The Old Maid's Song is an American folk song. It recounts the story of a woman whose younger sisters have married, while she has remained a spinster into middle age. During the chorus of the song, the narrator defines a loose criterion for a husband.
The song is derived from the broadside ballad "The Wooing Maid," a song which dates to the seventeenth century.[1]
The chorus lyrics vary between different versions of the song. In a version collected in Dover, Vermont in 1919, the chorus is sung:
A linman, a tinman, a tinker, a tailor,
A fiddler, a peddler, a plough-man, a sailor;
Come gentle, come simple, come foolish, come witty,
Don't let me die an old maid, but take me out of pity![2]
In another variation heard in Pulaski County, Kentucky and published in 1917 differs slightly:
Come a landsman, a pinsman, a tinker or a tailor,
A fiddler or a dancer, a ploughboy or a sailor,
A gentleman or a poor man, a fool or a witty,
Don't you let me die an old maid, but take me out of pity.[1]
In "The Wooing Maid," the ballad from which the song is derived, the first two lines of the chorus belong instead to the first verse:
[...]
Come tinker, come broomman:
She will refuse no man.
Come gentle, come simple, come foolish, come witty,
Oh! if you lack a maid, take me for pitty.[3]
The song is known by many titles, including "Sister Susan",[4] and "The Spinster's Lament",[2] "Old Maid's Complaint", "Old Maid's Lament," and "Old Maid's Petition".[5]
Pete Seeger recorded a rendition of the song for the Smithsonian Folkways label.
The Kingston Trio's "Take Her Out of Pity", included on their 1961 album Close-Up, is based on the song.[6]