Song review: Oscar Brand - The Chandler's Wife

Een 'chandler' is een kaarsenmaker en een kaarsenhandelaar.

Het is een Engelse folk song. Het idee komt van een nog ouder lied dat 'Rap-Tap-Trap' heet. In dat lied maakt een boerenknecht gebruik van de gelegenheid om met de vrouw van de boer, als die er niet is, de liefde te bedrijven. Als de boer thuiskomt prijst hij zijn knecht voor het zorgdragen van zijn bezit tijdens zijn afwezigheid. Hij geeft hem bier. Uiteraard heeft hij geen idee wat de knecht met zijn vrouw had uitgespookt.

De tekst van Rap-Tap-Trap:

So come all ye farmer's servant-men that are both stout and bold
And If you do as I have done you will never catch any cold
For when my master goes abroad for to view the fields so gay
I goes to the door with my RAP-TAP-TAP, oh, let it be night or day

'Twas every Thursday morning my master to market did go
He asked me to mind his bus-i-ness as servants often do
As soon as my master's back was turned I went toddling out of the barn
And went up to the door with my RAP-TAP-TAP for sure I thought no harm

O no harm at all, my mistress said and she asked me to come in
When I complained of the belly-ache she gave to me some gin
I took it and I drank it down but not a word did I say
For she knew that I'd come with my RAP-TAP-TAP so upstairs we went straightway

O there we lay in sport and play for half an hour or more
My mistress she was so fond of the sport I thought she'd never give o'er
O you've won my heart forever, Jack, your master's no man for me
For he can't come with his RAP-TAP-TAP not half as well as thee

So when my master did come home and he asked me what I had done
I told him I'd minded his bus-i-ness just as well as if he was at home
He gave to me some beer to drink but not one word did he know
That I'd been there with my RAP-TAP-TAP if he had he'd a never done so