Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Dandoo / The Wee Cooper o' Fife / The Scolding Wife / Gentle Fair Jenny / Jennifer Gentle / As the Dew Flies over the Green Vallee / Robin-a-Thrush / Rissolty Rossolty / Hobblety Bobblety / Nickety Nackety / The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin (Child No. 277) (1962) - Sung by Peggy Seeger on "The Three Sisters" (1962).
Note by Kevin W.:
This is Jean Ritchie's rewritten text. As far as I am aware Jean never recorded these lyrics herself. It was printed by Alan Lomax in "The Folk Songs of North America", Page 167; 1960.
Why this text exists is a bit of a mystery. Richard Matteson from the bluegrassmessengers website has offered the guess that Jean rewrote the lyrics for the Lomax book to avoid copyright issues. She copyrighted her traditional family lyrics in 1961.
Song transcription:
Sweet William married him a wife,
Gentle fair Jenny, come Rosemary
To be the comfort of his life,
The dew flies over the green valley.
He married his wife, he took her home,
But I think her married a little too soon.
His wife would neither card nor spin,
For fear of spoiling her delicate skin.
His wife would neither bake nor brew
For fear of spoiling her high-heeled shoe.
Sweet William come in from a-jogging the plough,
It's, 'O my sweet wife, is the food ready now?'
"There's cheese and johnny-cake on the shelf,
If you want any more you can get it yourself.'
Sweet William has gone out to his barn,
And there he's taken his sheepskin down.
He laid the sheepskin over her back,
And with two little willows went wickety whack.
'I'll tell my family and all my kin,
How you this quarrel did begin.'
'Go tell your family and all your kin,
That I was tanning my old sheepskin,
Now he comes in from a-jogging the plough,
It's 'Sit you down, sir, the meal's ready now.'
Now they live free from care and strife,
And she makes William a very good wife.
Dandoo / The Wee Cooper o' Fife / The Scolding Wife / Gentle Fair Jenny / Jennifer Gentle / As the Dew Flies over the Green Vallee / Robin-a-Thrush / Rissolty Rossolty / Hobblety Bobblety / Nickety Nackety / The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin (Child No. 277) (1962) - Sung by Peggy Seeger on "The Three Sisters" (1962).
Note by Kevin W.:
This is Jean Ritchie's rewritten text. As far as I am aware Jean never recorded these lyrics herself. It was printed by Alan Lomax in "The Folk Songs of North America", Page 167; 1960.
Why this text exists is a bit of a mystery. Richard Matteson from the bluegrassmessengers website has offered the guess that Jean rewrote the lyrics for the Lomax book to avoid copyright issues. She copyrighted her traditional family lyrics in 1961.
Song transcription:
Sweet William married him a wife,
Gentle fair Jenny, come Rosemary
To be the comfort of his life,
The dew flies over the green valley.
He married his wife, he took her home,
But I think her married a little too soon.
His wife would neither card nor spin,
For fear of spoiling her delicate skin.
His wife would neither bake nor brew
For fear of spoiling her high-heeled shoe.
Sweet William come in from a-jogging the plough,
It's, 'O my sweet wife, is the food ready now?'
"There's cheese and johnny-cake on the shelf,
If you want any more you can get it yourself.'
Sweet William has gone out to his barn,
And there he's taken his sheepskin down.
He laid the sheepskin over her back,
And with two little willows went wickety whack.
'I'll tell my family and all my kin,
How you this quarrel did begin.'
'Go tell your family and all your kin,
That I was tanning my old sheepskin,
Now he comes in from a-jogging the plough,
It's 'Sit you down, sir, the meal's ready now.'
Now they live free from care and strife,
And she makes William a very good wife.
