John Driscoll - The Scolding Wife

This song is sung a cappella.

The last words of the song, which sound like "and hang me with my garters if ever I'(d) wed again"  are spoken, not sung. Driscoll's final line is very close to "and I'd hang me in my garters before I'd wed again" which is the closing line found in some of the oldest printed versions of this song.

This is a humorous song about a man's violent wife who takes pleasure in beating him around the room with the fire shovel; she eventually tries to kill him but the man's neighbours save him.

The Bodleian Ballads website lists several versions of this song and includes great scans of this song printed in the UK in the first half of the 19th century

Read about and compare old versions here if you like. 1964 

052-01 [[Category:D]]