there was a woman and she lived on her own slaved on her own and skivvied on her own she d two little boys and two little girls she lived all alone with her husband he was a hunk of a man a chunk of a man and a drunk of a man a hunk of a drunken skunk of a man such a boozy bruising bully of a husband for when he d come home drunk at night he d thrash her black and thrash her white thrashed her to within an inch of her life and snored all night like a big drunken husband one night she gathered her tears all round her shame covered up the bruise and cried with the pain you ll not do that ever again i ll not live anymore with a drunk of a husband and that night as he lay drunk in bed the strangest thought came to her head she took the needle and the thread and went straight in to her sleeping husband she started to stitch with a girlish thrill with a woman s eye and a seamstress skill she bibbed and tucked with an iron will a she stitched all round her sleeping husband the top sheet the bottom sheet too the blanket stitched to the mattress through she bibbed and tucked the whole night through waiting for the dawn and her husband solo he awoke with a pain in his head he found that he could not move in bed sweet god in heaven have i lost me legs she just sat and smiled at her husband in her hand she held the frying pan with a flutter in her heart she flew at him he could not move he cried god damn don t you swear at me ya dirty husband she beat him black she beat him blue with the frying pan and the colander too with the rolling pin a stroke or two such a battered and repenting husband if you ever come home drunk again i ll stitch you up and sew you in then i ll pack my bag and i ll be gone i ll not live with a drunk of a husband isn t it true what a wife can do with a needle thread and a stitch or two he s wiped his slate and his boozin s through she don t live anymore with a drunken husband recorded by mike waterson martin carthy max hole filename stictime br