“I Wish I Were Single Again (I - Male)”

Description

The singer recalls the happy days when he was single. He recalls marrying a wife, "the plague of my life." She died and was buried, so he went and married again, to find that he "wished for the old one again"

Notes

Characterized by a stanza format something like this:

When I was single, oh then,

When I was single, oh then,

When I was single, my money would jingle;

I wish I was single again.

Laura Ingalls Wilder, in _By the Shores of Silver Lake_ (chapter 22) has a slightly different form, allegedly from 1880:

When I was young and single,

I could make the money jingle

And the world was well with me, O then!

The world went well with me then. - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "When I Was Single (II)"
• cf. "Poor Married Man" (theme)
• cf. "Married and Single Life" (subject)

Recordings

• Foster & James, "When I Was Single My Pockets Would Jingle" (Gennett 6434/Supertone 9260, 1928) [also issued as by Jim Burke, possibly a pseudonym for Doc Roberts]
• Frank Luther, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (Crown 3084, 1931)
• Riley Puckett, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (Columbia 15036-D, 1925) (Bluebird B-8066, 1939)
• Arthur Tanner, "When I Was Single My Pockets Would Jingle" (Silvertone 3515, 1926)
• Welby Toomey, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (Gennett 3202, 1926)
• Tom Watson, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (Silvertone 3263, 1926)
• Henry Whitter, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (OKeh 40375, 1925) (OKeh 45045, 1926)

References

1. Randolph 365, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (4 texts, 1 tune)
2. Randolph/Cohen, pp. 329-331, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 365A)
3. Eddy 69, "When I Was a Young Man" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
4. Kennedy 204, "I Wished To Be Single Again" (1 text, 1 tune)
5. BrownIII 19, "When I Was Single" (3 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 13 more, though most of the omitted texts are single stanzas)
6. Chappell-FSRA 75, "When I Was Single" (1 text)
7. Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 320-321, "The Single Girl" (1 text plus a fragment; the song is "I Wish I Were a Single Girl Again," but the fragment is this)
8. McNeil-SFB2, pp. 47-50, "I Wish I Was Single Again"; "I Wish I Were Single Again" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
9. Warner 127, "When I Was Single" (1 text, 1 tune)
10. Belden, pp. 437-439, "When I Was Single" (3 texts, plus a text of "I Wish I Were a Single Girl Again")
11. Fuson, pp. 85-86, "Oh Then" (1 text, in which the second wife apparently plans to hang the husband before she, like the first, falls sick)
12. Cambiaire, pp. 99-100, "When I Was Single" (1 text)
13. Shellans, pp. 20-21, "My First And Last Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune, in which the second wife tries to hang the singer and he shoots her after being rescued; Shellans thinks the singer may have made up this material.)
14. Sandburg, p. 47, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (1 text, 1 tune)
15. Creighton/Senior, pp. 215-217 , "When I Was Single" (1 text, 1 tune)
16. Mackenzie 143, "When I Was Single" (1 text, 1 tune)
17. Scott-BoA, pp. 169-171, "When I Was Single" (1 text, 1 tune)
18. Combs/Wilgus 177, pp. 181-182, "The Married Man" (1 text)
19. Lomax-FSUSA 13(B), "When I Was Single (II)" (1 text, 1 tune)
20. Lomax-ABFS, pp. 156-158, "When I Was Single" (1 text, 2 tunes)
21. LPound-ABS, 98, pp. 207-208, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (1 text)
22. Darling-NAS, pp. 274-275, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (1 text)
23. Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 276-277, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (1 text, 1 tune)
24. Silber-FSWB, p. 172, "I Wish I Was Single Again" (1 text)
25. DT, WISHSNGL
26. Roud #437
27. BI, R365