The Old man and young wife. Together with "Money makes the mare go"

Like “Robin Bohugh,” “The Old Man and Young Wife” reflects the theme of pairing a younger spouse with an older spouse, both of which go along with the second song on this broadside, “Money Makes the Mare Go.” “The Old Man and Young Wife” is a woman’s version of the theme, showing that both men and women could be out for the main chance. While in “Robin Bohugh” neither partner was jealous, here the song narrates the process by which the wife comes to grips with her situation and makes the most of a bad bargain that eventually turns good for her. The story appears to relate to seventeenth-century texts set to “Whoop! Do Me No Harm, Good Man” and “Clean Contrary Way,” but neither of those tunes fits this text (Simpson 109, 777-80). The broadside text was printed in Columbian Songster (103-4).

George Colman Jr. wrote the comic song “Money Makes the Mare Go” on the old proverb of its title. The song was written for Stephen Storace’s musical play, The Iron Chest (1796), which was performed in Boston in 1805, 1806, 1812, and 1814 (Porter, With an Air 77, 520). According to a later broadside version, the text came to be sung to “Fourpence Halfpenny Farthing; or, The Jockey” (Olson). The text appeared in ten songsters between 1798 and 1820 (R. Keller, Early American Songsters).