Folk Song: Paper of Pins
In this responsive courting song, a coy lady drives a hard bargain with her (apparently wealthy) suitor. In the version we learned, the materialistic maiden gets a comeuppance for her mercenary ambitions. Her suitor realizes the folly of marrying a woman interested only in money, and the tables turn when he takes up the chorus: “I’ll not marry, marry, marry, marry. I’ll not marry you.”
“Paper of Pins” was collected from the oral tradition by Alan Lomax in the 1930’s, but responsive courtship songs had long kept a place in the nursery rhyme collection. An earlier version of such a bargaining song was “The Keys of Canterbury,” well-known in the nineteenth century.
I will give you a paper of pins,
If that’s the way that love begins,
If you will marry, marry, marry, marry,
If you’ll marry me.
I don’t want your paper of pins,
If that’s the way that love begins,
For I’ll not marry, marry, marry, marry,
I’ll not marry you.
The song proceeds in this same way: the suitor making offers which the lady categorically rejects. (The following list is the version we learned from a recording of Irish songs; but the possibilities are endless, and have included bright jewels, silken gowns, and feather beds. I’m sure an improvising—and wildly generous—gentleman singer enjoyed seeing which goods might convince the lady singer.)
I will give you a golden ball
To bounce from the kitchen to the hall...
I will give you a silver spoon
To feed the baby in the afternoon...
I will give you a rocking chair
To sit in the garden and take fresh air...
I will give you the keys to the chest,
And all the money that I possess...
Here, the lady’s feelings are altered.
If you give me the keys to the chest,
And all the money that you possess,
Then I will marry, marry, marry, marry,
I will marry you.
She has yielded too late. Her suitor realizes that she is interested only in his material wealth.
A-ha-ha! Now I see!
You love me money, but you don’t love me.
So I’ll not marry, marry, marry, marry,
I’ll not marry you.
Or, in another version (see video below)—
Well, you love coffee, and I love tea,
You love my money; you don’t love me,
So I won’t marry, marry you.
No, I won’t marry you.
The scorned lady retorts:—
I’d rather be a lonely old maid, [or, Then I guess I’ll be...]
Take my stool, and sit in the shade,
For I won’t marry, marry you.
No, I won’t marry you.
Another version of the song would have the ending happier. The lady refuses all her suitor’s material offers, but will marry him if he gives her the key to his heart. (Some of the stubborn ladies reject even that!)
If you give me the key to your heart, [or, ...your hand and your heart]
That we may love and never part,
Then I will marry, marry, marry, marry,
I will marry you.
I could not find an online recording with the same tune and lyrics we use, but this version by the Scottish folk-group “Bitter Withy” comes closest. (Yes, I know. The guy on the right has a lot of hair.)
Friday, January 6, 2012