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  Lincolnshire Wedding Song
  composer - uncertain
  collected by Wendy Lowenstein TRC2915/3b (1971 )
  sung by Jack Guard of Georgetown
 

Due to having only fragments of this song at my disposal at the time of recording, my version meshes with fragments of another song with a similar motif. I might have taken an alternate approach had I been in a position to conduct the following research earlier.

Like many of the songs to be found in the National Library collected by Meredith, Connor and others, this song has the bounce of songs that have originated from Music Hall but if so, has perhaps passed more successfully into the folk tradition.
As a folk song it is known under a number of titles including 'Wedding Song', 'Lincolnshire Wedding Song', Get a Little Table, and The Comfort of a Wife.
There are a number of collected versions, generally from Lincolnshire, including one, according the 'Mudcat' internet site from a Mrs Robinson of Winteringham, published in English Dance and Song, Volume 43, Number 2, page 8, (1981) and another collected by Fred Hamer from Luther Stanley of Lincolnshire and printed in Fred Hamer's book, 'Green Groves' on pp.78-79 which is referenced on the website for Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, in The Roud Folksong Index.

The Broadside Band version apparently includes the following lyrics:

THE WEDDING SONG

Some people think it's jolly for to lead a single life
But I believe in marriage and the comfort of a wife
In fact you mightt have quarrels, just the odd one now and then,
It's worth your while a-falling out to make it up again

Chorus

So get a little table, and get a little chair,
Then a little house in the corner of the square
Get a little teapot and save a little tin,
And don't forget a cradle for to rock the baby in

A married man has comforts where a single man has not,
His clothes are always mended and his food is always hot
No matter what your troubles are your wife will pull you through,
So if you want to marry boys, this is what you do

A single man in lodgings can't have very much delight,
There's no one to talk to him when he sits at home at night
Nothing to attract him or pass the time away,
You'll quickly find the difference if you listen to what I say

It's little use of asking a girl to marry you
Unless you've got a little corner of the table too
For a good wife loves to see you cosy, warm and nice,
So if you wish to marry boys, here is my advice

The Yetties suggest a modern verse:

Get a monster mortgage, get a video
Fill the flat with gadgets, don't matter what we owe
Get a couple children and get a double bed
Then sometime in the future we might perhaps get wed


 
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