“Widow Machree (I)”

Description

"Widow Machree, pray then open your door ... And show me the easiest plank in your floor." "Didn't old Adam loan From his rib" to "manufacture ... the first female" "As you owe man a rib, I lay claim to that same." A marriage proposal.

Notes

The Samuel Lover and Charles Lever "Widow Machree" ["Widow Machree (II)"] are not the same song: they share rhyme scheme, verse structure, and theme, but no verses. Which is derived from the other? - BS

Or are they both, perhaps, derived from a common literary source? - RBW

Broadside LOCSinging as114990: J. Andrews dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS

Broadsides

  • LOCSinging, as114990, "Widow Machree" ("Widow Machree, pray then open your door"), J Andrews (New York), 1853-1859

References

  1. O'Conor, p. 53, "Widow Machree" (1 text)
  2. BI, OCon053

About

Author: Charles Lever (1806-1872)
Earliest date: before 1860 (broadside, LOCSinging as114990)
Keywords: courting nonballad