And she lit in it to the chin.
Sometimes she swam, sometimes she sunk
And loudly she did bawl.
The old boy roars at the top of his voice,
“I can’t see you at all!”
At last she went to the bottom.
O bad luck to the tear he’ll cry,
Well she never heard that the neighbour
Meant to lift her petticoats high!
Phyllis Marks sang She Was a Lady Gay
She was a lady gay and our town she did dwell
She loved her husband dearlye and another one twice as well.
Chorus:
Mush-em tiggery awri awri
Mush-em tiggery awri-ay
She listened at the keyhole, she heard the old man say
“If I suck six dozen marrybones it’ll take my sight away.”
She ran to the butcher to see what she could find
She got six dozen marrybones to make the old man blind.
She took them back to the old man; she made him suck them all
“Now,” said the old man, “I cannot see at all.”
“It’s you you’re sick and blind,” said she, “and here you cannot stay
But if you’d like to drown yourself, I’ll gladly lead the way.”
She took him gently by the hand and led him to the stream
“You’ll have to help me,” said the old man, “I cannot see a thing.”
She got upon the brink to push the old man in.
He stuck out his foot and she went thrashing in.
“It’s murder, it’s murder,” as loud as could scream.
“I’d help you,” said the old man, “but I cannot see a thing.”
He being kind-hearted, and knew she couldn’t swim
He went and got a long pole and pushed her further in.
“I have eleven children and none of them are mine.
I wish that every country gent would come and claim his own.”