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Lyr Req: Beer is Best
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Subject: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: GUEST Date: 28 Sep 02 - 02:45 AM I'm looking for the lyrics of the rugby song "Beer Is Best" of which I only have the chorus, as follows:
Beer is best Beer makes you big, makes you strong Puts more muscle in the old ding-dong Beer makes bonny babies Puts hair upon your chest (big chest) What did Adam say to Eve, but Beer is best Yr help is much appreciated. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca Date: 28 Sep 02 - 07:00 AM IS this the one? From http://www.submariners.co.uk/lyrics/beer.html Beer Is best Beer, Is best, have another one |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: alanabit Date: 28 Sep 02 - 07:50 AM I learned this from my Dad (who was at HMS Caledonia with Cyril Tawney) some forty years ago. I have taught it to my daughter and it seems set to enter the oral tradition -along with "Go to sleep my baby"! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: GUEST Date: 28 Sep 02 - 12:34 PM It may me the one - there may be various versions of the chorus - but what I'm looking for are the rest of the lyrics. One of the verses starts "There's nothing like a rugby game..." Another starts "'Twas on the good ship Victory that Nelson did command ..." And another about the Old West, that has somewhere in the middle "... tried your firewater and your demon rum ..." Any help is appreciated.
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: Susanne (skw) Date: 28 Sep 02 - 05:52 PM Can't find it in the DT, SuperSearch doesn't work, and I've only got the first verse in my database. I'll try and get the rest down for you tomorrow (if nobody beats me to it). Promise! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: Jim Dixon Date: 30 Sep 02 - 04:03 PM There is a song called "Beer Is Best" on Hamish Imlach's "Definitive Transatlantic Collection," (Essential CD #522, 1998), where it is called "traditional." There is also a song called "Beer Is Best" in the 1969 musical play "Canterbury Tales" adapted from Chaucer by Nevill Coghill and Martin Starkie, music by John Hawkins and Richard Hill, lyrics by Nevill Coghill. It is performed by Roy Cooper, Evelyn Page, and Ed Evanko on the Original Broadway Cast album, Angel CD ZDM-65171. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: BEER IS BEST (from Hamish Imlach) From: Susanne (skw) Date: 30 Sep 02 - 05:41 PM I know now why I hadn't got the words down! Did any Mudcatter used to be in the British Colonial Service out in India, when it was still the Jewel in the Crown? :-) Anyway, this is Hamish Imlach's version (more or less), and though it doesn't sound like it's the version Guest is looking for, you are invited to comment on the question marks! BEER IS BEST (Trad) Chorus: Beer is best, beer is best Makes you fit, makes you strong Puts some muscle in your old ding-dong Beer builds bonnie babies Beer has stood the test What did Adam say to Eve Beer is best It was out in Hindustani, the sun was beating down Up came a tattie-wallah (?) with some water on his crown Get away, you tattie-wallah, get away, you gunga din (?) How dare you bring that stuff to me Go out and bring a brewery I remember once in Poona from noonday dogs I fled Up came a trusty taprassi (?) with a turban on his head And as he ran up beside me some sherbet he proffered Go take it back, I had to shout What I really need is ale or stout
As I bear the white man's burden in many a savage clime |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: GUEST Date: 01 Oct 02 - 01:54 AM It looks like the one I'm looking for - I'm just assuming someone wrote additional verses relating to rugby. Much obliged, btw. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: Susanne (skw) Date: 02 Oct 02 - 07:28 PM Glad about that, Guest - and your assumption is probably quite correct. It's the kind of song that invites football or rugby additions (though not cricket, perhaps ...). I'd still like someone to explain the terms with question marks above., seeing I can't ask Hamish any more (who was rather proud of his childhood spent in India). |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca Date: 02 Oct 02 - 09:07 PM IS there a particular tune for this song? I have a lot of friends who DO drink and love to sing. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: Susanne (skw) Date: 07 Oct 02 - 08:28 PM refresh |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: NightWing Date: 19 Sep 03 - 05:05 PM This song is making its way into the Hash House Harriers song list, as well as Rugby. For the tune, see this link. It's good to know there are more verses. ON-ON NightWing (In the Hashing world, "Little Head") |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: Susanne (skw) Date: 19 Sep 03 - 08:22 PM Anybody out there who can explain the Indian(?) terms in the lyrics above? Please, Mudcat! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: NightWing Date: 24 Jun 04 - 08:17 PM I'll make an attempt at the first two: tattie wallah and Gunga Din. According to the online version of the Merriam Webster a wallah is "a person who is associated with a particular work or who performs a specific duty or service -- usually used in combination (the book wallah was an itinerant peddler -- George Orwell)". (The Hindi and Sanskrit terms it derives from give it connotations of "one in charge" and of "guarding", but that didn't carry over into the meaning of the English term.) Wikipedia says, "Gunga Din is one of the more famous poems by Rudyard Kipling. Perhaps best known is its often-quoted last line, 'You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!' The poem is a rhyming narrative from the point of view of a British soldier, about a native water-bearer who saves his life. Like several other Kipling poems, it celebrates the virtues of a non-European while retaining a colonialist view of such people as being of a 'lower order'." You can find the full text here at Bartleby's. I cannot find any hint of what "tattie" is in this context. The only meaning I can find is the obvious: "tattie" = potato. However, given the context of the song -- the wallah has water in his crown and is referred to as "Gunga Din", who in the poem was the regimental water-carrier -- I suspect that a tattie wallah is simply a water-carrier or water-seller. BB, NightWing |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: Susanne (skw) Date: 26 Jun 04 - 04:47 PM Thanks, NightWing! Took you a long time but it would have taken me a lot longer. :-) (And I never thought of asking Hamish when he was still alive...) |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: GUEST, TheBigPinkLad Date: 26 Jun 04 - 07:37 PM I believe tattie is the same as tatty, hence 'scruffy' and yes wallah means 'person who does' so ... pani wallah - water boy char wallah - tea boy punkah wallah - boy who pulled the chord outside the hut to operate the fan inside (no electricity then you see), etc. and these words passed into English via returning troops applied to men that called at the door such as book wallah, gas wallah, rent wallah, etc. The 'taprasi' would have been a follower of Ash-Sheikh Fazal bin Hassan bin Fazal At-Tabrasi a muslim cleric and this one was evidently also a purveyor of that supreme Arab confection sherbet ... fuzzie-wuzzies were the Sudanese troops whom the British fought and respected as fighting men. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: Susanne (skw) Date: 28 Jun 04 - 07:36 PM So what DOES a tattie (or tatty) wallah do? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: GUEST,MCP Date: 29 Jun 04 - 07:54 AM Is is definitely tatty? There is a putty-wallah - an office messenger - see egWallah. (I've looked at several Wallah sites and OED and can't find anything remotely like tatty/tattee/tathi...) Mick |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: Billy the Bus Date: 30 Jun 04 - 01:59 AM T'was on the good ship Victory upon Trafalgar Bay. For milies and miles and miles around, the gallant Frenchmen lay, Nelson, on the quarterdeck, was quaffing tots of rum, When to the yardarm signal head, the following flags were run... Beer is best etc... Mumble.... there's got to be some 12-15 other verses lurking in my grey matter. I've sent a message out to my brain cell = will follow up if I get a response,, Cheers - Sam |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: GUEST Date: 30 Jun 04 - 03:08 AM I had heard that "fuzzie-wuzzies" was the term used tio refer to the native New Guinea natives that assisted the Australian troops in WWII. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: BEER IS BEST From: GUEST,Richard Date: 20 Aug 04 - 10:34 PM As far as I can remember the version my father sang is as follows, I believe he learned it from his father who learned it in the British Army in the early part of the 20th century. I think each chorus should substitute the last but one line with one that references the previous verse, but I don't recall them all … VERSE 1 The troops they all lay thirsty out there in Hindustan. Up came a pani wallah with water in a can. The Major said "What! Water? How dare you Gunga Din," Don't bring that lousy stuff to me go out and find a brewery For… CHORUS Beer is best, Beer is best, It makes you fit, It makes you strong , It puts more muscle in the old pom-pom. Beer makes bonnie Britons, And beer has stood the test. What does water do but rot your boots, Beer is best. VERSE 2 It was the gallant Nelson out in Trafalgar Bay Upon the good ship Victory where all the Frenchmen lay The sailors all around him were drinking tots of rum Along the line a message ran To every true born Englishman. That… CHORUS VERSE 3 The shades of night were falling, were falling thick and fast, As through an Alpine village a gay young hiker passed. "Excelsior!" he shouted as in his strong right hand, He carried through the snow and ice A banner with the strange device … CHORUS (substitute last but one line) Snow and ice is not too nice VERSE 4 It was the good ship Hesperus that sailed the stormy seas The Captain took his daughter to keep him company The little maid was seasick, he took her on his lap And whispered to her tenderly "The sea's no good for you nor me" But… CHORUS (substitute last but one line) The sea's no good for you nor me VERSE 5 'Twas Christmas in the workhouse the walls were grim and bare Up came the workhouse master to all the paupers there One pauper got excited and using hasty words He hit the Master with his duff, And shouted "Keep your lousy stuff!" For… CHORUS (substitute last but one line) Your Christmas pud' it tastes like wood |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: Nigel Parsons Date: 21 Aug 04 - 03:44 PM apropos "fuzzy-wuzzy", also the title of a Kipling poem part of of which: "So 'ere's to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, at your 'ome in the Soudan; You're a pore benighted 'eathen but a first-class fightin' man; An' 'ere's to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, with your 'ayrick 'ead of 'air— You big black boundin' beggar—for you broke a British square! " Nigel |
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Subject: Lyr Req: Beer is Best From: GUEST,Joe Date: 02 Oct 04 - 03:45 PM I bought an album by Hamish Imlach several years ago, packed full of excellent tunes, but due to his strong Scottish brogue I cannot make out many of the lyrics (me being from Surrey!). Can anyone supply the lyrics for "Beer is Best", which I have seen described elsewhere as 'Trad'? Possibly not entirely politically correct, but still a jolly good song. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is Best From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 02 Oct 04 - 09:53 PM You will find a full discussion within this MudCat thread: Beer Is Best - discussion (above) .
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=51921#794285
The clones are lazy, or drunk, or making music or babies.
A simple request, like your's, does not, normally, go un-answered for so long an interval within this forum.
My apologies, one guest to another guest, on behalf of our lazy,drunken,fiddlin,f-ckin, hosts. (If I had not gotten up to take a p-ss, I'd still be with them, doin the same things.)
Return on a Monday, GUEST-Joe, the service is usually better, when the cafe is recovering from the week-end, and the waitresses are off their back-ends.
Sincerely,
Did you know that the German Language Police last week reduced the rules for "commas" from fifty-two, to eight????
Everyone is welcome to answer lyrics requests. That's never been a job reserved to the hosts of the Forum. Most requests are answered by people other than the hosts and JoeClone/assistants. -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is best From: GUEST,Allen Date: 30 May 05 - 03:43 AM Tatties were the Indian equivalent of the air-conditioner. Damp screens hung over the openings of the house, which along with the punkah (a large fan operated by an elaborate system of pulleys, which the punka wallah had to work) could keep a house quite cool. BTW I'm not entirely sure Gunga Din is a colonialist view of lower orders. Gunga Din would have been of a very low caste (had to be to serve water to the British) and despised by all, especially his own countrymen. So here you have someone with every reason NOT to be a good man, yet is. Now, the narrator makes no excuses, expresses no regret, yet is quite honest. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is Best From: GUEST Date: 18 Dec 11 - 10:16 AM Frengi 42 Beer is best beer is best Beer made bonny Brittians Beer has stood the test What had Nelson tatooded on his chest Beer is best........... No more I'm afraid |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is Best From: GUEST,Clive Bailey Date: 10 Nov 18 - 03:58 PM My Grandad was an entertainer after his daytime job in the 30/40s named himself Doctor Shelley he sang; Beer is best, beer is best Makes you fit and it makes you strong puts more muscle in your old pom pom Beer makes bonnie babies, beer has stood the test What did Adam say to Eve Beer is best Beer is best, beer is best Good to look at good to taste not a drop you ought to waste You buy a breast of mutton you eat it all in fear the old park railings underneath all they do is break your teeth But there ain't no bones in beer my dear no there ain't no bones in beer. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is Best From: GUEST,Martin Date: 29 Apr 20 - 12:57 AM Hi, as I am sitting here now in the Philippines and there is a liquor ban, I was thinking of drinking songs...my favorite now is "goodbye booze", but I also came across this one "beer is best". I understood all the words, very informative thread. But one word,or line I am not happy about: Go out and bring a brewery It does not make much sense...in another version it says Go out and find a brewery, thats more likely. If you listen carefull to the singing of Hamish, I think he sings something different: go out and get a .... Maybe another "indian-english" word? I would be happy if he experts could have a listen again. Hamish was a close friend of mine and I think about him very much... Three days befor he passed away, I played with him in Germany. Well.. Thank for help! Martin |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is Best From: GUEST,Starship Date: 29 Apr 20 - 08:08 AM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjDXp108BTo Here it is done by Bobbie Comber in the 1930s-ish. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Beer is Best From: GUEST,puglet Date: 13 Aug 21 - 04:01 PM go on you tube, type in beer is best by hamish imlach, he was a scotish folk singer |
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