Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown

AKA The Disconsolates
First Published 1852
Writer/composer Sam Cowell Roud RN5414

Music Hall Performers Sam Cowell
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Lobdell, Hamilton ; USA : Wisconsin : 1941
Wilds, GB ; USA Tennessee ; no date		 

From The Lancaster Examiner, (Lancaster Pennsylvania) 25 Feb 1852:

Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown
BY MR K BLIFKINS ESQ

In Manchester a maiden dwelt,
Her name was Phoebe Brown;
Her cheeks were red, her hair was black,
And she was considered by good judges to be by all odds the best looking girl in town.

Her age was nearly seventeen,
Her eyes were sparkling bright;
A very lovely girl she was,
And for about a year and a half there had been a young man paying his attention to her, by the name of Reuben Wright.

Now Reuben was a nice young man
As any in the town,
And Phoebe loved him very dear
But, on account of his being obliged to work for a living, he never could make himself agreeable to old Mr. and Mrs. Brown.

Her cruel parents were resolved
Another she should wed,
A rich old miser in the place,
And old Brown frequently declared, that rather than have his daughter marry Reuben Wright, he'd sooner knock him in the head.

But Phoebe's heart was brave and strong,
She feared not her parent's frowns;
And as for Reuben Wright so bold,
I've heard him say more than fifty times that, (with the exception of Phoebe) he didn't care a dod rot for the whole race of Browns.

So Phoebe Brown and Reuben Wright 
Determined they would marry; 
Three weeks ago, last Tuesday night,
They started for old Parson Webster's, determined to be united in the holy bonds of matrimony, though it was tremendous dark, and rained like Old Harry.

But Captain Brown was wide awake,
He loaded up his gun,
And then pursued the loving pair;
He overtook 'em when they'd got about half way to the Parson's, and then Reuben and Phoebe started off upon the run.

Old Brown then took a deadly aim
Toward young Reuben's head,
But, oh! it was a bleeding shame,
He made a mistake, and shot his only daughter, and had the unspeakable anguish of seeing drop right down stone dead.

Then anguish filled young Reuben's heart, 
And vengeance crazed his brain, 
He drew an awful jack-knife out,
And plunged it into old Brown's belly about fifty or sixty times, so that he di-ed.

The briny drops from Reuben's eyes,
In torrents poured down
He yielded up the ghost and di-ed
And in this melancholy and heartrending manner terminates the history of Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown, and likewise old Captain Brown


From Sheet Music (c1855)

In Manchester a maiden dwelt,
Her name was Phoebe Brown;
Her cheeks were red, her hair was black,
[SPOKEN: And she was considered by good judges to be by all odds the]
Best looking girl in town.

Ri Chooral, li chooral, ri chum choo-ral lay;
Ri Chooral, li chooral, ri chum choo-ral lay.

Her age was nearly twenty one,
Her eyes were sparkling bright;
A very lovely girl she was,
[SPOKEN: And for about a year and a half there had been a young man paying his attention to her, by the]
Name of Reuben Wright.

Ri Chooral, li chooral, ri chum choo-ral lay;
Ri Chooral, li chooral, ri chum choo-ral lay.

Now Reuben was a nice young man
As any in the town,
And Phoebe lov'd him dearly,
[SPOKEN: But, on account of his being obliged to work for a living, he never could make himself agreeable to]
Old Mr. and Mrs. Brown.

Ri Chooral, etc

Her parents were resolved
Another she should wed,
A rich old miser in the place,
[SPOKEN: And old Brown frequently declared, that rather than have his daughter marry Reuben Wright, he'd sooner]
Knock him in the head.

Ri Chooral, etc

But Phoebe's heart was brave and strong,
She feared not her parent's frowns;
And as for Reuben Wright so bold,
[SPOKEN: I've heard him say more than fifty times that, (with the exception of Phoebe) he didn't care a cent for the]
Whole race of Browns.

Ri Chooral, etc

So Phoebe Brown and Reuben Wright 
Determined they would marry; 
Three weeks ago last Tuesday night,
[SPOKEN: They started for old Parson Webster's, determined to be united in the holy bonds of matrimony, though it was tremendous dark, and]
Rained like Old Harry.

Ri Chooral, etc

But Captain Brown was wide awake,
He loaded up his gun,
And then pursued the loving pair;
[SPOKEN: He overtook 'em when they'd got about half way to the Parson's, and then Reuben and Phoebe started]
Off upon the run.

Ri Chooral, etc

Old Brown then took a deadly aim
Toward young Reuben's head,
But, oh! it was a bleeding shame,
[SPOKEN: He made a mistake, and shot his only daughter, and had the unspeakable anguish of seeing her] 
Drop right down stone dead.

Ri Chooral, etc

Then anguish filled young Reuben's heart, 
And vengeance crazed his brain, 
He drew an awful jack-knife out,
[SPOKEN: And plunged it into old Brown about fifty or sixty times, so that it's very doubtful about his ever]
Coming to life again.

Ri Chooral, etc

The briny drops in frenzy tore
The hair from off his head
And when half-scalp'd the pain was such
[SPOKEN: That he awoke, and discovered himself lying flat on his back with his bootjack on his chest, and his nightcap brimful of the briny torrents, - having been out to a tea party, and having so regaled himself on muffins and crumpets hot, that the nightmare he had got on]

Getting  into bed.

Ri Chooral, etc

MORAL 
Young men - when out to tea and sup
And spend a pleasant night
If you must feast, then let it be
[SPOKEN: With your eyes, on the charms of the ladies, and your ears, in listening to their delightful conversation, and thus avoid the distressing calamity that]
Befell poor Reuben Wright

A song designed to be part sung and part spoken, which featured in the repertoire of early music Hall star Sam Cowell . It was remembered by two traditional performers in America in the mid-20th century.

It was first published as sheet music in 1855 and the earliest references to Cowell singing it on the British stage are in the mid 1850s. The song was known before this time – in 1852, several American and an Irish newspaper printed a variant. American sources gave the author as “Mr K Blifkins” – a fictional character who featured in the writings of American humorist BP Shillaber (1814-1890), so it is reasonably safe to assume its a pseudonym.

The British sheet music gives the song as “written and composed by Sam Cowell” but an early American edition of sheet music credits it to “HMT”. A version published in Henry de Marsan’s Singer’s Journal No 56 (c1870) states it was “sung by Pete Conners”

You can hear a version collected from the singing of Hamilton Lobdell in Wisconsin in 1941 from the digital collection of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Sources: