{"id":3475,"date":"2015-05-16T10:00:21","date_gmt":"2015-05-16T14:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/?page_id=3475"},"modified":"2024-04-30T11:32:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T15:32:57","slug":"my-husbands-a-mason","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/?page_id=3475","title":{"rendered":"My Husband’s a Mason"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a humourous ditty that has been found in print in a similar form back in the early 18th<\/sup> century as was considered to already be traditional at that time!\u00a0 It was known by various names and has undergone various transformations over the years and by the late 19th<\/sup> and throughout the 20th<\/sup> century is encountered as \u201cHey Jig A Jig\u201d, \u201cFollow Your Man\u201d, \u201cFollow The Band\u201d, and even, I am told, as \u201cThe Bawdy Balladeers\u201d (by the band The Royal Chessmen, who also call it “My Husband”) whereas the a capella trio The Bawdy Balladeers themselves call it “Professions”.\u00a0 This version presented is an example of an older version – it likely did not have a chorus as most of these songs did not, but rather would merely be presented and if you also knew it, you would sing along to the simple, almost nursery-rhyme style melody; the chorus part is of a style that would have been added later.\u00a0 As with pretty much all folk music, the lyrics change according to the person presenting the song; in the case of this song, various versions have different actions for the same profession from other versions, and the song invites your own interpretations, much like mine below.\u00a0 Some variations will set the listener up for a bawdy conclusion but suddenly conclude with an innocent line\u2026 there does seem to be a practice in English and Scottish bawdy songs of old to suggest and then redirect, but from the books I have in my collection from 1784, 1800, and 1802 of bawdy ballads and ditties, songs blatantly describing situations, the sex act itself, and profane language would suggest that coy side-stepping and metaphors were by no means the expected common practice in situations where one might sing these songs in socially appropriate settings; suggestive endings such as “at night he comes home and drinks tea” appear to have become the norm by the beginning of the Victorian era.<\/p>\n

Jos. Morneault<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a><\/p>\n

My husband\u2019s a mason, a mason, a mason,
\nA very fine mason is he!
\nAll day he lays bricks, lays bricks, lays bricks.
\nAt night he comes home and lays me!<\/p>\n

Tra la la \u2013 Tra la la!<\/em><\/strong>
\nAt night he comes come and lays me\u00a0!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

My husband\u2019s a farmer, a farmer, a farmer.
\nA very fine farmer is he!
\nAll day he ploughs fields, ploughs fields, plough fields
\nAnd then he comes home and ploughs me!<\/p>\n

Tra la\u2026<\/p>\n

My husband\u2019s a sailor, a sailor, a sailor.
\nA very fine sailor is he!
\nAll day he climbs ropes, climbs ropes, climbs ropes
\nAnd then he comes home and climbs me!\u00a0 (Sometimes we say “ties” instead)<\/p>\n

Tra la\u2026<\/p>\n

My husband’s a carpenter, a carpenter, a carpenter
\nA very fine carpenter is he!
\nAll day he bangs boards, bangs boards, bangs boards.
\nAt night he comes home and bangs me!<\/p>\n

My husband’s a horseman, a horseman, a horseman.
\nA very fine horseman\u00a0is he!
\nAll day he mounts horses, mounts horses, mounts horses
\nAt night he comes home and mounts me!<\/p>\n

My husband\u2019s a butcher, a butcher, a butcher,
\nA very fine butcher is he!
\nAll day he stuffs sausage, stuffs sausage, stuffs sausage.
\nAt night he comes home and stuffs me!<\/p>\n

My husband’s a miner, a miner, a miner,
\nA very good miner is he!
\nAll day he drills holes, drills holes, drills holes,
\nAnd then he comes home and drills me!<\/p>\n

** My husband’s a baker, a baker, a baker,
\nA very fine baker is he!
\nAll day he whips cream, whips cream, whips cream,
\nAnd when he comes home he whips me!<\/p>\n

My husband’s a plumber, a plumber, a plumber
\nA very fine plumber is he!
\nAll day he screws pipes, screws pipes, screws pipes.
\nAt night he comes home and screws me!<\/p>\n

*My husband’s a chandler, a chandler, a chandler.
\nA very fine chandler is he
\nAll day he’s away, he’s away, he’s away
\nAnd everyone comes and does me.<\/p>\n

#My husband’s a woodsman, a woodsman, a woodsman.
\nA very fine woodsman is he!
\nAll day he splits wood, splits wood, split wood,
\nAnd then he comes home and splits me!<\/p>\n

***My husband’s the barkeep. The barkeep, the barkeep.
\nA very fine barkeep is he!
\nAll day he taps kegs, taps kegs, taps kegs,
\nAnd then he comes home and taps me!<\/p>\n

##My husband’s a Dutchman, a Dutchman, a Dutchman,<\/span>
\nA very fine Dutchman is he!<\/span>
\nAll day he plugs dikes, plugs dikes, plugs dikes<\/span>
\nAnd then he comes home and plugs me!<\/span><\/p>\n

## My husband’s a Scotsman, a Scotsman, a Scotsman,
\na very fine Scotsman is he.
\nAll day he fucks sheep, fucks sheep, fucks sheep,
\nand when he comes home he just drinks.<\/p>\n

My husband’s a postman, a postman, a postman.
\nA very fine postman is he!
\nAll day he licks stamps, licks stamps, licks stamps,
\nAnd then he comes home and licks me!<\/p>\n

My husband\u2019s a lawyer, a lawyer, a lawyer
\nA mighty fine lawyer is he!
\nAll day long he fucks you, he fucks you, he fucks you
\nAnd at night he comes home and fucks me<\/p>\n

My husband\u2019s a chanteyman, a chanteyman, a chanteyman.
\nA melodious chanteyman is he!
\nAll night he sings songs, sings songs, sings songs,
\nAnd then he comes home\u00a0and he\u00a0sleeps.<\/p>\n

*Thank you Ben Parker<\/p>\n

**Thank you to Laura of the trio The Bawdy Balladeers!<\/p>\n

*** Thank you Ian Basilone!<\/p>\n

# Thank you Mike Baldi!<\/p>\n

## Thank you, Mr. Falbowski!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a humourous ditty that has been found in print in a similar form back in the early 18th century as was considered to already be traditional at that time!\u00a0 It was known by various names and has undergone various transformations over the years and by the late 19th and throughout the 20th century […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3475","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3475"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6323,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3475\/revisions\/6323"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}