The Single Girl (3)

Those cows is to milk and the spring is to go to
Supper is to get and it's all for me to do.

And it's O I wish I was a single girl again.

Single, single, single I'd remain
I'd never trust my happiness with no man again.

Two little children to maintain
Neither one big enough to do anything.

Wash them and strip them and put them to bed
Before your husband curses them and wishes you were dead.

One cries,"Mama, I want a piece of bread."
The other cries, "Mama, I want to go to bead."

When I was single, I eat biscuit and pie
Now I am married, it's eat corn-bread or die.

From English Folk Songs in the Southern Appalachians, Sharp
Collected from Mrs. Ollie King, TN 1917
DT #848

RG