{"id":4686,"date":"2003-12-29T16:48:52","date_gmt":"2003-12-29T21:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/?p=4686"},"modified":"2016-05-04T21:15:27","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T01:15:27","slug":"i-wish-i-was-single-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/archives\/4686","title":{"rendered":"“I Wish I Was Single Again”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every evening Pa played the fiddle, and now Mr. Boast’s and Mrs. Boast’s beautiful voices rounded out the singing. Gaily Pa played and they sang… — By the Shores of Silver Lake, Chapter 22, “Happy Winter Days”<\/em><\/p>\n

     
\nI<\/span> Wish I Was Single Again (often “I Wish I Were Single Again”) was written by J.C. Beckel in 1871. James Cox Beckel (1811-1880) was a Philadelphia church organist and composer. This popular comedic song was a welcome contrast to the sentimental ballads of the Reconstruction era.<\/p>\n

In the manuscript for By the Shores of Silver Lake<\/em>, Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote that “Pa never sang all of that song. His eyes would twinkle at Ma. The music would change and Pa would sing: “She can make a cherry pie, Billy boy, Billy boy…” As can be seen from the original lyrics below, “I Wish I Was Single Again” didn’t exactly extol the virtues of marriage. No wonder the lyrics were slightly altered for publication!<\/p>\n

\r\n\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\tI WISH I WERE SINGLE AGAIN<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. I wish I were single, O then, O then!\n
I wish I were single, O then!\n
When I was single my pockets did jingle,\n
And I wish I were single again.<\/p>\n

2. When I was single, O then, O then!\n
When I was single, O then!\n
I lived at my ease and I went where I pleased,\n
And I wish I were single again.<\/p>\n

3. I married a wife, O then. O then!\n
I married a wife, O then!\n
I married a wife, she’s the plague of my life,\n
And I wish I were single again.<\/p>\n

4. And now I am married. O then. O then!\n
And now I am married, O then!\n
If I go anywhere, my wife’s sure to be there,\n
And I wish I were single again.<\/p>\n

5. When my wife died, O then. O then!\n
When my wife died, O then!\n
When my wife died, I’ll be hanged if I cried,\n
So glad to be single again.<\/p>\n

6. I went to the funeral. O then, O then!\n
I went to the funeral, O then!\n
The music did play, and I danced all the way,\n
So glad to be single again.\n
(continued next column)<\/p>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

\r\n\t\t\t\t\t

7. I married another. O then. O then!\n
I married another. O then!\n
I married another, she’s worse than the other!\n
And I wish I were single again.<\/p>\n

8. Now all ye young men, O then. O then!\n
Now all ye young men, O then!\n
Be kind to your first, or the last will prove worse!\n
And you’ll wish for the old one again!<\/p>\n

I WISH I WAS SINGLE AGAIN (from By the Shores of Silver Lake<\/em>)<\/p>\n

When I was young and single,\n
I could make the money jingle\n
And the world went well with me then, O then!<\/p>\n

I married me a wife, O then! O then!\n
I married me a wife, O then!\n
I married me a wife, she was the joy of my life,\n
And the world went well with me then!<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE<\/a> to listen. <\/p><\/blockquote>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>

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   <\/p>\n

<\/a>   \n<\/a>   \n<\/a>   \n<\/a>   <\/p>\n

Click on the above images to view a copy of sheet music of “I Wish I Was Single Again.”\n   <\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

     
\n
\n“I Wish I Was Single Again”<\/strong> (SSL 26)
\n     “When I was young and single”
\n     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1871 J.C. Beckel song.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7929,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[638],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4686"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4686"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10825,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4686\/revisions\/10825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pioneergirl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}