Eggs and Marrowbone

"Eggs and Marrowbone" (also known as "The Rich Old Lady") is a traditional folk song from the British Isles.

A version of the lyrics from the Appalachians is:

There was an old woman in our town

In our town did dwell

She loved her husband dearly

But another man twice as well

She went down to the doctor

To see what she could find

To see what she could find, Sir

To make her old man blind.

"Feed him eggs and marrowbone

And feed them to him all,

And that will make him so darned blind

He can't see you at all."

So she fed him eggs and marrowbone

Fed them to him all,

And that did make him so darned blind

He couldn't see her at all

"So now I'm getting old and blind

And tired of my life

So I'll go and drown myself

And that will end my strife"

"To drown yourself," said she, said she,

"Now that would be a sin.

So I'll go down to the river's edge

And kindly push you in."

The old woman took a running jump

To push her old man in.

The old man he just stepped aside

And the woman she fell in.

She yelled for help, she screamed for help;

Loudly she did bawl.

The old man said "I'm so gol-darned blind

I can't see you at all!"

So she swam along, swam along,

Till she came to the river's brim.

The old man got a great long pole

And pushed her further in.

Now the old woman is dead and gone

And the Devil has got her soul.

Wasn't she a blamed old fool

That she didn't grab that pole?

Eating eggs and marrowbone

Won't make your old man blind;

So if you want to do him in

Just creep up from behind.