Madam, I Have a Very Fine Cow, Lyric Variant 02

This item is part of the I. G. Greer Folksong Collection which consists of more than 300 individual song titles and their variants as collected by Isaac Garfield Greer (1881-1967) from informants, primarily in Ashe, Wilkes and Watauga counties. The collection includes manuscripts, typescript transcriptions produced by Dr. Greer’s clerical staff, and handwritten musical notations. Songs range from traditional Child Ballads, traditional English and Scottish ballads as well as their American variants, to 19th century popular music to musical compositions of local origin.

Folk songs--United States

Courtship--Songs and music

Marriage proposals--Songs and music

AC.113 Isaac Garfield (I.G.) Greer Papers and Recordings

W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University

Greer, I. G. (Isaac Garfield), 1881-1967

PDF

English

Text

Madam, I Have a Very Fine Cow.

Madam, I have a very fine cow,
She wears a crumply horn,
And you may have her at your command,
To milk her night and morn,morn,
To milk her night and morn.

Sir, I know you’ve a very nice cow,
She wears a crumply horn,
And yonder stands a very fine crib,
But in it there is no corn, corn.
But in it there is no corn.

Madam, I have a very fine horse,
He paces like a lion,
And you may have him at your command
The day that you’ll be mine, mine,
The day that you’ll be mine.

Sir, I know you’ve a very fine horse,
He paces like a lion,
They say his master will get drunk, drunk
And I’m ‘fraid his horse will learn, learn,
I’m ‘fraid his horse will learn.

Madam, I have a very fine field,
Sixty acres wide,
And you can have it at your command
The day you’ll be my bride, bride ,
The day you’ll be my bride.

Sir, I know your very fine field
Pasture at the foot,
When I get you I’ll turn you out
With other hogs to root, root,
With other hogs to root.

Madam, I know you are a scornful Miss,
And very hard to please,
When you get old
And chilled with cold
I hope and pray you’ll freeze, freeze,
I hope and pray you’ll freeze.

Sir, I know I’m a scornful Miss,
And very hard to please
When I get old and chilled with cold,
It won’t be you that’ll keep me warm, warm,
It won’t be you that’ll keep me warm.

113_MadamIHaveAVeryFineCow_Lyric_02