{"id":7191,"date":"2020-11-25T16:04:19","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T16:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=7191"},"modified":"2024-12-09T10:33:44","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T10:33:44","slug":"she-was-she-was-or-ill-sing-of-martha","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/she-was-she-was-or-ill-sing-of-martha\/","title":{"rendered":"She was! She was!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>I’ll Sing of Martha
Oh she was so good and so kind to me<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1895<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writer\/composer<\/td>David Day<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN10560<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Slade Murray<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
Dunn, George 1973 England : Staffordshire
Palmer, Freda 1974 England : Oxfordshire<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
I sing of Martha, my dear wife, her loss I deeply morn\nShe's left this world of care and strife and now I'm all forlorn\nShe used to call me Turtle Dove, to all my faults was blind\nI never shall forget my love; she was so good and kind.\n\nI can't forget my Martha dear\nI loved her so becos'\nShe was so good and kind to me\nShe was, she was, and she was.<\/em>\n\nShe'd let me fetch her errands in, and say I was a dear\nAnd once a week she'd let me have a half a pint of beer\nShe'd let me taste the morning milk to see if it was sour\nAnd every Sunday take me out for over half an hour.\n\nThe baby she would let me nurse, and wash it now and then\nAnd never sent me off to bed till very nearly ten\nOur eldest boy is very tall, his age is twenty-three\nDear Martha saved his left-off clothes and cut them down for me.\n\nSo good and kind was Martha dear, she'd let me scrub the floor\nAnd once she even let me clean the knocker on the door\nShe'd wake me every morn at five, and let me get up first\nTo bring her up a cup of tea in bed to quench her thirst.\n\nI never went out by myself; she thought it was not right\nShe'd take me off to work each morn and fetch me back at night\nEspecially on Saturday, and when I got my pay\nShe'd put it in her purse for fear I lost it on the way.<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The allegedly “put upon” husband is common theme in folk and songs from the Halls. This one was sung in the Halls by ex-printer, Slade Murray<\/a>  in the 1890s.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
You can hear Freda Palmer singing it here on the VWML site<\/a>, with kind permission of the folks at Musical Traditions, taken from their CD Leafield Lass<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n