Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago

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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) (1968) - Sung by Peggy Seeger on "The Long Harvest Vol. 9" (1968). From the singing of Miss Polly Ann Kelly, Hindman School, Knott Co., Kentucky, 1917.

Song transcription:

I married me a wife and took her home,
Gentle fair Jenny fair Rosie Marie,
I oft-times wished I had left her alone
As the dew flies over the green vallee.

All in my kitchen she would not use,
Gentle fair Jenny fair Rosie Marie,
For fear of spoiling her new cloth shoes
As the dew flies over the green vallee.

First day at noon I came in from the plough,
Gentle fair Jenny fair Rosie Marie,
My dearest wife, is my dinner ready now?
As the dew flies over the green vallee.

There's a little piece of cornbread on the shelf,
Gentle fair Jenny fair Rosie Marie,
If you want any more you can get it yourself.
As the dew flies over the green vallee.

I got my knife and went out to the barn,
Gentle fair Jenny fair Rosie Marie,
An cut me a hickory as long as my arm.
As the dew flies over the green vallee.

I took my limb and I went back,
Gentle fair Jenny fair Rosie Marie,
All around her back I made it crack.
As the dew flies over the green vallee.

I'll tell my father and all my kin,
Gentle fair Jenny fair Rosie Marie,
You whupped me with a hickery limb.
As the dew flies over the green vallee.

Go tell your father and all your kin,
Gentle fair Jenny fair Rosie Marie,
I whupped you once and I'll whup you again.
As the dew flies over the green vallee.