Our Goodman


"Our Goodman" is a Scottish and English humorous folk song. It describes the efforts of an unfaithful wife to explain away the evidence of her infidelity. A version of the song, "Seven Drunken Nights", was a hit record for The Dubliners in the 1960s.

History and content

The song appeared in David Herd's 1776 compilation Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs. In it a husband comes home to find a strange horse there. When he asks his wife what the horse is doing there she calls him stupid and blind, and says that it is a milk cow her mother sent her. The man retorts that in all his travels he never saw a saddle on a cow.
On subsequent evenings he comes home to find other strange items, such as boots, a sword and a coat, for which his wife gives him equally far-fetched explanations. Finally, he goes to bed, where he finds a "sturdy man", who his wife tells him is a new milkmaid her mother sent her, to which he replies that "long-bearded maidens I saw never nane."
Another version appeared in R. A. Smith's 1823 collection, The Scotish Minstrel, as "Hame Cam Our Gudeman at E'en". The early verses of this are much the same as in the Herd version, but in the final verse the husband finds a highland plaid, which reveals the stranger to be a refugee from the Jacobite Wars:
Francis James Child, in The English And Scottish Popular Ballads, noted the version published by Herd, and a different version called "The Merry Cuckold and the Kind Wife", which was published as a broadside in London. In this version the cuckold, named as "Old Wichet", comes home to find, not one, but three horses, swords, boots etc.:
Child's B version was translated into German by in 1789, and later spread to Scandinavia and Hungary. Child gives the first lines as:
Another, quite different version, called "Marion", was popular in France and Italy.
The Roud Folk Song Index has over 400 versions of the song, with titles such as "Merry Cuckold", "Old Witchet", "Three Nights Drunk" and "Seven Nights Drunk". Steve Roud and Julia Bishop described it as "an immensely widespread song, probably known all over the English-speaking world, with the wording varying considerably but the structure and basic story remaining the same." Bertrand Harris Bronson listed 58 versions for which tunes exist; he found considerable variety in the tunes, which he divided into eight groups. John E. Housman observed that "There is much of Chaucer's indomitable gaiety in this ballad. The questions of the jealous husband and the evasions of his wife are treated here in a humorous vein".
A version of the song called "Seven Drunken Nights" was a hit single for Irish folk group The Dubliners in 1967, reaching No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart.
A Danish version of the song featured in the historical drama series 1864, where it was sung by soldiers before a battle. It followed Child's B version.
A Russian version, called "The Drunk Cowboy", was recorded in 2003 by Alexander Tkachev. It consists of five parts, at the end of each the wife tells the cowboy to go to sleep. The days include a horse a hat, pants, a stranger's head, and, finally, a baby which doesn't look like the cowboy's.

Recordings

Album/SinglePerformerYearVariantNotes-
Earl Johnson Vol. 1 1927Earl Johnson1927Three Nights ExperienceDocument DOCD-8005-
Anthology of American Folk Music Vol 1. BalladsColey Jones1929Drunkards SpecialWife's logic fails to explain strange bedfellow to drunkard-
Complete RecordingsBlind Lemon Jefferson1929Cat Man BluesJSP Record JSP7706. Contains one verse and chorus-
Serenade The Mountains: Early Old Time Music On RecordGid Tanner & Riley Puckett1934Three Nights DrunkJSP Records JSP7780-
Deep River of Song: Black TexicansPercy Ridge1943Western CowboyRounder CD 1821-
Blind Boy Fuller Remastered 1935–1938Blind Boy Fuller1936Cat Man BluesJSP Records JSP7735. Contains one verse and chorus-
Cajun Rare & Authentic, Disc D, 1935 – 1939Jolly Boys of Lafayette1937Old Man Crip JSP Records JSP77115D-
1947–1948Tom Archia1948Cabbage Head Part 1 and Cabbage Head Part 2-
The Folk Songs of Britain, Child Ballads Vol 2Harry Cox,
Mary Connors,
Colm Keane		1953
1952
1951		Our GoodmanCaedmon TC 1146 / Topic 12T 161
Track composed of three fragments from different field recordings
Colm Keane's version is in Irish Gaelic		-
78 recordDouglas Kennedy1954Hame Cam Oor Guidman at 'EenHMV B 10836-
Blood, Booze 'N' BonesEd McCurdy1956Four Nights DrunkElektra – EKL-108-
Down and Out BluesSonny Boy Williamson1959Wake Up BabyChecker LP-1437-
Morrissey and the Russian Sailor and Other Irish Songs Joe Heaney1960The Good ManCollector Records JEI 5-
Traditional Music of Beech Mountain 1Hattie Presnell1961Five Nights DrunkFolk-Legacy FSA 22-
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: Vol. 1 – Child BalladsEwan MacColl1961Oud Goodman Folkways Records FG 3509-
Sing Out!The Limeliters1962Pretty Far OutModernized American version, Cadillac is a freezer with fins
Folk BalladeerJohn Jacob Niles1965Our Goodman or Old CuckoldCompilation LP later reissued as My Precarious Life in the Public Domain.-
SingleThe Dubliners1967Seven Drunken NightsMajor Minor MM506.-
Jack Elliott of Birtley, The songs and stories of a Durham minerJack Elliott1969The Blind FoolRecorded in a club. Jack is persuaded by the audience to sing the final verse.-
Ten Man Mop, or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides AgainSteeleye Span1971Four Nights DrunkPegasus PEG 9-
House Party New Orleans StyleProfessor Longhair1971Cabbage HeadComposer: Henry Roeland Byrd/Mac Rebennack-
The Voice of the People Vol 13George Spicer1972Coming Home Late-
Digital Library of AppalachiaJenes Cottrell1973Four Nights DrunkRecorded at the Mountain Heritage Festival in Carter County, Kentucky.-
Mrs 'Ardin's KidMike Harding1975The Drunken TacklerUpdated with a Lancashire theme-
Daft DittiesAlex Beaton1987Seven Drunken Nights-
Goin' Back to New OrleansDr. John1992Cabbage Head-
Irish Beer Drinking FavoritesThe Kilkenny Brothers1998Seven Drunken Nights.-
Digital Library of AppalachiaSheila K. Adams1998Four Nights DrunkRecorded at the Berea College Celebration of Traditional Music 10-22-98.-
Murder, Misery and Then GoodnightKristin Hersh1998Three Nights Drunk-
Going Up the Missouri: Songs & Dance Tunes from Old Fort OsageJim Krause1999Cabbagehead.-
The Dickel Brothers Vol 1.Dickel Brothers1999Three Nights ExperienceEMPTY 376-
Debasement TapesTom Smith1999Seven Drunken Nights In SpaceScience Fiction filk version-
Морщина времениAlexander Tkachev2003Пьяный ковбой Russian version-
Underneath The StarsKate Rusby2003The Goodman.-
The Continuing Tradition, Vol 1: Ballads, A Folk-Legacy SamplerMax Hunter2004Five Nights DrunkFolk-Legacy CD75 –-
The Birds Upon the Tree and other traditional songs and tunesAlice Francombe2004The Old Drunken ManMusical Traditions Records MTCD333-