> Folk > Songs > The Wife Wrapt in Wether’s Skin / The Wee Cooper o’ Fife
The Wife Wrapt in Wether’s Skin / The Wee Cooper o’ Fife / The Daughter of Peggy, O
[
Roud 117
/ Song Subject MAS1013
; Master title: The Wife Wrapt in Wether’s Skin
; Child 277
; G/D 7:1282
; Ballad Index C277
; MusTrad DB26
; Folkinfo 14
, 491
, 795
; DT COOPFIFE
, WETHSKIN
; Mudcat 3923
, 17301
; trad.]
Edith Fowke: The Penguin Book of Canadian Folk Songs Maud Karpeles: Cecil Sharp’s Collection of English Folk Songs The Crystal Spring Alexander Keith: Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads and Ballad Airs Emily Lyle, Kaye McAlpine, Anne Dhu McLucas: The Song Repertoire of Amelia and Jane Harris John Jacob Niles: The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles Roy Palmer: Everyman’s Book of British Ballads Jean Ritchie: Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians Cecil J. Sharp: One Hundred English Folksongs Heywood Sumner The Besom Maker Ralph Vaughan Williams and A.L. Lloyd: The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs
Ewan MacColl sang The Cooper o’ Fife in 1956 on his and A.L. Lloyd’s Riverside anthology The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Volume II. This song and 28 other from this series were reissued in 2009 on his Topic double CD set Ballads: Murder·Intrigue·Love·Discord. Kenneth S. Goldstein noted:
Child summarises the story of this humorous ballad as follows:
Robin has married a wife of too high kin to bake or brew, wash or wring. He strips off a wether’s skin and lay it on her back, or prins (pins) her in it. He dares not beat her, for her proud kin, but he may beat the wether’s skin, and does. This makes an ill wife good.
The ballad was probably derived from the traditional tale of The Wife Lapped in Morrel’s Skin, dating from the 16th century or earlier.
Long a favourite in both Britain and America, the ballad has been the subject of interesting speculations concerning its various refrains, as well as the native American additions to the text (Janson, Hoosier Folklore Bulletin). MacColl’s version, learned from his parents, most clearly matches the Child “C” text, originally from Alexander Whitelaw’s The Book of Scottish Song (1844), and this is the form in which the ballad is best known in Scotland today.
Robin Hall sang The Wee Cooper of Fife in 1960 on his Collector album Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads.
Jean Ritchie sang Gentle Fair Jenny in 1960 on her Folkways album British Traditional Ballads in the Southern Mountains, Volume 2. Kenneth S. Goldstein noted:
This ballad, titled by Child The Wife Wrapt in Wether’s Skin, appears to have been derived from the traditional tale of The Wife Lapped in Morrel’s Skin, dating from the 16th century or earlier. Child summarises the story as follows: “Robin has married a wife of too high kin to bake, or brew, wash or wring. He strips off a wether’s skin and lays it on her back, or prins her in it. He dares not beat her for her proud kin, but he may beat the wether’s skin, and does. This makes an ill wife good.” American versions of the ballad usually follow this form, though in some texts (as in the case of Jean Ritchie’s version) the high born wife has been replaced by a lazy wife, and the wether skin rationalisation for the beating has been discarded.
Long a favourite in both Britain and America, the ballad has been subject to interesting speculation concerning its various refrains. The refrain line “gentle fair Jenny, fair Rose Marie” may derive from the old plant burden “juniper, gentian and rosemary”. It has been suggested that in some early form of the ballad the wife suffered from evil spirits and that the plant burden was designed as a charm against demons; the plant burden remained after the wife’s trouble was rationalised to her being of too high kin or laziness.
Jean Ritchie’s version, corresponding most closely to Coffin’s story type C, was learned from her sisters who first learned it at either Hindman Settlement School or the Pine Mountain Settlement School.
Frank Proffitt of Reese, North Carolina, sang Dan Do on his 1962 Folkways album Frank Proffitt Sings Folk Songs. Frank Warner noted:
This version of Child Ballad No. 277, The Wife Wrapt in Wether Skin, is the first song Frank Proffitt sang to us in 1938, and we’ve been singing it ever since. Variants, differing widely from each other in everything but the story line, have been found in all parts of the British Isles and throughout the United States. We never heard Frank sing the final verse until 1959. We had thought his version lacked the reform element! Frank says now that he often leaves off that verse because the words don’t fit in so well.
Jean Redpath sang Wee Cooper o’ Fife in 1962 on her Elektra album Scottish Ballad Book. She noted:
One of the earliest songs I can recall learning from my mother, this vernacular taming of a shrew is the form of Child’s Wife Wrapt in a Wether’s Skin best known in Scotland today. The ballad is probably derived from the traditional tale of The Wife Lapped in Morrel’s Skin, dating from the 16th century or earlier. From the many versions recovered in America (12 texts in Virginia, 5 in West Virginia, and 9 in Kentucky), it would seem to be as popular in this country as in Scotland.
The Ian Campbell Folk Group sang The Wee Cooper of Fyfe in 1963 on their Transatlantic album This Is the Ian Campbell Folk Group. They also sang it on the Hullabaloo ABC Television programme broadcast on 21 December 1963.
Hedy West sang Little Old Man Lived Out West in 1964 on her Vanguard album Hedy West Volume 2. A year later, she recorded this song as The Wife Wrapt in Wether’s Skin on her Topic album Old Times & Hard Times. This track was also included in 2011 on her Fellside CD re-issue Ballads & Songs From the Appalachians. She noted on the first album:
There are many variants of this song in Britain and the United States. Its origin is British. The “Dandoo” refrain is American.
This version is one Grandma and Uncle Gus learned from their mother, Talitha Prudence Sparks Mulkey. She had learned her songs when she was a child in South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. Of his mother, Uncle Gus says:
She was an awful hard working woman. She’d card and spin thread, make cloth, take that cloth out of the loom, and make our clothes with a needle and thread. She wouldn’t sing much when she’s a-spinning, or a-weaving. She’s too busy. But when she’d be churning or carding, she’d be singing some song. Lots of times, I’d go in the house, and she’d be setting there carding, singing and rocking the cradle.
Isla St Clair sang Wee Cooper o’ Fife on her 2002 album My Generation.
Cath and Phil Tyler sang Wether’s Skin on their 2008 CD Dumb Supper.
This 2009 video shows Threelegsoman singing The Wee Cooper o’ Fife:
Robin Laing sang The Wee Cooper o’ Fife in 2011 on his Greentrax CD The Angels’ Share. He noted:
I am delighted that I was able to include a coopering song in this collection. The art of coopering is so important to the whisky industry—about 60% of the flavour profile (and of course all the colour) of a decent single malt comes from the cask—one of mankind’s greatest inventions—ever!
The Wee Cooper o’ Fife is a traditional song, the nonsense refrain of which is widely known (knickety knackity noo noo noo etc). Few people sing that song these days, perhaps because the story line involves a man beating his wife because she will not do the housework. My version replaces the nonsense refrain with a series of coopering terms and turns the story on its head. It should still be unacceptable to sing about domestic violence, but the wife beating up the husband seems somehow more acceptable—or is it?
Lyrics
The Wee Cooper of Fife
There was a wee cooper who lived in Fife,
Nickity, nackity, noo, noo, noo
And he has gotten a gentle wife.
Hey Willie Wallacky, how John Dougall,
Alane, quo Rushety, roue, roue, roue.
She wadna bake, nor she wadna brew,
For the spoiling o her comely hue.
She wadna card, nor she wadna spin,
For the shaming o her gentle kin.
She wadna wash, nor she wadna wring,
For the spoiling o her gouden ring.
The cooper’s awa to his woo-pack
And has laid a sheep-skin on his wife’s back.
’It’s I’ll no thrash ye, for your proud kin,
But I will thrash my ain sheep-skin.’
’Of, I will bake, and I will brew,
And never mair think on my comely hue.
’Oh, I will card, and I will spin,
And never mair think on my gentle kin.
’Oh, I will wash, and I will wring,
And never mair think on my gouden ring.’
A’ ye wha hae gotten a gentle wife
Send ye for the wee cooper o Fife.
Ewan MacColl sings The Cooper of Fife
There was a wee cooper wha lived in Fife,
Nickity nackity noo noo noo;
And he has married a gentle wife.
Hy Willie Wallachie hy John Dougal,
Allay quo Rashitie roo roo roo.
She wouldna work, she wouldna sew
For spoilin’ a’ her gentle hue.
She wouldna card, she wouldna spin
For shamin’ a’ her gentle kin.
The cooper has gane tae his woo’ pack
An’ he’s laid a wedder’s skin on his wife’s back.
Then he’s lain oot the wedder’s skin
An’ he’s lain the gentle lady in.
“O, I’ll no’ be shamin’ your gentle kin
But I can skelp my ain sheepskin.”
Now ye wha hae married a gentle wife,
Just mind ye o’ the wee cooper o’ Fife.
Jean Ritchie sings Gentle Fair Jenny
I married me a wife and took her home,
Gentle fair Jenny, fair Rosy Marie,
I ofttimes wished that I’d let her alone
As the dew flies over the green valley.
All in my kitchen she would not use,
For fear of spoiling her nev cloth shoes.
First day at noon I come in from the plow,
My dearest wife, is my dinner ready now?
There’s a little piece of corn bread layin’ on the shelf,
If you want anymore you can cook it yourself.
Second day at noon I come in from the plow,
My dearest wife, is my dinner ready now?
Get out of here your dirty thief,
If you want any dinner you can cook it yourself.
I got my knife and went out to the barn,
I cut me a hickory as long as my arm.
I took my limb and I vent back,
Around her back I nade it crack.
I’ll tell my father and all of my kin,
You whupped me with a hickory limb.
You can tell your father and all your kin
I whupped you once and I’ll whup you again.
Frank Proffitt sings Dan Do
Oh the good little man come in at noon, Dan do, Dan do,
The good little mn come in at noon,
“Have you got my dinner soon”
To my high land, to my low land,
To my krish, krash, klingo.
“There’s a little piece of bread a-layin’ on the shell, Dan do, Dan do,
There’s a little piece of bread a-layin’ on the shelf,
If you want any more, go fetch it yourself.”
To my high land, to my low land,
To my krish, krash, klingo.
The little man went out to his sheep-pen, Dan do, Dan do,
The little man went out to his sheep-pen,
He downed the wether and off with the skin
To my high land, to my low land,
To my krish, krash, klingo.
He laid the hide right on her back, Dan do, Dan do,
He laid the hide all on her back
And he made that stick go whickety-wback,
To my high land, to my low land,
To my krish, krash, klingo.
I’m goin’ to tell my father and all of my kin, Dan do, Dan do,
Goin’ to tell my father and all of my kin
How you dress your mutton skin,
To my high land, to my low land,
To my krish, krash, klingo.
Go tell your father and your brothers too, Dan do, Dan do,
Go tell your father and your brothers too
What a whippin’ I give you,
To my high land, to my low land,
To my krish, krash, klingo.
Next day the little man come in from plow, Dan do, Dan do,
Next day the little man come in from plow,
She met him at the door, said “Your dinner’s ready now!”
To my high land, to my low land,
To my krish, krash, klingo.