04 Jan 98 - 09:02 PM (#18710) Subject: Moonshine Songs From: murray@mpce.mq.edu.au This is a spin-off of Rosebrooks "Favorite Melodies" thread. Two of my favorite moonshine songs don't seem to be in the DT, and I know neither of them in full. One starts:
Get you a Coper Kettle This one would fit in with Rosebrooks Whiskey Medley, I suspect. The first one was sung by one of the female folk singers of the 60s, but I suspect it has a longer history. I would be interested in their history and in the rest of the lyrics. Murray |
04 Jan 98 - 09:57 PM (#18711) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Helen Murray I am sure that you realise, being from Oz yourself, that the second one starts the same as an Australian song called The Wild Rover, except that it is: WILD ROVER (NO NAY NEVER) I've been a wild rover for many a year And I spent all my money on whiskey and beer, And now I'm returning with gold in great store And I never will play the wild rover no more. cho: And it's no, nay, never, No nay never no more, Will I play the wild rover No never no more. I think that there is a similar song in the American tradition, but I'm not sure about this. The Oz version is very probably based on an Irish song/tune, and the DT database says that the Clancy Brothers (Irish) sang the Wild Rover. Helen |
04 Jan 98 - 10:08 PM (#18713) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Tim Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca There are many pub singers who I wish would play the Wild Rover no more. Between that and The Black Velvet Band I don't know which is more overdone. A fairly recent moonshining song from Canada is The Cape Breton Silver, by Allistair MacGillivary. There is of course The Mountain Dew, which I believe has an American bluegrass version called That Good Ole Mountain Dew. It's been years since I've had moonshine, which is an integral part of any Purple Jesus punch. You had to be careful from whom you got it. Usually some old fellow who had been making it for years could be trusted, if he hadn't poisoned anyone in the last decade. It is always a liquor to be treated with respect. |
05 Jan 98 - 12:16 AM (#18725) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Barry In the DT check out The Private Still, very old, very nice & very funny (to a distiller) Barry |
05 Jan 98 - 01:36 AM (#18726) Subject: Lyr Add: OLD MOUNTAIN DEW (Bascom Lamar Lunsford) From: Dale Rose The song, Old Mountain Dew, seems to date back only to Bascom Lamar Lunsford. His quote here is from 1949 and appears in the booklet of Smithsonian Folkways CD 40082, 1996. "This song is entitled 'Old Mountain Dew.' Possibly a footnote would be well here. About 1920 I composed the words and the tune to this song, and I put it on a Brunswick record about 1928. Of course, it was somewhat stilted, but it did very well as a record. But following that, the eminent singer 'Scotty,' Scott Wiseman of Lulu Belle and Scotty fame, added some more modernized stanzas, sang it, put it on a record, and it was re-popularized. Now we hear it on every hand by the folk singers and entertainers there with their own words, and the tune has stayed very much the same way, but it's well to know the growth of the thing. So I will give just as I composed it in 1920." [You can hear this recording at the Internet Archive.]
OLD MOUNTAIN DEW
On my first day in court, I wish to report
Oh, the deacon drove by in his auto so shy
The doctor who phoned just to see me alone
The conductor said with a nod of his head
My attorney began to turn the lid on the can Bascom does this with just his own claw hammer banjo accompaniment. I really recommend this album for those who like the old songs. It contains 18 songs recorded in 1928 and 1949. Included is a version of The Mermaid Song, Bonny George Campbell, Old Stepstone, and Death of Queen Jane, which has an interesting line, "The red rose of England shall flourish no more." |
05 Jan 98 - 01:44 AM (#18727) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Dale Rose Yes, the Clancy Brothers did a version of The Wild Rover, and so did Burl Ives on his album of Australian Folk Songs. |
05 Jan 98 - 11:10 AM (#18729) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Earl Another good moonshine song is "Darlin Corey" - in the database. |
05 Jan 98 - 12:31 PM (#18733) Subject: Lyr Add: THE MOONSHINER^^ From: Jon W. For Murray, here's the Clancy Bros. & Tommy Makem version of "The Moonshiner". I belive Tommy Makem does the vocals on this one. It's from a recording of Irish drinking songs.
THE MOONSHINER Also, Joan Baez did the "copper kettle/coil" song you mentioned - but as you said, it probably has a longer history. |
05 Jan 98 - 01:14 PM (#18738) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: rosebrook A really fun, upbeat moonshine song is called Gather Up the Pots (this is the song my band calls Mountain Tea, Dick, and it is in the DT, though I didn't find a MIDI for it). It's a terrific song particularly for clawhammer banjo instrumental breaks....just hard to keep your toe from a- tappin'! |
05 Jan 98 - 02:37 PM (#18741) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Dale Rose For a real overload, try Gid Tanner & the Skillet Lickers doing A CORN LICKER STILL IN GEORGIA , a reissue of 78s featuring all 14 parts of a skit recorded 1927-30, Voyager CD303. It is available from Elderly, and no doubt other suppliers as well. |
05 Jan 98 - 04:32 PM (#18744) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Bert There's also that other Irish one I only know the first verse At the foot of the hill there's a neat little still Where the smoke curls up to the sky By the whiff and the smell you can plainly tell There's poteen brewing close by For it fills the air with a fragrance rare and betwixt both me and you as home we roll we will drink a bowl or a bucketfull of mountain dew Chorus Hi the dithery al the dal, dal the dal the dithery al dal the dal, dal dithery al the day Hi the dithery al the dal, dal the dal the dithery al dal the dal, dal dithery al the day And don't forget that story Jimmy Buffet tells about the still and the bear. Bert. |
05 Jan 98 - 06:02 PM (#18749) Subject: Lyr Add: MOUNTAIN DEW (Clancy/Makem songbook) From: Alice As Dick will remind us, a search of the database will bring up a passle of songs. The Clancy/Makem songbook from 1964 has their version of Mountain Dew
MOUNTAIN DEW
Let grasses grow and waters flow
chorus
At the foot of the hill is a neat little still,
chorus
Now learned men who use the pen
chorus alice, in montana
|
05 Jan 98 - 09:08 PM (#18762) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: dulcimer The song rosebrook refers to is also called Mountain Tay or Hills of Connemara. The Irish group I used to play with always started our program with it. Very snappy. Fits well with Turkey in the Straw. |
05 Jan 98 - 09:31 PM (#18763) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: dick greenhaus I'm confused. Copper Kettle is in the DT, cleverly hidden, though a search for Copper Kettle will find it. So is Moonshiner, albeit in s slightly different version (search for moonshiner). Where's the problem? |
05 Jan 98 - 10:16 PM (#18764) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Bob Landry There's also the old Newfoundland standard, "The Moonshine Can". Do a Forum Search with the subject "Moonshine Can" and you'll turn up all the words and some commentary. At least six of these tunes mentioned in this thread are in my "A" book. I don't what that reflects on, my love of moonshine songs or my affinity for intoxicants (in modest amounts, of course). |
06 Jan 98 - 12:51 PM (#18780) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Bob Schwarer This isn't really about moonshine, but listen to "The Intoxicated Rat". Bob S
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06 Jan 98 - 03:05 PM (#18785) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: |
07 Jan 98 - 07:41 AM (#18817) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: murray@mpce.mq.edu.au To Dick Greenhaus: You will note that I cleverly spelled Copper with only one "p". That is why I didn't find that one, I guess. I can't explain how I missed the other one. I didn't try "moonshiner" alone, thinking that would yield too many hits, so I tried various phrases in the song containing that word. To Jon W: Thanks for the lyrics and the name of the artists. To Hellen: I am embarrased--I never did notice that they are so similar although I know both of them. Thanks to others for some songs I wasn't aware of. Murray |
07 Jan 98 - 06:26 PM (#18843) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Tim Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca Are there any Scottish moonshining songs? I can think of Irish, American, and Canadian songs in this vein but off the top of my head can't think of any Scottish ones. Odd considering that moonshining must have had a history there too. Maybe proper Scotch was so good no-one bothered to make the illicit stuff? Or for that matter, traditional moonshine songs from England? Did the English just rely on duty-free French brandy smuggled by the Cornishers, or was gin so cheap that home stills were unnecessary? |
07 Jan 98 - 07:44 PM (#18849) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: dick greenhaus re Scots moonshine: TRy a search for exciseman or gauger. |
07 Jan 98 - 07:57 PM (#18850) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Barry I believe from the English and/or the Scottish we get John Barleycorn, the mother of distillers. Barry |
07 Jan 98 - 08:48 PM (#18853) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: murray@mpce.mq.edu.au I tried again and found the Copper Kettle song (Why can't the search engine learn that it is me and that I can't spell!) and the moonshiner song. It seems that the Copper Kettle song was written in 1953 for a folk opera called "Go Lightly Stranger". What exactly is a Folk Opera? I guess the Beggar's (or its later incarnation as The Three Penny) opera is an example. The other interesting thing is that the moonshiner song was recorded by Dylan. I don't recall every hearing that version. I sort-of gave up on him when he "pluged in". Did he do that song with electronic instruments? Murray |
08 Jan 98 - 11:43 AM (#18878) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Earl Dylan recorded "Copper Kettle" on his "Self Portrait" album during his country/western period. I haven't listened to it in years but I believe it had Nashville style electric musicians. |
08 Jan 98 - 12:00 PM (#18879) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Mountain Dog There's an old favorite of mine, "Quare Bungle Rye", that's in the DT. I had a recording by Tommy Makem and The Clancy Bros. on which one o'the lads (Tommy, I believe) did a wonderful a capella version. While not strictly a moonshine tune, it does involve "whusky", smuggling and a bit of a "jolt" from the storyteller's point of view! |
06 Sep 98 - 03:51 PM (#37237) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: mumcg@wiu.edu I would like to hear some music of moonshiners and get some lyrics!!! can someone email with some lyrics? |
06 Sep 98 - 09:09 PM (#37267) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Roger Himler There are two modern songs that come to mind. Si Kahn wrote a song called Moonshine Man (lyrics posted later if no one gets there before me) and the other is the Ballad of Thunder Road by Robert Mitchum which is available on COWPIE. I don't know which came first, the song or the movie. An old favorite of mine, nonetheless. Roger in Baltimore |
07 Sep 98 - 10:49 AM (#37305) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: harpgirl Tim and all, I think "And The Moon Shone Bright and Clearly" in the DT is Scottish, isn't it? It's one of my favoirte moonshine songs...harpgirl |
08 Sep 98 - 12:06 PM (#37427) Subject: Lyr Add: TEAR MY STILLHOUSE DOWN (G Welch)^^^ From: Barbara Shaw Salamander Crossing does a great a cappella version of "Moonshiner" on one of their albums. The DT has a song called "Dooley" about a moonshiner, and here's one by Gillian Welch, recorded on her first? album (can't remember the name) and also done by Nashville Bluegrass Band:
TEAR MY STILLHOUSE DOWN D G When I was a child, way back in the hills I laughed at the men who tended those stills But that old mountain shine it caught me somehow When I die, tear my stillhouse down. Go tell all your children, that hell ain't no dream Old Satan, he lives in my whiskey machine Oh, in my time of dyin', I know where I'm bound When I die, tear my stillhouse down. |
08 Sep 98 - 01:39 PM (#37442) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: lingolucky Uncle Dave Macon used to do a song on the Grand Old Opera called The Cannon County Hills. Some of the words were: "There's bright lights on Broadway, the sun shines down in Dixie, they'll make moonshine in those Cannon County hills." Lane Goldsmith |
22 Sep 98 - 05:02 PM (#39001) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: MLCVamp@aol.com If I remember correctly, I searched for "Thunder Road" in the database and couldn't find it. Not a true folk song, but certainly a moonshine song. (I don't know who wrote and recorded it; I'm terrible on musicians.) I was surprised to learn that "Copper Kettle" is an art song rather than a folk song. It sounds so authentic! |
22 Sep 98 - 08:45 PM (#39032) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: RayBanks The New Lost City Ramblers produced an album in the sixties called something like "Songs of Moonshine and Prohibition", which had a fine collection of boozy old-time songs. The only titles I remember at the moment are The Virginia Bootlegger and Whiskey Seller. Maybe someone else remembers this fine record? Ray |
23 Sep 98 - 12:41 AM (#39056) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: BSeed One that I guess hasn't been mentioned is "Little Brown Jug." And if we're taking lines referring to moonshine from songs that aren't necessarily about moonshine, there's "Okie from Muskogee" by Merle Haggard. The chorus ends "And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all." (Interesting that Hag considered breaking the law to drink moonshine a thrill, but smoking dope a no-no, despite the fact that far more people have gone blind or just plain died from moonshine than marijuana.) --seed By the way, how about expanding the thread to include dope songs? I posted "Down to Seeds and Stems Again Blues" but it hasn't made it onto the trad. |
23 Sep 98 - 06:18 AM (#39082) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Roger Himler Seed, Merle and his band buddies were smokin' weed when they wrote Okie from Muskogee. They were on the band bus and saw the sign for Muskogee and someone offered the line "I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee." It went on from there. At the time it was written, it was very "tongue in cheek." I don't think Merle and his dope smokin' buddies intended to write an anthem for the segment of our population they were parodying. I bet they accepted all of the royalties, however. This song, to me, is a prime example of the the rallying power of music and of how we might want to be careful just what we sing. Roger in Baltimore |
23 Sep 98 - 09:24 PM (#39158) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: BSeed Thanks, Roger. The Haggard album I have certainly doesn't give that fascinating little bit of background--it also includes "The Fightin' Side of Me." Actually, I've always enjoyed singing "Okie from Muskogee"--it's a good song, and Hag is a great singer with a fine band. I feel better now about liking him. --seed |
23 Sep 98 - 10:18 PM (#39166) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Roger Himler Seed, The drug songs seem to keep cropping up. See the Ain't Nobody's Business thread for some cocaine songs. There was a recent thread on Buffy Sainte Marie's song Codeine. Another recent thread covered Tom Paxton's Talking Vietnam Pot Luck. Too many flower children perhaps? Anybody remember a guy named Jim Post? He had a wonderful tune about LSD called Brain Damage. Alcohol for many localities and in many times was the only serious drug of choice. Hence, there are more songs about alcohol. During the rag-time era, cocaine and marijuana became the subject of some songs. Off the top of my head, I don't recall many references to heroin or morphine A search of the DT provides little on heroin and morphine. There are multiple songs that mention drugs, but only a few that focus intently on them. Roger in Baltimore |
24 Sep 98 - 12:25 AM (#39184) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: BSeed Cab Calloway had at least one dope song: I remember him in his white tux in front of his big band singing it in a '30's comedy ("International Hotel"?) with W.C.Fields, Mae West, George Burns and Gracie Allen, and many others. Maybe came out a bit before "Reefer Madness." As for morphine, all I can think of is from the Stones, "Sister Morphine" ("Lay your cool hand on my head"), on the Sticky Fingers album. And this seems to be palliative use rather than recreational--although the song was banned in Spain, I think. --seed |
25 Sep 98 - 02:30 PM (#39358) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Barry Finn I think it was Lou Reed & the Velvet Underground that had a subculture hit with the song call "Heroin" & later, some one from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young doing "the Needle & the Damage Done". Barry |
25 Sep 98 - 06:35 PM (#39395) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: BSeed Joe Offer provided the lyrics to The Talking Vietnam Pot-luck Blues on the thread of that name. And among my favorite marijuana songs, along with Commander Cody's "Down to Seeds and Stems Again Blues," there is the wonderful "Illegal Smile" by John Prine, on his first album. I mentioned Cab Calloway's dope song above, hoping someone might come up with the name--and a db where I might find words and music. --seed (hint, hint) |
25 Sep 98 - 07:02 PM (#39401) Subject: Lyr Add: MINNIE THE MOOCHER^^ From: Roger Himler I think you're looking for Minnie the Moocher Seed. Here are lyrics. Not so drug involved, but, hey, before the 60's it was a verboten subject.
Of course, Cab Calloway was born right here in Baltimore. Roger in Baltimore |
25 Sep 98 - 11:41 PM (#39428) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Barry Finn See "Willie The Weeper" in the DT, the first (of two) would be the one I've known to carry the same tune as "Minnie The Mocher", don't know about Willie II. Barry |
26 Sep 98 - 03:13 AM (#39449) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: BSeed Roger, did Cab continue to live there, and perform? Of course he was in "The Blues Brothers," a really magical scene. He was one of the all time great performers (he couldn't have been a folksinger--folksingers don't wear white tuxes). There is a jazz/swing combo around here called Comfy Chair with a singer who reminds me of Calloway, despite the fact that he's white, kind of homely, and wears a purple double-breasted suit with a green shirt and a loud tie. It's just that he's a wonderfully expressive singer and dancer. I missed them today--they played on the Cal campus and I had wanted to go and photograph them but got lazy. --seed |
26 Sep 98 - 07:35 AM (#39476) Subject: RE: Moonshine Songs From: Roger Himler Seed, Cab moved to New York very early to seek his fame and fortune, but he always remembered Baltimore and Baltimore remembers him. Roger in Baltimore |