I ran across this while searching for something else. From The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music:

NO BEER, NO WORK
Sammy Edwards, 1919

1. Johnny Hymer was a miner, always on the job.
Johnny loved his lager like a sailor loves his grog.
One day, his foreman told him that this country would go dry.
John threw his tools upon the ground. You should have heard him cry:

CHORUS: "No beer, no work" will be my battle cry.
"No beer, no work" when I am feeling dry.
I never could like lemonade or bevo*, for beer is all I'll buy.
I'll hide my self away
Until some brighter day
When I can sip the lager from a stein.
"No beer, no work" will be my battle cry
After the first of July.

2. Johnny's steady, ever ready to give good advice,
Said, "Go back to work or there'll be no old shoes or rice.
Be like Kipling's hero. Bear your troubles with a grin."
John said, "I'll be your hero, but I'll be no Gunga Din."**

3. "When I was a baby," said our Johnny with a smile,
"They raised me on a bottle. Now they want to change the style.
John Barleycorn's a friend of mine. My daddy knew him well.
He'd bring John home with him at night and ma would give him –––.

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*Bevo was a brand of non-alcoholic "near beer" that was made by Anheuser-Busch before and during prohibition. If "bevo" was ever used as a generic term for near beer, I wasn't aware of it, but that's what the song seems to imply. "Bevo" is NOT capitalized in the printed lyrics.

**Something seems garbled in this verse, since Johnny's foreman seems to be speaking, although it doesn't say so. Also, the reference to "old shoes or rice" seems odd. It suggests that Johnny was planning to get married, but if so, I think the lyrics should say so more plainly.

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