> Folk Music > Songs > I Wish I Were Single Again

I Wish I Were Single Again (Female Version)

[ Roud 436 ; Ballad Index R365 , Wa126 , Wa128 ; DT SINGLGRL , SNGLGRL2 ; Mudcat 81170 ; trad.]

Cecil J. Sharp: English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians

Frank Proffitt sang Single Girl to Anne and Frank Warner in 1940. This was included in their 1984 book Traditional American Folk Songs From the Anne & Frank Warner Collection and in 2000 on volume 1 of the Appleseed anthology of songs from the Warner Collection, Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still. The Warners noted:

We have not found this song elsewhere, save reference to a Carter Family version on Victor Records, from their first recording session in August 1927.

Frank Proffitt also sang Single Girl shortly before his death in 1965 to Sandy Paton. This recording was released in 1968 on his Folk-Legacy album Memorial Album. Sandy Paton noted:

Cecil Sharp noted a similarity between this song and a Gaelic complaint from the Isle of Skye which was published in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society {Volume IV. Part III), but the resemblance 1s melodic rather than textual. In the Gaelic piece, the lads are bemoaning the fact that the gruel served to them by “the smith’s daughter” Is thin and meagre. Obviously, we are dealing here with a different kind of complaint. On the other hand, however, the melodic relationship is pronounced, especially in the last phrase. Compare this with the many other published versions {Belden, Brown, Lomax, Scarborough, Randolph, Richardson, etc.). For a textual comparison, at least in theme, see the English song, Still I Love Him, which is also known in Ireland, although our song lacks the element of forgiveness.

The Carter Family’s recording of this song is, perhaps, the best kno~n version in this country, but another fine performance that should be heard is by Roscoe Holcomb on Mountain Music of Kentucty (Folkways FA 2317) recorded by John Cohen.

Peggy Seeger sang When I Was Single on her 1954 Signet and 1955 Folkways album Folk Songs of Courting and Complaint. A 1958 recording of her singing Single Girl was included in 2018 on the final Fellside anthology Destination. And she sang Single Girl on the Critics Group’s 1970 album Living Folk. She noted on the Folkways album:

A “white” blues, on a theme of British origin, this song has variants which are met with in practically every collection of folk music. It is interesting to compare this version with those found in Sharp’s English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians. It is an excellent example of what American singers do to English folk song.

Margaret MacArthur sang Single Again in 1962 on her Folkways album Folk Songs of Vermont. She noted:

From the singing of Mrs. Austin Nichols, Guilford, Vermont.

Hedy West sang Single Girl in 1963 on her eponymous Vanguard album Hedy West and in 1976 on her Bear Family album Love, Hell and Biscuits. She tersely noted:

Single Girl (Wish I Was a Single Girl Again, Single Life)—All of us sing these.

Ruby Vass sang Single Girl, Married Girl in 2018 on Earth Records’ CD and DVD The Ballad of Shirley Collins.

Lyrics

Peggy Seeger sings When I Was Single

When I was single, went dressed all so fine;
Now I am married, Lord, go ragged all the time.
Lord, don’t I wish I was a single girl again.

Dishes to wash, and spring to go to;
When you are married, Lord, you’ve got it all to do.
Lord, don’t I wish I was a single girl again.

When I was single my shoes tney did squeak;
Now I am married, Lord, my shoes they do leak.
Lord, don’t I wish I was a single girl again.

Three little children all lyin’ in the bed;
All of them so hungry, Lord, they can’t raise up their head.
Lord, don’t I wish I was a single girl again.

I wash their littl.e feet am send them to school;
Then comes the drunkard, and calls them a fool.
Lord, don’t I wish I was a single girl again.

When I was single I eat biscuit and pie;
Now I am married, Lord, it’s eat corn-bread or die.
Lord, don’t I wish I was a single girl again.

Margaret MacArthur sings Single Again

When I was single I lived at my ease
Now I’m married with a husband to please.
Three small children to maintain
I wish in my heart I was single again.

One cries, “Mama, I want to go to bed.”
Another cries, “Mama, I want a piece of bread.”
Wash them undress them and put them all in bed
In comes husband wishing them all dead.

When young men they first fall in love
It’s, “O my little honey and oh my turtle dove.”
But when they get married it’s no such thing
It’s, “Get up and get the breakfast you cross ugly thing.”

When all young men they strut about the town
One would think was worth a hundred pounds
Look into their pockets not a penny would you find
Its how fickle is a young man’s mind.

Frank Proffitt sings Single Girl

When I was single, marriage I did crave;
Now I am married, I’m troubled to my grave.
Lord, I wish I was a single girl again. (×2)

The dishes to wash, the spring to go to,
Got nobody to help me, I’ve got it all to do.
Lord, I wish I was a single girl again. (×2)

I took in some washing, I made a dollar or two;
My husband went and stole it; I don’t know what to do.
Lord, I wish I was a single girl again. (×2)

Two little childrten raying in the bed,
Both of them so hungry, they can’t raise up their heads.
Lord, I wish I was a single girl again. (×2)