Eggs and Marrowbone

"Eggs and Marrowbone" (Laws Q2, Roud 183),[1] also known as "There Was An Old Woman", is a traditional folk song of a wife's attempted murder of her husband. Of unknown origins, there are multiple variations.[2]

The most well known variations are "The Old Woman From Boston"[3] and "The Rich Old Lady".[4] Other versions include "The Aul' Man and the Churnstaff", and "Woman from Yorkshire." In Scotland it is known as "The Wily Auld Carle" or "The Wife of Kelso." In Ireland there are variations called "The Old Woman of Wexford" and "Tigaree Torum Orum." In England the song is widely known as "Marrowbones".

"A similar song, "Johnny Sands" (Roud 184), was written by John Sinclair about 1840 and also became popular with local singers." [2][5] In this version the husband pretends to be tired of life, and asks his wife to tie his hands behind his back.

Herbert Hughes writes that the song is English in origin.[6]

Synopsis

The song concerns an old woman who, in one popular version, loves "her husband dearly, but another man twice as well." She resolves to kill him, and is advised by a local doctor that feeding him eggs and marrowbone will make him blind. Thus

She fed him eggs and marrowbone
And made him sup them all
And it wasn't too long before
He couldn't see her at all

She then arranges to push him into the river. He steps aside and she falls in. Subsequently,

She cried for help, she screamed for help
And loudly she did bawl
The old man said "I'm so blind
I can't see you at all!"

Despite his blindness, the old man manages to keep her from climbing out of the river by pushing her back in with a pole.

She swam around and swam around
Until she came to the brim
The old man got the linen prop
And pushed her further in.[5]

(A linen prop is a pole used to prevent washing on a line from blowing about too much).

The moral of the song is:

Now the old woman is dead and gone
And the Devil's got her soul
Wasn't she a gosh-darn fool
That she didn't grab that pole?

Eating eggs and marrowbone
Won't make your old man blind
So if you want to do him in
You must sneak up from behind

Notable versions
Richard Dyer-Bennet

Field Recordings

Many of these are available to listen online.

  • There are several recordings of Scots singers on the Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o'Riches website - a 1952 recording of Willie Mathieson singingThe Wily Old Carle, a 1954 recording of Stewart Lowden with the same title, 1955 and 1960 recordings of The Auld Wife o Kelso sung by James Taylor and George Inglis Fraser respectively, and a 1967 recording of The Old Woman of Kelso sung by Janet Gibson Lynch, all recorded by Hamish Henderson.[9]
  • A 1956 recording by Ulster singer Sarah Makem is on the Topic Voice of the People CD The Heart Is True under the title "The Canny Oul Lad".[10]
  • A version titled "Holy Boly" sung by Arkansans "The Gilbert Sisters" and recorded by Max Hunter in 1960 is in the Max hunter Collection at Missouri State University.[11]
  • A version by New York state singer Grant Rogers, recorded by Alan Lomax in 1966 is in the Alan Lomax Sound Recordings collection at the Association for Cultural Equity.[12]
  • A version by Arkansan singer Ollie Gilbert titled Old Woman in Ireland, recorded by Max Hunter in 1969, is in the Max hunter Collection at Missouri State University.[13]
  • A 1971 recording of Suffolk singer Jimmy Knights singing An Old Woman From Ireland is in the Keith Summers English Folk Music Collection in the British Library Sound Archive.[14]
  • A version sung by two Birmingham women, Doreen Clarkson and Christine Thomas, recorded in 1989 by Roy Palmer is in the British Library Sound Archive.[15]
  • A version performed by Dave Zeitlin (animation by Carol Roe, film by Stuart Roe, Directed by Ralph Hart), created in 1954. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laBE2X5tBMw Retrieved 2019/12/02</ref>
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See also

References
  1. Roud Folk Song Index. "Marrowbones". English Folk Song and Dance Society. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  2. "Folkinfo - Marrowbones". Archived from the original on 2012-03-09.
  3. Norman Cazden; Herbert Haufrecht; Norman Studer (1982). Folk Songs of the Catskills. SUNY Press. pp. 519–. ISBN 978-0-87395-580-5. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  4. Peter Hugh Reed (1958). American Record Guide. 25. Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation. p. 157. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  5. Roud, S, and Bishop, J; The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs; London, 2012
  6. Herbert Hughes (1995). Irish country songs: highlights edition. Boosey & Hawkes. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  7. George Berkowitz (10 May 1947). D-B has new song. Billboard. p. 42. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  8. George Berkowitz (22 February 1947). Village Vanguard. Billboard. p. 37. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  9. Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o'Riches http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/ Retrieved 2017/03/20
  10. The Heart Is True Sarah Makem (1900-1983); Topic Records TSCD674
  11. Max hunter Collection; Missouri State University; Cat. #0517 (MFH #257); http://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=0517 Retrieved 2017/03/20
  12. Association for Cultural Equity, Sound recordings, N4.0, Track 2 http://research.culturalequity.org/rc-b2/get-audio-detailed-recording.do?recordingId=27659 Retrieved 2017/03/20
  13. Max hunter Collection; Missouri State University; Cat. #0753 (MFH #257) http://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=0753 Retrieved 2017/03/20
  14. Keith Summers English Folk Music Collection: British Library Sound Archive; Shelf mark 1CDR0007369 (copy of C1002/27) Retrieved 2017/03/20
  15. http://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Roy-Palmer-collection/025M-C1023X0099XX-0200V0
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