{"id":23895,"date":"2024-03-16T07:03:10","date_gmt":"2024-03-16T07:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=23895"},"modified":"2024-03-16T07:19:31","modified_gmt":"2024-03-16T07:19:31","slug":"reuben-wright-and-phoebe-brown","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/reuben-wright-and-phoebe-brown\/","title":{"rendered":"Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>The Disconsolates<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1852<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Sam Cowell<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN5414<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Sam Cowell<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Lobdell, Hamilton ; USA : Wisconsin : 1941
Wilds, GB ; USA Tennessee ; no date<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From The Lancaster Examiner, (Lancaster Pennsylvania) 25 Feb 1852<\/a><\/strong>:\n\nReuben Wright and Phoebe Brown<\/strong>\nBY MR K BLIFKINS ESQ\n\nIn Manchester a maiden dwelt,\nHer name was Phoebe Brown;\nHer cheeks were red, her hair was black,\nAnd she was considered by good judges to be by all odds the best looking girl in town.\n\nHer age was nearly seventeen,\nHer eyes were sparkling bright;\nA very lovely girl she was,\nAnd for about a year and a half there had been a young man paying his attention to her, by the name of Reuben Wright.\n\nNow Reuben was a nice young man\nAs any in the town,\nAnd Phoebe loved him very dear\nBut, on account of his being obliged to work for a living, he never could make himself agreeable to old Mr. and Mrs. Brown.\n\nHer cruel parents were resolved\nAnother she should wed,\nA rich old miser in the place,\nAnd old Brown frequently declared, that rather than have his daughter marry Reuben Wright, he'd sooner knock him in the head.\n\nBut Phoebe's heart was brave and strong,\nShe feared not her parent's frowns;\nAnd as for Reuben Wright so bold,\nI'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.\n\nSo Phoebe Brown and Reuben Wright \nDetermined they would marry; \nThree weeks ago, last Tuesday night,\nThey 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.\n\nBut Captain Brown was wide awake,\nHe loaded up his gun,\nAnd then pursued the loving pair;\nHe overtook 'em when they'd got about half way to the Parson's, and then Reuben and Phoebe started off upon the run.\n\nOld Brown then took a deadly aim\nToward young Reuben's head,\nBut, oh! it was a bleeding shame,\nHe made a mistake, and shot his only daughter, and had the unspeakable anguish of seeing drop right down stone dead.\n\nThen anguish filled young Reuben's heart, \nAnd vengeance crazed his brain, \nHe drew an awful jack-knife out,\nAnd plunged it into old Brown's belly about fifty or sixty times, so that he di-ed.\n\nThe briny drops from Reuben's eyes,\nIn torrents poured down\nHe yielded up the ghost and di-ed\nAnd in this melancholy and heartrending manner terminates the history of Reuben Wright and Phoebe Brown, and likewise old Captain Brown\n\n\nFrom Sheet Music (c1855)<\/strong>\n\nIn Manchester a maiden dwelt,\nHer name was Phoebe Brown;\nHer cheeks were red, her hair was black,\n[SPOKEN: And she was considered by good judges to be by all odds the]\nBest looking girl in town.\n\nRi Chooral, li chooral, ri chum choo-ral lay;<\/em>\nRi Chooral, li chooral, ri chum choo-ral lay<\/em>.\n\nHer age was nearly twenty one,\nHer eyes were sparkling bright;\nA very lovely girl she was,\n[SPOKEN: And for about a year and a half there had been a young man paying his attention to her, by the<\/em>]\nName of Reuben Wright.\n\nRi Chooral, li chooral, ri chum choo-ral lay;<\/em>\nRi Chooral, li chooral, ri chum choo-ral lay<\/em>.\n\nNow Reuben was a nice young man\nAs any in the town,\nAnd Phoebe lov'd him dearly,\n[SPOKEN: But, on account of his being obliged to work for a living, he never could make himself agreeable to<\/em>]\nOld Mr. and Mrs. Brown.\n\nRi Chooral, <\/em>etc\n\nHer parents were resolved\nAnother she should wed,\nA rich old miser in the place,\n[SPOKEN: And old Brown frequently declared, that rather than have his daughter marry Reuben Wright, he'd sooner<\/em>]\nKnock him in the head.\n\nRi Chooral, <\/em>etc\n\nBut Phoebe's heart was brave and strong,\nShe feared not her parent's frowns;\nAnd as for Reuben Wright so bold,\n[SPOKEN: I've heard him say more than fifty times that, (with the exception of Phoebe) he didn't care a cent for the<\/em>]\nWhole race of Browns.\n\nRi Chooral, <\/em>etc\n\nSo Phoebe Brown and Reuben Wright \nDetermined they would marry; \nThree weeks ago last Tuesday night,\n[SPOKEN: They started for old Parson Webster's, determined to be united in the holy bonds of matrimony, though it was tremendous dark, and<\/em>]\nRained like Old Harry.\n\nRi Chooral, <\/em>etc\n\nBut Captain Brown was wide awake,\nHe loaded up his gun,\nAnd then pursued the loving pair;\n[SPOKEN: He overtook 'em when they'd got about half way to the Parson's, and then Reuben and Phoebe started<\/em>]\nOff upon the run.\n\nRi Chooral, <\/em>etc\n\nOld Brown then took a deadly aim\nToward young Reuben's head,\nBut, oh! it was a bleeding shame,\n[SPOKEN: He made a mistake, and shot his only daughter, and had the unspeakable anguish of seeing her<\/em>] \nDrop right down stone dead.\n\nRi Chooral, <\/em>etc\n\nThen anguish filled young Reuben's heart, \nAnd vengeance crazed his brain, \nHe drew an awful jack-knife out,\n[SPOKEN: And plunged it into old Brown about fifty or sixty times, so that it's very doubtful about his ever<\/em>]\nComing to life again.\n\nRi Chooral, <\/em>etc\n\nThe briny drops in frenzy tore\nThe hair from off his head\nAnd when half-scalp'd the pain was such\n[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<\/em>]\n\nGetting  into bed.\n\nRi Chooral, <\/em>etc\n\nMORAL \nYoung men - when out to tea and sup\nAnd spend a pleasant night\nIf you must feast, then let it be\n[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<\/em>]\nBefell poor Reuben Wright<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A song designed to be part sung and part spoken, which featured in the repertoire of early music Hall star Sam Cowell <\/a>. It was remembered by two traditional performers in America in the mid-20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The British sheet music gives the song as “written and composed by Sam Cowell” but an early American edition of sheet music<\/a> credits it to “HMT”. A version published in Henry de Marsan’s Singer’s Journal<\/a><\/em> No 56 (c1870) states it was “sung by Pete Conners”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n