The Old Maid's Song is an American folk song. It recounts the story of a woman whose younger sisters have married, while she has remained a spinster into middle age. During the chorus of the song, the narrator defines a loose criterion for a husband.
The song is derived from the broadside ballad "The Wooing Maid," a song which dates to the seventeenth century.[1]
Variations
The chorus lyrics vary between different versions of the song. In a version collected in Dover, Vermont in 1919, the chorus is sung:
A linman, a tinman, a tinker, a tailor,
A fiddler, a peddler, a plough-man, a sailor;
Come gentle, come simple, come foolish, come witty,
Don't let me die an old maid, but take me out of pity![2]
The song is known by many titles, including "Sister Susan",[4] and "The Spinster's Lament",[2] "Old Maid's Complaint", "Old Maid's Lament," and "Old Maid's Petition".[5]
^ abKittredge, G. L. (Jul–Sep 1917). "Ballads and Songs". The Journal of American Folklore. 30 (117): 355–6. doi:10.2307/534379. JSTOR534379.
^ abAtwood, James; Atwood, Mary; Sturgis, Edith; Hughs, Robert (2010). Songs and Verse from the Hills of Vermont. East Dover, Vermont: The Dover Historical Society. pp. 18–21.
^Flanders, Helen Hartness; Brown, George (1968). Vermont Folk-Songs and Ballads. Hatboro, Pennsylvania: Folklore Associates, Inc. p. 102.
^Quinn, Jennifer Post (1983). An Index to the Field Recordings in the Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College. Middlebury, Vermont: Middlebury College. p. 117.