Broadside ballad entitled 'Now, We Will Get Married. We've Got Nothing Else To Do'

Commentary

The first verse reads: 'I am a yeung man in search of a wife, / All for to be the pleasures and comforts of my life, / If anyone should hear me, and I declare its true, / Saying, now we will get married, we've got nothing else to do.' A woodcut illustration showing a young couple sitting underneath a tree, surrounded by several figures, has been included.There are no publication details given, but this is one of two songs - printed by James Lindsay - on this sheet.

The young man of this light-hearted ditty soon meets a young woman and proposes marriage on the grounds that they both have 'nothing else to do'. They then rush off to talk to a priest who agrees to marry them on the grounds that he has 'nothing else to do'. The song ends on a humorous and slighty risqué note, with the couple declaring that now they are married they 'will sing no more about it' as they have now 'got something else to do'. Tactfully, the 'something else' is left up to the imagination of the reader!

Early ballads were dramatic or humorous narrative songs derived from folk culture that predated printing. Originally perpetuated by word of mouth, many ballads survive because they were recorded on broadsides. Musical notation was rarely printed, as tunes were usually established favourites. The term 'ballad' eventually applied more broadly to any kind of topical or popular verse.

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