The Farmer's Curst Wife
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (April 2015) |
The Farmer's Curst Wife is Child ballad number 278. It has been recorded by Pete Seeger, Jean Ritchie, Hannah James and Sam Sweeney, Patrick Sky, Bellowhead, and John Koerner.
The lyrics of the ballad are sometimes sung to the melody of the song Lillibullero.[1]
Synopsis
A farmer has a wife who causes him stress. One day, the Devil takes her away to Hell. In Hell, the wife commits violent acts. She makes life in hell so bad that the Devil brings her back to her husband.[2]
The exact lyrics differ between versions.
Performances
- Patrick Sky, "A Harvest of Gentle Clang" (1966): "The Farmer's Curst Wife" appears as Track 3 on Side 2.
References
- ^ Stephen Basdeo. "Lilliburlero – The Biggest Hit of the 17th Century". The History Vault.
- ^ Würzbach, Natascha, and Simone M. Salz. 1995. Motif index of the Child corpus: the English and Scottish popular ballad. Berlin: W. de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-014290-2. p. 235.
External links
- [1]
- mudcat
- The Farmer's Curst Wife
- An American variant with notes. (In most browsers, this site will play a MIDI file when you navigate to it).
 | This folk song–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |