The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #108622 Message #3913134
Posted By: JennyO
25-Mar-18 - 09:04 PM
Thread Name: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
I decided to try and find the origins of this song, after seeing an episode of a 2012 Australian series, The Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries. The series is set in the 1920's and uses a lot of music from that period. The episode was called "Dead Man's Chest" and in a number of scenes, you see groups of angry ladies from a Temperance organisation waving placards and loudly denouncing the demon drink. The song, including a lot of verses, was sung at the end during the credits by Ange Takats, an Australian singer, and Greg Walker. It mentions the Temperance Union, rather than the Salvation Army, and it is described as 'trad', which got me wondering. I could probably find the words she sang somewhere with more research, but her version is not on YouTube, although there is a Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries Soundtrack album that can be bought or downloaded, including this song: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Soundtrack
Then I found another interesting page, which seems to take it back further - to 1882 in fact: The Jovial Crew
So it looks like the search might be getting even wider!