My sweet anti-Valentine

Generally, I am a fan of love, and I am certainly, as you know, a starry-eyed fool for my man. But while part of me continues to get excited about goopy PDA and all the other trappings of romantic entanglement (see my last post), I also can't resist being just a little perverse about Valentine's Day.

Last night, DK and I jiggered together all his turntable and mixer with my laptop to bring you this song, off of one of his favorite records, The Best of Peggy Seeger:

Peggy Seeger - I'll Not Marry At All (click to play and download via Box.net)

Peggy sings it as "I'll Not Marry At All," but it's an old folk song with many slight variations that's also known as "The Old Maid." Her liner notes say that her version comes from Ballads and Songs of Missouri, which we are hot on the trail of, but haven't found yet.

Here are the lyrics as I hear them:

I'll not marry a man that's rich.
He'll get drunk and fall in a ditch.
And I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all.

I'll not marry a man that's poor.
He'd have me begging from door to door.
And I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all.

I'll not marry a man that's thin.
He ain't nothing but bones and skin.
And I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all.

I'll not marry a man that's fat.
He'll just sit and kick at the cat.
And I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all.

I'll not marry a man that's old.
His face gets wrinkled; his love gets cold.
And I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all.

I'll not marry a man that's young.
His flattering ways, his blathering tongue.
And I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all.

I'll not marry a man at all.
I'll stay at home and favor them all.
And I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all, at all,
I'll not marry at all.

My love of this song largely hinges on the word "favor" in the last verse, which is also one of the more crackly bits of this recording, so I really hope I've heard it right. While I think the rest of the song is delightful (and beautifully played and sung), the slyness of "favor" just kills it for me.

Now, to go back to the beginning and completely upset the theme of this post, I owe a shout out to my Valentine for playing me this song, helping me step-by-step to digitize it, and coaxing me to post it. Thank you!

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