Annotation:When once I lay with another man's wife
X:1 T:When once I kissed another man's wife M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Air S:Howe – 1000 Jigs and Reels (c. 1867) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:F FGF cBc | AGA F2F | GAG cBc | A3G3 :: FGF cBc| AGA FGA | BcB AGF | GFG C3 | FGF AGF | G3F3 :|
WHEN ONCE I LAY WITH ANOTHER MAN'S WIFE. AKA – "Gamesters and Lawyers," "Winchester Wedding (1)," "King's Jig (The)," "King's Delight (The)." English, Air (6/8 time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The air was published by John Gay in his ballad opera The Beggar's Opera (1729, Air XXIV) beginning "Gamesters and lawyers are jugglers alike [1]." It also appears in Musick's Handmaid (1678) and other of John Playford's publications. Boston publisher Elias Howe (c. 1867) pruriently amended the title by substituting the word ‘kissed’ for the words ‘lay with’. "When once I lay with another man's wife" is itself the refrain to a song entitled "The Benefits of Marriage" and was set to an older tune "King's Delight (The)," popular during the Restoration period (1660–88).
