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The Swapping Song / The Foolish Boy

[ Roud 469 ; Ballad Index E093 ; trad.]

The Swapping Song is from Cecil Sharp's English Folk Song for Schools. Shirley Collins recorded it in a two day session in London in 1958 for her 1960 LP False True Lovers. She also sang this song as The Foolish Boy in 1959 or 1960 on her Collector EP English Songs Volume 2.

Peggy Seeger sang The Swapping Song on the 1971 Argo Records anthology The Word of Folk.

Lyrics

Shirley Collins sings The Swapping Song

My father died and I can't tell how,
He left me six horses to follow the plough.

Chorus (after each verse):

With a wim-wim-wobble-o
Strim-strim-strobble-o
Bubble-o, pretty boy, over the brow.

So I sold the horses and I bought a cow,
But how for to milk her I didn't know how.

So I sold the cow and I bought a calf,
I never made a bargain but I lose the better half.

So I sold the calf and I bought a cat,
The pretty little thing in the corner sat.

I sold the cat and I bought a mouse,
It set fire to its tail and burnt down my house.

Peggy Seeger sings The Swapping Song

When I was a little boy I lived by myself
And all the bread and cheese I got I laid it on the shelf

Chorus (after each verse):

To my wing-wong waddle, to my Jack Straw saddle,
To my jolly fair faddle, to my long way home!

Well, the rats and the mice, they led me such a life
That I had to go to London for to get myself a wife

The roads were so rocky and the lanes were so narrow
That I had to bring her home in an old wheelbarrow

My foot slipped and I got me such a fall,
Down came wheelbarrow, little wife and all

I swapped my wheelbarrow and I got me a horse
Then I rode home from cross to cross

I swapped my horse and I got me a mule
Then I rode home like a doggone fool

I swapped my mule, I got me a cow
And in that trade I learned just how

I swapped my cow and I got me a calf
And I ever got a bargain, I just just half

I swapped my calf and I got me a sheep
Then I rode till I fell asleep

I swapped my sheep and I got me a hen
Oh! what a pretty thing I had then!

I swapped my hen and I got me a rat
I sat it on a haystack to keep it from the cat

I swapped my rat, I got me a mouse
Its tail caught afire and burned our little house

I swapped my mouse, I got me a mole
And the dog-gone thing went straight to the hole!