Single Girl, Married Girl: A Song History

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"Single Girl, Married Girl" sets two lives side by side: the unmarried young woman who is free to go out, and the wife who must look after the baby.[1] The Traditional Ballad Index gives no date for this particular song earlier than the Carter Family's 1927 recording.[1] The Index cross-references it with several songs in which an unhappy wife longs to be single again, and the earliest date it gives for one of them, "I Wish I Were a Single Girl Again," is 1907.[2] The Roud index files the two songs under one number (436), but the Ballad Index doubts the connection, while granting that songs like these easily borrow from each other.[1]

Harp zither with many strings, a carved scroll and a round sound hole

A. F. Kochendorfer, Harp Zither, wood and wire, Stuttgart, early 20th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). Shown as a stringed instrument of the period; it has no connection to the song.

The Carter Family recorded six songs in Bristol on August 1 and 2, 1927, and "Single Girl, Married Girl" was one of them.[3] The Discography of American Historical Recordings dates it (matrix BVE-39754) to August 2 and describes it as a female vocal duet with guitar and autoharp.[4] The Ballad Index, drawing on Barry Mazor's 2015 book about Ralph Peer, reports that A. P. Carter did not appear that day and that Peer suggested the song.[1] Sara Carter, an alto, usually sang lead for the group.[5] Victor issued the recording as 20937, and the Ballad Index also lists a 1937 Carter Family issue of the song on ARC and Conqueror.[1]

Harry Smith put the 1927 recording on Volume Three of his Anthology of American Folk Music, which Folkways released in 1952.[6] Frank Proffitt sang a "Single Girl" for Anne and Frank Warner in 1940, and apart from a reference to the Carters' Victor disc, the Warners had found no other trace of the song.[7] Petra Haden sang it at a UCLA concert in April 2001, and the performance was issued in 2006 on The Harry Smith Project.[7]

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Sources

  1. The Traditional Ballad Index: "Single Girl, Married Girl".
  2. The Traditional Ballad Index: "I Wish I Were a Single Girl Again".
  3. Birthplace of Country Music Museum: "The Carter Family" (student activity sheets).
  4. Discography of American Historical Recordings (UC Santa Barbara): "Recordings made Tuesday, August 2, 1927".
  5. Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Carter Family".
  6. Mainly Norfolk: "Anthology of American Folk Music".
  7. Mainly Norfolk: "I Wish I Were Single Again".