{"id":2920,"date":"2020-05-29T13:55:32","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T13:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=2920"},"modified":"2023-06-29T14:08:51","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T14:08:51","slug":"my-rattling-mare-and-i","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/my-rattling-mare-and-i\/","title":{"rendered":"My Rattling Mare and I"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>The old grey mare
Old bay mare and I
The country carrier
(My old wife and I)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td> Harry Clifton<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN1400<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td> Harry Clifton<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source singers <\/strong>(all variants involving a horse)
William Randall, 1905, Hampshire, England
Alexander Robb, 1906, Scotland
Walter Wilcock, 1908, London, England
William Norton, 1908, London, England
Henry Norris, 1909, Surrey, England
Henry Burstow, 1911, Sussex, England
EH, 1929, Norfolk, England
Mararet Broughton, 1952, Surrey, England
Percy Webb, 1968, Suffolk, England
Percy Webb, 1970, Suffolk, England
John Hodson, 1982, Yorkshire, England
Bob Hingston, 1970s, Devon, England
Charlie Hill, 1976, Devon, England
Tony Harvey, yr?, Suffolk, England
Modern versions<\/strong>
John Goodluck
Nick Dow
Cohen Braithwaite Kilcoyne<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
My Old Wife<\/strong> \nCharactaristic Song\nWritten composed and performed by Mr Harry Clifton\n[from Sheet Music H&C989, around 1866 or earlier, personal copy]\n\nI merrily sing from morn till night,\nAnd misery I defy,\nAnd I've a wife who, with delight,\nSings just as happy as I.\nShe is the comfort of my life,\nMy darling and my pride,\nFor twenty years together, my boys,\nWe've travell'd it side by side.\n\nRound goes the world,\nTrouble I defy,\nJogging along together, my boys,\nMy dear old wife and I.<\/em>\n\nWhen homeward I'm returning, why,\nShe'll greet me with a smile;\nHer dear old face beams with delight\nIn such a happy style.\n\"Sit down by the fireside,\"\nShe'll say, \"and take your tea.\"\nShe laughs and jokes on t'other side,--\nA picture, boys, to see.\n\nIn winter, when the snow is down,\nShe'll meet me at the door,\nWith: Come in, lad, and warm yourself,\nYou must be cold, I'm sure.\"\nShe brings my slippers, warm and dry,\nAnd lays them by my side;\nI never could find her equal, though\nI search the world so wide.\n\nI smoke my pipe, and sing my song,\nContent to stay at home,\nAs happy as the day is long,\nAnd ne'er inclined to roam.\nThere's many talk of single bliss,\nAnd for their freedom sigh;\nBut that will never be the case\nWith my old wife and I.\n\n\nMY RATTLING MARE AND I<\/strong>  [around 1866]\n\nI am a country carrier. A jovial soul am I.\nI whistle and sing from morn till night and trouble I defy.\nI've one to bear me company. Of work she does her share.\nIt's not my wife, upon my life, but a rattling old bay mare.\n\nRound goes the world. \nTrouble I defy,\nJogging along together, my boys, \nMy rattling mare and I.<\/em>\n\nUp and down the countryside the mare and I we go.\nThe folks they kindly greet us as we journey to and fro.\nThe little ones they cheer us, and the old ones stop and stare,\nAnd lift their eyes with great surprise at Joe and his rattling mare.\n\nAnd when the loads are heavy, or travelling uphill,\nI'm by her side assisting her; she works with such good will.\nI know she loves me well enough because the whip I spare.\nI'd rather hurt myself than hurt my rattling old bay mare.\n\nAnd when the town we reach, she rattles over the stones.\nShe lifts her hoofs up splendidly, not one of your lazy drones.\nIt's \"Clear the road\" when Joseph comes. \"My crawlers, all take care\nOf the carrier's cart, the driver smart, and the rattling old bay mare.\"\n\nI would not change my station with the noblest in the land.\nI would not be Prime Minister or anything so grand.\nI would not be an alderman to live in luxury\nAnd state if it would separate the old bay mare and I<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
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Harry Clifton<\/a> wrote these two songs to the same tune apparently around the same time. They more or less share a chorus and there are other similarities …<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song has been collected from multiple source singers in England and one in Scotland, always sung with a focus on “the Rattling Mare” rather than “the old wife”. The two versions both appear under the Roud number 1400 in the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library, and both appear multiple times in 19th-century broadsheets and songbooks, on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Modern traditional singers, tend to sing it under the title of “The country carrier<\/em>” following version sung by Percy Webb in 1970. Most singers seem to have recognised it as a Music Hall song that has passed into the tradition.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The earliest reference to My Old Wife<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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July 8, 1866; The Era\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Earliest reference to  My Rattling Mare and I<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Illustrated London News –  18 August 1866<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n