"Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (

Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...

489), also known as "Soldier John" and "Soldier, Soldier," is an English traditional folk song. Fresno State University gives the earliest collected date as 1903 in America, and it was collected many times in Tennessee and North Carolina in the early 1900s. It was printed in "Games and Songs of American Children" by William Wells Newell. However the song was collected many times over in a short period of time, including Cecil Sharp in 1917, Anne Gilchrist in Scotland in 1919 and Seamus Ennis in Ireland. Among many classical arrangements,

Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career started ...

made an arrangement of the song in 1936.

Lyrics

The song concerns a woman seeking marriage of a soldier, who demurs for want of proper apparel (hat, coat, boots, etc.). She proceeds to fetch him, from her grandfather's chest, each article he asks for, one by one, in each respective verse. At the end, asked once again to marry her, the soldier, all dressed in her grandfather's clothing, refuses once more, revealing that he is already married.

Commercial recordings

* Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers - ''The Very Best Of'' (1930) * Harry Belafonte - ''Mark Twain and Other Folk Favorites'' (1954) and ''Legends Day O'' (2012) * Isla Cameron - ''Through Bushes and Briars'' (1956) * Bandogg - ''Bandoggs'' (1978) * Vic Shepherd and John Bowden - ''A Motty Down'' (1982) * Brass Monkey - ''Sound and Rumour'' (1998) * Natalie Merchant - ''The House Carpenter's Daughter'' (2003).

In popular culture

In the season 2 episode of ''

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. Lightly dramatic, sometimes comedic in tone, the series was inspired by the 1812 J ...

'' titled "The Dream Monster",

Angela Cartwright Angela Margaret Cartwright (born September 9, 1952) is an English-born American actress primarily known for her roles in movies and television. On television, she played Linda Williams, the stepdaughter of Danny Williams (played by Danny Thoma ...

's character Penny Robinson sings this song while watering plants. In the 1990 film '' Dances with Wolves'', Kevin Costner's character sings this song as he swims in a creek near Fort Sedgwick. In the 1982 VHS ''Golden Nursery Rhymes'', a version of this nursery rhyme is sung, with two puppets reenacting the story.

References

Songs about soldiers Songs about the military Songs about marriage English folk songs Year of song unknown Songs with unknown songwriters {{folk-song-stub