Trad. American Drinking Songs?

Subject: RE: Trad. American Drinking Songs?
From: Artful Codger
Date: 05 Sep 11 - 05:41 PM

"Don't Swat Your Mother" was published in Porter and Steele's Four Heart Songs of Hearth and Home (New Haven, 1919). The Yale Library has a copy of the sheet music in their holdings. The other songs are "Dry as a camel's tonsils; or, After July, O Lord," "Take me back to no man's land" and "Oh, gosh, ain't I glad to get home."

Would some kind Newhavenite please make a copy (at least of "Don't Swat") and send me a scan? If you PM me, I can furnish an email addy. Then I can post ABC(s) and MIDI(s) to Mudcat for the world to enjoy.

Subject: RE: Trad. American Drinking Songs?
From: GUEST,alex brenner
Date: 02 Oct 11 - 01:43 PM

First of first, I'm a yankee doodle dandy i s a great American drinking song, but when you go abroad, or at least when I have, the most popular american drinking song that foreigners are aware of is HOME on the Range.. sing it right now, you already feel like having a little moonshine.

Subject: RE: Trad. American Drinking Songs?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 03 Oct 11 - 12:51 PM

I would think anything with Mountain Dew or Brown Jugs or Grog would come from the British Isles, those are all celtic terms, no?

Ed McCurdy has a great album called Blood Booze and Bones that has several of the songs mentioned here...

We are too new to have "traditional" songs, anyway, aren't we, the Americans?

Subject: RE: Trad. American Drinking Songs?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 03 Oct 11 - 03:29 PM

THe earliest reference I've found for "Mountain Dew" is an 1860s Civil WAr parody of 'Just Before the Battle, Mother". The "Celtic" "Real Auld Montain Dew" was composed by the American Ned Harrigan.

Subject: RE: Trad. American Drinking Songs?
From: Jack Horntip
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 03:16 PM

One of the oldest -- and most common -- drinking songs in the English language is

Drunk last night,
drunk the night before,
I'm gonna get drunk tonight
Like I've never got drunk before.

This can be dated to c1860 in the USA.


See references in this thread: https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=2187

Subject: RE: Trad. American Drinking Songs?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Jan 25 - 08:28 PM

When I'm drunk I'm happy as can be,
For then I'm a member of the Soused Family.

Now the Soused Family is a fine family,
That ever sailed over the Zeider Zee;
There's the Highland Dutch,
And the Lowland Dutch;
The Rotterdam Dutch,
And the other damn Dutch...

I'm sure this is remembered or misremembered from Oscar Brand's recording of American Drinking Songs.

Subject: RE: Trad. American Drinking Songs?
From: GUEST,George Stephens
Date: 26 Jan 25 - 11:31 PM

Just stumbled(!) on this thread...

If it hasn't been addressed before; why is the tune of the Wiffenpoof Song chorus so similar to the tune Peter Bellamy chose for "Gentlemen Rankers? (one of my all time favorite songs, having lived it.) thx

George