Print This Page#01771 Print This Page
At the age of twenty-one I was in the prime of life,
Me mother often told me to go and choose a wife;
To go and choose a wife, I knew little about the bother,
At the same time I was thinking on the one thing or the other.
Mush-a-whack-a-row-di-dow-now,
Right-fol-di-daddy;
Mush-a-whack-a-row-di-dow-now,
Right-fol-di-dee.
I went to a wee girl that I for sometime knew,
To tell her what me mother was advising me to do;
What d'you earn? cries the sister; What d'you earn? cries the mother,
And to cut the story short, says I: It's the one thing or the other.
Mush-a-whack-a-row-di-dow-now,
Right-fol-di-daddy;
Mush-a-whack-a-row-di-dow-now,
Right-fol-di-dee.
Now we have got married, we lead a happy life,
I'm her loving husband, and she's my loving wife;
We live in peace and unity, right well content together,
In our daily occupation at the one thing or the other.
Mush-a-whack-a-row-di-dow-now,
Right-fol-di-daddy;
Mush-a-whack-a-row-di-dow-now,
Right-fol-di-dee.
A year passed away, and we never knew a care,
But now the people say that we're going to have an heir;
It's a son, cries the sister; It's a daughter, cries the mother,
And to cut the story short, says I: It's the one thing or the other.
Mush-a-whack-a-row-di-dow-now,
Right-fol-di-daddy;
Mush-a-whack-a-row-di-dow-now,
Right-fol-di-dee.
'Twas on a Monday morning, just as me story runs,
'Twas on a Monday morning, when first I heard the twins;
It was on a Monday morning my grief I couldn't smother,
As I listened to the squalling of the one thing and the other.
Mush-a-whack-a-row-di-dow-now,
Right-fol-di-daddy;
Mush-a-whack-a-row-di-dow-now,
Right-fol-di-dee.
This variant was collected by Peter Kennedy and published as #209 in Folksongs Of Britain And Ireland (Oak Publications, New York, 1975).
A variant was collected in 1958 from James Decker of Parson's Pond, NL, by Ken Peacock and also published as The One Thing Or The Other in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 1, pp.312-313, by the National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
