The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #85881 Message #1593946
Posted By: Charley Noble
30-Oct-05 - 09:23 PM
Thread Name: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
Subject: RE: C. Fox Smith PermaThread
WHISKEY JOHNNIE
(Halliard Shanty)
Whiskey is the life of man –
Whiskey, Johnnie!
Whiskey in an old tin can –
Whiskey for my Johnnie!
Whiskey here and whiskey there –
Whiskey, Johnnie!
Whiskey almost everywhere –
Whiskey for my Johnnie!
Whiskey gave me this red nose –
Whiskey, Johnnie!
Whiskey made me pawn my clo'es –
Whiskey for my Johnnie!
Whiskey made the old man say –
Whiskey, Johnnie!
"Another pull and then belay."
Whiskey for my Johnnie!
Whiskey is the life of man –
Whiskey, Johnnie!
Whiskey in an old tin can –
Whiskey for my Johnnie!
Notes by CFS: p. 36
"Whiskey Johnnie" was another universal favourite, for which some authorities claim a respectable antiquity, asserting, I know not on what grounds, that it was originally "malmsey" which had the deleterious effects outlined by the shantyman.
To the best of my belief, nobody has ever been able to give chapter and verse in support of that statement: but if it were true, it is certainly valuable evidence of the fact that the phenomenon of the sun being over the foreyard was by no means unknown even in the days of the Tudors.
X:1
T:Whiskey Johnnie
C:C. Fox Smith 'A Book of Shanties' p 37
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:G
G2B2B2D2|G2B2B4|G2B4-B2|G2B4-B2|
w:Whis-key is the life of man whis-key_john-nie!_
d2d2c2B2|A2A2F4|F2A2B3B|A2G6
w:Whis-key is an old tin can Whis-key for my John-nie!