Single girl, single girl,
She's goin' dressed so fine;
Married girl, married girl,
She wears just any kind,
Oh - she wears just any kind.
Single girl, single girl,
Goes to the store and buys;
Married girl, married girl,
She rocks the cradle and cries,
Oh - she rocks the cradle and cries.
Single girl, single girl,
Goin' where she please;
Married girl, married girl,
Has a baby on her knees,
Oh - baby on her knees.
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Source: Alan Lomax, The Penguin Book of American Folk Songs, Penguin, 1964
Notes:
Alan Lomax wrote:
The life of the mountain woman was one of complete subservience to her menfolk; she milked the cows, kept the garden. fetched water from a distant spring, cooked and ate in a primitive log cabin and waited on her men at table, never sitting down to eat until all the men had finished their meal. The normal family consisted of ten to twenty children and the girls, who often married at twelve or thirteen, often looked like old women at thirty. One old crone, advising a young girl about marriage, simply said, "Don't never do hit!"
Roud: 436 (Search Roud index at VWML) Take Six
Laws:
Child: