“I Cannot Call Her Mother (The Marriage Rite is Over; The Stepmother)”

Description

"The marriage rite is over," and the children have seen their father take a new wife. Their mother's picture is replaced by the pretty new girl's. The child "could not call her mother." She calls herself an orphan; "God gave us but one mother."

Supplemental text

I Cannot Call Her Mother (The Marriage Rite is Over; The Stepmother)
  Partial text(s)

          *** A ***

The Stepmother

From Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II,
p. 202. From the author's own recollection.

The marriage rites are over,
  Although I turned aside
To keep the guests from seeing
  The tears I could not hide.
I'll wreathe my face in smiles,
  And take my little brother,
I'll greet my father's chosen,
  But I will not call her mother.

(1 additional stanza)

Cross references

• cf. "The Blind Child" (theme)

Recordings

• Bradley Kincaid, "I Cannot Call Her Mother" (Supertone 9565, 1929; Champion 15968, 1930 [as Dan Hughey])
• [Roy Harvey and the] North Carolina Ramblers "I Cannot Call Her Mother" (Silvertone 5181 [as The Three Kentucky Serenaders], 1927; Supertone 9246/Silvertone 8147, 1928)
• Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "I Cannot Call Her Mother" (Columbia 15307-D, 1928)

References

1. Randolph 726, "The Stepmother" (3 texts, 1 tune)
2. Rorrer, p. 79, "I Cannot Call Her Mother" (1 text)
3. Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 298-299, "I Can Not Call Her Mother" (1 text, 1 tune)
4. cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 482, "The Stepmother" (source notes only)
5. ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), pp. 201-202, "(The Stepmother)" (1 short text)
6. ST R726 (Partial)
7. Roud #2091
8. BI, R726