Versions: So Be Easy and Free When You're Drinkin'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: So Be Easy and Free When You're. . .
From: Greyeyes
Date: 13 Dec 00 - 05:17 PM

"I took out my gun and my dog for to shoot" or "I took out my dog and my gun for to shoot" do not suggest that it is the dog that is being shot. In the UK to take your dog and gun to shoot just means you went out shooting (hunting) with a dog and a gun.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: So Be Easy and Free When You're. . .
From: whistledon
Date: 13 Dec 00 - 05:17 PM

thanks for clearing that up, Jeri. I sing it as if the dog and it's owner were going hunting for critters. I have heard it sung, " I will take out my gun and my dog for to shoot", but I won't sing it that way.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: So Be Easy and Free When You're. . .
From: Jeri
Date: 13 Dec 00 - 05:03 PM

Whistledon's version still has him taking his dog and gun and going shooting. I think I first heard the "I took out my gun, my dog for to shoot" or some such from the Pogues.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: So Be Easy and Free When You're. . .
From: kendall
Date: 13 Dec 00 - 04:47 PM

I dont believe the dog ever got shot..the way I learned it was..I took out my gun WITH my dog I did shoot. In Britain they say "shoot" whereas we say "hunt"

Subject: Lyr Add: I'M A MAN YOU DON'T MEET EVERY DAY (?)
From: whistledon
Date: 13 Dec 00 - 03:38 PM

Here is the version I use, but it is only one version of the song and not set in stone.

Oh, me name is Pat Sweeney. I'm a cagey old man,
And a ramblin' young rover I've been.
So be easy and free when you're drinking with me.
I'm a man you don't meet every day.

I have acres of land and I've been of command,
I've always a shilling to spare.
So be----

I will take out my dog and my gun for to shoot,
and I'll ramble round rivers and lakes.
So be----

Come fill up your glass, be it whiskey or beer,
Whatever the price I will pay.
So be---

Repeat first verse and chorus and end.

Hope that helps you, just be aware that there are others versions too.
Whistledon

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 25-Jul-02.

Subject: Lyr Add: BOUND TO AUSTRALIA
From: radriano
Date: 13 Dec 00 - 12:14 PM

Hmmm, that link in my last post is actually for a song called "The First of the Emigrants". The song I was referring to is from Stan Hugill's book Shanties of the Seven Seas. Here is that version (not in DT):


BOUND TO AUSTRALIA
Capstan shanty

I'm leaving old England, the land that I love
And I'm bound far across the sea
Oh, I'm bound for Australia, the land of the free
Where there'll be a welcome for me

Chorus:
So fill up yer glasses an' drink what ye please
For whatever the damage I'll pay
So be aisy an' free, whilst yer drinkin' wid me
Sure I'm a man you don't meet every day!

When I board me ship for the south'ard to go
She'll be lookin' so trim an' so fine
And I'll land me aboard, with me bags and me stores
From the dockside they'll cast off each line

To Land's End we'll tow, with our boys all so tight
Wave a hearty goodbye to the shore
And we'll drink the last drop to our country's green land
And the next day we'll curse our sore heads

We'll then drop the tug, and sheet tops'ls home taut
And the hands will crowd sail upon sail
With a sou'wester strong, boys, we'll just tack along
By the morn many jibs will turn pale

We'll beat past the Ushant and then down the Bay
Where the west wind it blows fine an' strong
We'll soon get the Trades and we should make good time
To the south'ard then we'll roll along

Round the Cape we will roll, take our flyin' kites in
For the Forties will sure roar their best
And then run our Eastin' with yards all set square
With the wind roaring out of the west

We'll then pass Cape Looin all shipshape and trim
Then head up for Adelaide Port
Off Semaphore roads we will there drop our hook
And ashore, boys, we'll head for some sport

When I've worked in Australia for twenty long years
One day will I head homeward bound
With a nice little fortune tucked under me wing
By a steamship I'll travel I'm bound

So 'tis goodbye to Sally and goodbye to Sue
When I'm leavin' Australia so free
Where the gals are so kind, but the one left behind
Is the one that will one day splice me

Richard

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: So Be Easy and Free When You're. . .
From: radriano
Date: 13 Dec 00 - 12:07 PM

There's an Irish version of this too, which I can't remember the name of. Also, the chorus is used for a capstan shanty called "Bound to Australia", which is in Digital Tradition. Click below to see it:

Bound to Australia

Link fixed so it now points to the song you had in mind. --JoeClone, 25-Jul-02.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: So Be Easy and Free When You're. . .
From: The Shambles
Date: 13 Dec 00 - 02:18 AM

Jock Stewart.

Subject: So Be Easy and Free When You're. . .
From: GUEST,Odden
Date: 13 Dec 00 - 01:33 AM

This song is probably pretty common--heard it every place we went in Scotland 20 years ago, but saw a line of it in the book Map of the World and now it's driving me crazy to know all the words. All I can remember is the first line of the chorus: "So be easy and free when you're drinking with me, I'm a man you don't meet every day."

It might have been called "John Stuart" (sp?)