I always thought Tavern in the Town was originally English. Anyone know? I suspect some of the standard college songs go back quite a ways, including the Souse Family, Beer, Beer for Old --- High etc, and "Oh it's Whiskey, whiskey whiskey that makes you feel so frisky in the Corps ... in the Quartermasters' Corps" go back a very long way indeed. I'd say WWII is the latest some of them could have originated. What about soldiers' drinking songs? Dick, you ought to have lots.

I also suspect you'll have to ask somebody's uncle or grandfather if you want any clues to the songs' age. They mostly aren't the sort of things that get written down. I learned a song in the 50's called Dear Old Donegal and I assumed it went back at most to the 30's, but someone here on Mudcat said his father and grandfather had sung it. There's a good chance it was an Irish-American music hall song; and "MacNamara's band" goes back to the 1890's. You just can't tell.