[Sca-cooks] Re: Eggs & Marrowbones

[Ann and Les]

The song that Kiri is thinking of is probably "Old Woman from Wexford,"
which was recorded by the Clancy Brothers, an Irish folk group {album titles
like "Songs of Irish Rebellion" lets you know how they felt about the
English!}.  Synopsis:  "She loved her husband dear enough, but another man
twice as well."  So, she asks the doctor what to feed him to make him go
blind; he recommends eggs and marrowbones.  She feeds them to her husband,
he eats them and goes blind.  He wants to drown himself but it would be a
sin, so she volunteers to push him in, gets a running start, he steps aside,
she goes in the water instead.  I'm sure there's a website where you can
look up the exact lyrics.

John le Burguillun


> Also sprach Elaine Koogler:
> >I dunno...the version I heard (and, as is the case with this sort of
thing,
> >there seem to be many) says that the woman is told to "...feed him eggs
and
> >marrowbone...."  but, as it does mention marrowbones, it is still food!
>
> Yup. No argument there.
>
> >And, again, the version I've heard does indicate that she did drown!  In
> >fact, the husband seemed to take a great deal of satisfaction from having
> >turned the tables on her!
>
> I suspect we may be looking at two different versions of the same
> song, or rather two songs based on the same piece of folklore. Not
> surprising since that happens even today. Witness the permutations on
> Rudy Ray Moore's (Olwen and Stefan: "WHO?!?!?") "Signifying Monkey"
> proto-rap (in classic R&B parlance, a "toast" or "jive") for example,
> set to different tunes and different lyrics, but basically the same
> story.
>
> Anyway, I wasn't really disagreeing with your account; I just
> remembered a version of the song quite clearly, and it wasn't clear
> to me that you remembered the details, so I wasn't sure if you were
> remembering something else or simply had only a vague recollection of
> the song.
>
> But yes, it certainly does qualify as a food song, and a good one at that.
>
> Adamantius