"Oh, I wish I was single again"

Posted by Dave Tabler | January 8, 2007

Listen to Kelly Harrell play “I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again”

When I was a single girl, I went dressed very fine,
Now I am married and have a drunken man to mind.
Oh, I wish I were a single girl again.

When I was a single girl I done as I pleased;
Now I am a married girl with a drunken man to please.
Oh, I wish I were a single girl again.

He goes down to town and stays all day
Drinking and gambling and wasting time away.
Oh, I wish I were a single girl again.

And when he comes home it’s a curse and damn,
Wishing I were dead and he had another dram.
Oh, I wish I were a single girl again.

Spring to go to, and cows to milk and feed,
And the four little children a-crying after me.
Oh, I wish I were a single girl again.

Collected by Harvey H. Fuson
“Ballads of the Kentucky Highlands”
London, 1931, p 118

Appalachian History