# What is this (folk) song (from Dances with Wolves)?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-folk-song-from-dances-with-wolves/512389>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 2, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-folk-song-from-dances-with-wolves/512389 "2009-10-02T20:17:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tmoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e5b9ba/32.png) [@tmoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tmoh)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-folk-song-from-dances-with-wolves/512389/1 "2009-10-02T20:17:49Z")

</div>

Near the beginning of _Dances With Wolves_, we hear Kevin Costner’s character singing a few lines of an unidentified folk song. The lyrics we get–“Why should I marry an ugly little girl when I got a pretty wife at home?”, IIRC–reminded me a lot of the British song “Gentleman Soldier,” but I can’t find anything online about an American version of that and it’s a totally different tune. Does anybody know what it’s called, and/or if it and “Gentleman Soldier” really do share some common origin?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-folk-song-from-dances-with-wolves/512389/2 "2009-10-02T20:36:05Z")

</div>

[Modding]

Moved to CS. Also, edited the title to be more specific.

[/Modding]

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-folk-song-from-dances-with-wolves/512389/3 "2009-10-02T20:38:18Z")

</div>

It’s “Soldier, Soldier Will You Marry Me?”. Natalie Merchant did a version. Nick Cave, too.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-folk-song-from-dances-with-wolves/512389/4 "2009-10-02T20:47:20Z")

</div>

[Lyrics of the Natalie Merchant Version](http://www.10kmaniacs.org/nam/inamhcd.htm) (scroll down a bit). Some other versions, like [Nick Cave’s](http://www.songlyrics.com/nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/soldier-soldier-will-you-marry-me-lyrics/), have lyrics slightly different from the ones Costner was singing.