Lyr Req: Prohibition Is a Failure

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Prohibition Is a Failure
From: Stewie
Date: 13 Sep 99 - 10:30 PM

Joe

Thanks for putting in the line breaks. I know how to do it now
I trust
Cheers
Paul Stewart.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Prohibition Is a Failure
From: Pete Peterson
Date: 13 Sep 99 - 10:13 PM

I guess over the years I have changed the lyrics without realizing it! my next to last verse starts out "If a city dude can make home brew then anyone can learn" and the last verse goes "So at the next election I'm sure you will agree We'll have light wines and three-two beer by 1933" I am SURE I heard somebody sing it that way once and it took some research to find out that you could still buy beer during Prohibition, it was "near beer" which contained no alcohol, and that an intermediate step away was to have beer with up to 3.2% alcohol, or "3.2 beer" said as "three-two beer" (The research was done by asking my father, who lived through it) Thanks Stewie, I was about to write it out myself! PETE

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Prohibition Is a Failure
From:
Date: 13 Sep 99 - 03:44 PM

Thanks to everyone who helped with this - especially Stewie. Who can think about these relatively innocent lyrics and not think of the insane War on Drugs? Speaking of which, the policeman who'd "... drink up all your liquor, and turn you out on bail" surely has his modern day counterpart.

Subject: ADD: Prohibition Is a Failure
From: Stewie
Date: 13 Sep 99 - 02:12 AM

Robin, the lyrics are:


Prohibition is a failure as anyone can see
For whiskey is sold in every town in the good ol' USA
Oh, the policeman will arrest you, he'll lock you up in jail
He'll drink up all your liquor, and turn you out on bail.

I'm going back to Georgia, to join the drinking clan
Where whiskey is made of Red Seal Lye and sold in old tin cans
Where the men they drink and gamble, and the women quarrel and fight
And the saloons they run wide open, and a man's killed every night.

Oh the moonshiners in the mountains, they operate the stills
They're true blue to each other, what they say they'll do, they will
They all carry six-shooters, shotguns and bowie knives
And the man who tries to raid them is sure to lose his life.

Oh the city dude he makes home brew, most anyone can learn
He takes a can of old malt syrup and an old-fashioned churn
He adds a cake of yeast or two and he lets it work and foam
And a bottle or two on a Saturday night, he'll sing 'My Home Sweet Home'.

Oh at the next election, I'm sure you all will see
We'll have light wines and good ol' beer in 1933
And if we do not get it, I'm tellin' you and you
We'll make our own home liquor, and drink our old home brew.

Line Breaks <br> added.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Prohibition Is a Failure
From: Robin Shaylor
Date: 12 Sep 99 - 02:46 PM

Thanks Joe and Dale ...

I'd found the sources you mention; I was hoping to find the actual lyrics set out somewhere on the WWW, but none of my grinding searches have yielded anything close. I've decided to order the Smithsonian re-release of the album.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Prohibition Is a Failure
From: Dale Rose
Date: 11 Sep 99 - 10:09 AM

The Folk Music Index is always a good place to start when looking for this sort of thing. You can follow the link to the reference, or just see it here ~~

1.New Lost City Ramblers. Moonshine and Prohibition, Folkways FH 5263, LP (1962), cut#B.01

Following the link though, gets you into the Folk Music Index, which is a nice and informative place to be ~~ just click on the home link at the top or bottom of the page and start exploring.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Prohibition Is a Failure
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Sep 99 - 06:13 AM

Don't know the song, Robin, but the index at the Sing Out! Magazine Website says it was in Volume 23, Issue #5, of the magazine. They're on Volume 44 now, so that takes it back to 1979 or so. Maybe that's enough to help somebody here find it, or maybe you can find it in the library. If you find it, please post it here.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Prohibition Is a Failure
From:
Date: 11 Sep 99 - 12:25 AM

The New Lost City Ramblers recorded the subject tune some 40 years ago which celebrates the return to sanity folllowing the repeal of the prohibition. Well, the Feds apparently learned how to sustain an unwinnable, insane, immoral assault if the current War On Drugs is any indication.

I was pondering how history is repeating itself (and how) and decided to pull out my old NLCR LPs. Yep, you guessed it - someone just erased it offa all those disks.

Can anyone help me remember any of the lyrics beyond "Prohibition is a failure, as anyone can see; we'll have light wines and good old beer in 1933".

Robin Shaylor Portland, Oregon [e-mail]