Old Woman's Blind Husband, Lyric Variant 01, Copy

This item is part of the I. G. Greer Folksong Collection which consists of more than 300 individual song titles and their variants as collected by Isaac Garfield Greer (1881-1967) from informants, primarily in Ashe, Wilkes and Watauga counties. The collection includes manuscripts, typescript transcriptions produced by Dr. Greer’s clerical staff, and handwritten musical notations. Songs range from traditional Child Ballads, traditional English and Scottish ballads as well as their American variants, to 19th century popular music to musical compositions of local origin.

Marital conflict--Songs and music

Adultery--Songs and music

Blindness--Songs and music

Drowning--Songs and music

Ballads, English

Rich Old Lady, Marrow Bones, The Old Woman of Slapsadam, The Old Woman of London, An Old Woman's Story, The Wily Auld Carle, The Old Woman of Dover

AC.113 Isaac Garfield (I.G.) Greer Papers and Recordings

W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University

Greer, I. G. (Isaac Garfield), 1881-1967

PDF

English

Text

Tittery Ira A.

There was a n old woman,
In London she did dwell,
She loved her husband dearly,
But another man twice as well.
Tittery-Ira-A
Saying Tittery-Ira-A.

She went to the Doctor
To see if she could find
Something to make her old man go blind
Tittery-Ira-A.
Saying Tittery-Ira-A.

He said: Take three marrow bones,
And make him gnaw them all.
Then he’ll be so very blind
He can’t see you at all.
Tittery-Ira-A.
Saying Tittery-Ira-A.

She got three marrow bones
And made him gnaw them all.
He said to her: My loving wife,
I can’t see you at all.
Tittery-Ira-A.
Saying Tittery-Ira-A.

He said: I’d go drown myself
If I could find the way.
She said to him, I’ll go along
For fear you go astray.
Tittery-Ira-A.
Saying Tittery-Ira-A.

They went down to the river bank.
They walked up on the shore.
He said to her: My loving wife,
You’ll have to push me o’er.
Tittery-Ira-A.
Saying Tittery-Ira-A.

She backed herself a space or two
Just to push him in.
He stepped aside a little bit
And let her tumble in.
Tittery-Ira-A.
Saying Tittery-Ira-A.

She kicked and she scrambled
She hollered and she squalled.
He said to her, My loving wife,
I can’t see you at all.
Tittery-Ira-A.
Saying Tittery-Ira-A.

The old man being goodnatured
And for fear that she might swim
Took a great long poplar pole
And pushed her further in.
Tittery-Ira-A.
Saying Tittery-Ira-A.

Now I’ve sung all my song
And I shall not sing no more.
But wasn’t she another fool
For not swimming to the shore?
Tittery-Ira-A.
Saying Tittery-Ira-A.

Brown, Older Ballads - Mostly British - 182 Laws, Q2 Cox, 157 Combs, 119 Sharp, 55

113_OldWomansBlindHusband_Lyric_01_copy_ocr