Synopsis

A man returns home to find evidence that his wife has a lover there: a horse, a sword, a wig, etc, up to finding the lover. His wife makes absurd claims: the horse is a sow, the sword is a porridge-spurtle, the wig is a clocken-hen, the lover is a milk-maid. Her husband says that he never saw a sow with a saddle, a porridge-spurtle with silver handles, a clocken-hen with powder, or a milk-maid with a beard.

Variants

This song has been retold as "Seven Drunken Nights

Seven Drunken Nights

"Seven Drunken Nights" is a humorous folk Irish song, most famously performed by The Dubliners and others. The Dubliners version reached number 7 in the UK charts in 1967, thanks to its diffusion on Radio Caroline, though it was banned from the national broadcasting station...

" and under many other titles, including:

• "They Came Home Late" - Spicer, George/The Voice of the People
  The Voice of the People
  The Voice of the People is an anthology of folk songs sung by Traditional singers and musicians of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.There are 511 recordings on 20 CDs, compiled by Dr Reg Hall, a historian at Sussex University...
  
   13: They Ordered Their Pints of Beer and Bottles of Sherry
• "The Cuckold's Song" - Harry Cox, Mary O'Connors & Colm Keane/Classic Ballads of Britain & Ireland Vol 2
• "Drunkard's Special" - Coley Jones/Anthology of Am Folk Vol 1-disc 1
• "Five Nights Drunk" - Hattie Presnell/Folk-Legacy CD-22, Max Hunter on Folk-Legacy The Continuing Tradition 1981
• "Four Nights Drunk" - Ed McCurdy/Blood, Booze ‘n’ Bones
• "Old Drunken Man" - Alice Francombe/The Bird Upon the Tree
• "Shickered as He Could Be" - A.L. Lloyd/First Person (Some of His Favourite Folk Songs)
• "The Owd Chap" (Ewan MacColl)
• "Three Nights Drunk" - Kristin Hersh/Murder, Misery and Then Goodnight
• "Three Nights Experience" - Dickel Brothers/Dickel Brothers Volume One
• "The Goodman" - Kate Rusby
  Kate Rusby
  Kate Anna Rusby is an English folk singer and songwriter from Penistone, South Yorkshire. Sometimes known as The Barnsley Nightingale, she has headlined various British national folk festivals, and is regarded as one of the most famous English folk singers of contemporary times...
  
   (Underneath the Stars)
• "The Drunken Tackler" - updated with a Lancashire
  Lancashire
  Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
  
   theme by Mike Harding
  Mike Harding
  Mike Harding is an English singer, songwriter, comedian, author, poet and broadcaster. He is known as 'The Rochdale Cowboy' after one of his hit records...
  
   (Mrs 'Ardin's Kid}

Critical notes

In British Popular Ballads John E. Housman observes that "There is much of Chaucer's indomitable gaiety in this ballad. The questions of the jealous husband and the evasions of his wife are treated here in a humorous vein, and there are French ballads of a similar type."

External links

• Studio recording of an updated version of "Four Nights Drunk" by Wendy M. Grossman
• 274A: Our Goodman The lyrics