Stan McGrath was born on 7 January 1943 and has been based in Patrick’s Cove all of his life. He picked up his songs from a variety of sources: from friends and the older generation of singers in his community, and also from the people he met while living away from the Cape Shore.

Stan worked in construction, a career that took him all over the province and into contact with other workers from many different places. He learned “The days of the week,” for example, in a lumbering camp off of a man from Bishop Falls. When home in Patrick’s Cove, Stan sang at house parties and in the local clubs—like Coffey’s Lounge in Angel Cove, where Aidan O’Hara first met Stan.

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The days of the week / Stan McGrath

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The days of the week / Stan McGrath

The days of the week, song (On Monday morning as I roved out …) Also known as “A week’s matrimony” or “The woeful marriage,” this comic broadside ballad tells the story of a whirlwind courtship and marriage that ends in violence and mental instability. Stan McGrath learned this song while working away from the Cape Shore in the lumberwoods.

ITMA Reference	51938
Creator	McGrath, Stan, singing in English
Contributor	O'Hara, Aidan ; Goldstein, Kenneth
Date	29 July 1978
Publisher	Irish Traditional Music Archive
Location	Coffey's Lounge, Angel's Cove, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, Canada
Subject	Newfoundland: Song in English
Language	English
Collection	RTÉ Newfoundland Recordings
Type	Sound
Extent	00:02:52
Copyright	Performer, Kenneth Goldstein, Hugh Rowlings, and Aidan O'Hara
Roud Number	1692
View in ITMA catalogue:	Go to catalogue