Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Back to Joe Offer's collection of songs for this one.
The following information was included with the score and lyrics:
Source: Songs Of The West by S. Baring-Gould.
Notes:
Baring Gould notes
Taken from Thomas Darke of Whitstone, he learned it in 1835 from a fellow labourer. Sung also by James Parsons, Samuel Fone and J Woodrich. A Scottish version in Herd's collection, 1769, and in Johnson's Collection, and Bell has printed it in his "Ballads and Songs of the English peasantry"
Dr Arnold recast the song to a tune of his own in "Auld Robin Gray," 1794.
In the original English song the final line to each stanza runs---
"Old Wichet went a cuckold out
And a cuckold he came home"
I have though it advisable to modify the last line of each stanza and to compose a last stanza, so as to give to the song a less objectionable character.
I feel sure that this inspired the song "Seven Drunken Nights".
I could not decide upon an instrumental accompaniment and so copied out the score in MuseScore and played that to sing to.
The chords I have shown may be strummed as an accompaniment, if you wish to play along.
It took me about five goes to get the song done to my satisfaction, and when I finally played it back, I realised that I had sung "Chamber" in the first verse instead of "Stable", but I was not going to do it a sixth time, so the lyrics shown are correct, but I sang it incorrectly.
My excuse is that I am getting old and stupid.
Back to Joe Offer's collection of songs for this one.
The following information was included with the score and lyrics:
Source: Songs Of The West by S. Baring-Gould.
Notes:
Baring Gould notes
Taken from Thomas Darke of Whitstone, he learned it in 1835 from a fellow labourer. Sung also by James Parsons, Samuel Fone and J Woodrich. A Scottish version in Herd's collection, 1769, and in Johnson's Collection, and Bell has printed it in his "Ballads and Songs of the English peasantry"
Dr Arnold recast the song to a tune of his own in "Auld Robin Gray," 1794.
In the original English song the final line to each stanza runs---
"Old Wichet went a cuckold out
And a cuckold he came home"
I have though it advisable to modify the last line of each stanza and to compose a last stanza, so as to give to the song a less objectionable character.
I feel sure that this inspired the song "Seven Drunken Nights".
I could not decide upon an instrumental accompaniment and so copied out the score in MuseScore and played that to sing to.
The chords I have shown may be strummed as an accompaniment, if you wish to play along.
It took me about five goes to get the song done to my satisfaction, and when I finally played it back, I realised that I had sung "Chamber" in the first verse instead of "Stable", but I was not going to do it a sixth time, so the lyrics shown are correct, but I sang it incorrectly.
My excuse is that I am getting old and stupid.
