The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #11737   Message #88695
Posted By: Ferrara
22-Jun-99 - 12:13 PM
Thread Name: Trad. American Drinking Songs?
Subject: RE: Trad. American Drinking Songs?
Is "DOOLEY" trad? I doubt it, but it's a good song.

How about "HOT CORN, COLD CORN, bring along a demijohn"? Well, there's songs about whiskey and drinking, such as "COPPER KETTLE," but that's not the same as the songs that folks actually sang in bars, etc. There were elaborate drinking and tavern songs written in the 17th and 18th centuries, such as "The Tippling Philosophers," (words and tune on request, but you'd better really want it, because it's a *lot* of work), but they aren't trad even though they're old. They never passed into the oral tradition because they were too hard to sing.

This is a good question, Dick! A real challenge.