Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Apr 25 - 08:16 PM

As an ex-seminarian (8 years) and lifetime choir singer, I've always thought that the root of "Away With Rum" must be derived from a gospel song. But I haven't found it yet....

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Jack Horntip
Date: 19 Apr 25 - 04:24 PM

TEMPERANCE UNION

We're coming, we're coming, our brave little band,
On the right side of temperance we do take our stand.
We don't use tobacco because we do think
That the people who use it are like to drink.

CHORUS: Away, away with rum by gum, with rum by gum, with rum by gum.
        Away, away with rum by gum
        It's the song of the temperance union.

We never eat fruitcake because it has rum
And one little bit turns a man to a bum,
Can you imagine a sorrier sight
Than a man eating fruitcake until he gets tight?

CHORUS

We never eat cookies, they make them with yeast,
And one little bite turns a man into a beast.
Can you imagine such a sorry disgrace,
As a man in the gutter with crumbs on his face?

CHORUS

We never drink Pepsi, it's made from cocaine,
And you might as well shoot it right into your vein.
Can you imagine a sorrier bind,
Than rotting your teeth whit blowin' your mind?

CHORUS

We never drop tea 'cause it comes from a pot,
And that could be evil as likely as not,
We don't mind the taste, but it's really bad news,
To get busted for holding what Tom Lipton brews.

CHORUS

We don't step on grapes because that's making wine,
And one single stomp turns a man to a swine.
Can you imagine a fouler defeat,
Than a man getting stonkered by licking his feet?

CHORUS

Shun girls who are witty and pretty and kind,
There's nothing like love for corrupting your mind.
At least in our circle it just isn't done,
Our kids are adopted, we never have fun.

CHORUS

So drinking and eating and loving you see,
Are bound to destroy Spi-ri-tu-al-i-ty.
Our tastes are austere and our virtue is pure.
We don't have fun, but our honor is pure.

CHORUS

1980s. A Songbook of some Middle Kingdom Favorites. p.23.
Undated SCA [Society for Creative Anachronism] mimeographed songbook.
Some variant verses from a group with their own song traditions.


See here: http://www.calonsong.org/CalontirSongs/Songbook-MiddleKingdomFavorites.pdf

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Jack Horntip
Date: 19 Apr 25 - 05:22 PM

THE SONG OF THE SALVATION ARMY

Chorus:

Away, away with rum by gum,
With rum by gum,
With rum by gum,
Away, away with rum by gum,
The song of the Salvation Army.

We cannot eat fruitcake, cause fruitcake's got rum,
One drop of rum turns a man to a bum,
Oh can you imagine a sorrier sight,
Than a man eating fruitcake till he is tight.

We cannot eat cookies, cause cookies have yeast,
And one taste of yeast turns a man to a beast,
Oh can you imagine a greater disgrace,
Than a man in the gutter with crumbs on his face.

Away with Aboriginals, cos Abos have gins,
And one little gin turns a man to sin,
Oh can you imagine a sorrier sight,
Than a poor Abo bloke with no gin for the night.

Away with Tasmania cause Tassie has hops,
And one drop of hops and we call in the cops,
Oh can you imagine a greater delight,
Than the whole of Tasmania in the clink for the night.

ca. 1960. Queensland University (St. Lucia) Hockey Club Song Book. Undated Australian song book.

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: GerryM
Date: 19 Apr 25 - 06:20 PM

With regards to the most recent posting of what might be termed the Queensland version, and for anyone not au courant with Australian slang, "Abo" is a derogatory term for Aboriginal, and "gin", also derived from Aboriginal, is a derogatory term for an Aboriginal woman.

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Jack Horntip
Date: 19 Apr 25 - 06:54 PM

Salvation Army Song

We're coming, we're coming our brave little band
On the right side of temperance we'll now take our stand
We never use tobacco because we think
That a man who will smoke is likely to drink

Chorus:

Away, away with rum by gum
With rum by gum, with rum by gum
Away, away with rum by gum
The song of the Salvation Army

Well we never eat cookies because they have yeast
And one little bite makes man like a beast
Now can you imagine a bigger disgrace
Than a man in the gutter with crumbs on his face

Chorus

Spoken:

I was hungry and they a gave me to eat.
        He was hungry and they gave him to eat.
I was thirsty and they gave me to drink
        He was thirsty and they gave him to drink
I was a sinner and they saved my soul.
        He was a sinner and they saved his soul.
Now all I do stand on this [bang] god-damned corner [bang] beating this [bang] god-damned [bang] drum.

Chorus

Well we never eat fruitcake because it has rum
And one little bite makes a man like a bum
Now can you imagine a sorrier sight
Than a man eating fruitcake until he got tight.

Chorus

When you meet a folk singer you haven't any choice
But to sit there and listen while he proves he has no voice
And the most shocking thing to image by far
Is a girl with a G-string upon her guitar

Chorus

We never drink beer 'cause beer is beer
One little bottle puts you on your ear.
Can you imagine a worser thing
Than a man drinking beer and then starting to sing?

Chorus

Spoken:

If I had all the beer in the world I'd throw it in the river. Yay!!
If I had all the whisky in the world, I'd throw it in the river. Yay!!
If I had all the gin in the world, I'd throw it in the river. Yay!!

Brethren let us sing hymn number fifteen.

Sung:

Wade in the water.
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water,
God's going to trouble the water.
[Slowly] Amen.

1962. Transcribed from a recording of Ash Alley Singers. Tucson, Arizona. A good performance.

The last part of the performance uses the song "Wade in the Water".

I have field collected a "testimonial" cante fable with a
chorus of "Salvation Army, Salvation Army, throw a nickel
on the drum save another drunken bum" which I believe is related.


Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtwVN6wRL_U

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Lighter
Date: 19 Apr 25 - 06:57 PM

Hence the WW2 and after Air Force song, "Throw a nickel on the grass,/ Save a fighter pilot's ass!'

Which makes no sense without the drum/bum antecedent.

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Jack Horntip
Date: 20 Apr 25 - 01:14 PM

[ hand written manuscript image]

An early draft of the song "The Armored Cruiser Squadron". From a
scrapbook of Rear Adm. Chauncey Thomas, USN-USNA class of 1871.
(transcript follows.)

The West Virginia and M.D.
Colorado and Pennsy See.
Are just about the proper choice.
For our Armored Cruiser Squadron.

The Washington & Tennessee
The Path-Finders--said to be
Can't hold a chandlestick to we
As an Armored Cruiser Squadron

Away, Away with Fife and Drum
Here we come
Full of rum.
Trying to put someone on the bum

Prior to 1912 when Chauncey Thomas resigned. He died in 1919.   From the book
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Historical sketches p.260. Handwritten
manuscript reproduced.


See here: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Historical sketches

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Jack Horntip
Date: 20 Apr 25 - 01:26 PM

And that other song to the nameless air reputed to have
been sung by Uncle Sam's tars on their cruise around the
world:

Away, away with fife and drum !
Here we come, here we come !
We're looking for something to put on the fritz,
The piratical class of nineteen six.

1911. History of the Class of 1906. Yale College. Volume II.   Reunion of the 1906 class.


See here: https://books.google.com/books?id=0nCFZEABzW0C

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Lighter
Date: 20 Apr 25 - 04:12 PM

The six U.S. armored cruisers mentioned by Thomas were launched in 1906.

Four more - North Carolina, California, Montana, and South Dakota - were commissioned in 1908.

So the most likely date for Thomas's verses appears to be 1906-1907.

From the same period comes this information: At Yale in 1906 was sung a version of "that...song...reputed to have been sung by Uncle Sam’s tars on their cruise round the world [in 1907-1909]:

“Away, away with fife and drum!
Here we come, here we come!
We’re looking for something to put on the fritz,
The piratical class of nineteen six.”

(Edwin R. Embree, "History of the Class of 1906, Yale College" [1911])

None of this says much, about the obviously related "North Atlantic Squadron." Now associated with the Royal Canadian Navy, it seems just as likely to have begun in the Air Force, in light of its various air force allusions. The RCAF No. 10 (Army Co-operation) Squadron (redesignated "No. 400 Squadron" in 1941), is said to have been nicknamed the "North Atlantic Squadron," but possibly only after the song had become popular.

Hopkins avers that the song was "well established in the Canadian military" by the 1930s. Well, maybe.

The USN "Book of Navy Songs" (1926, 1930) has seven humorous but perfectly respectable stanzas of "The Old Destroyer Squadron," to the tune of "Away with Rum" or "The Armored Cruiser Squadron." In form these resemble Prentice Strong's 1912 Army National Guard version (above).

Niles, Moore, and Walgren's sometimes reliable "The Songs My Mother Never Taught Me" (1929) includes a single stanza of "The Armored Cruiser Squadron," to the tune of "Away With Rum," and "sung very often [during WW1] by the old-timers in the U.S. Navy:

"Away, away, with sword and drum,
Here we come, full or rum,
Looking for some one to put on the bum,
The Armored Cruiser Squadron."

The verse presumably came from co-author and USN veteran Douglas Moore
(later a prominent American composer.)

Niles et al. also give a "Northern Bombing Squadron," from Lieutenant Beauregard Sweeney, USN:

"Oh, the F 2 A and the H-S one,
The finest ships you ever did see,
Flew across the sea to be
In the Northern Bombing Squadron.

Away, away, with sword and drum,
Here we come, full of rum,
Looking for something to put on the bum,
The Naval Aviation."

Interestingly, the NBS never used F2 or HS-1 flying boats.

Hopkins's (again respectable) version of "The Old Destroyer Squadron"
is mostly made up of stanzas from the USN version. Clearly from WW2,   Hopkins's "West Atlantic Squadron" is equally tame. He mentions the existence of a WW1 "Heavy Cruiser Squadron" too, but offers no text or reference.

To "put someone or something on the bum" became a widely used idiom shortly before 1900.

No "North Atlantic Squadron" seems ever to have existed in the Canadian Navy. The USN "North Atlantic Squadron," however, existed from 1865-1902; in 1902 the name was changed to "North Atlantic Fleet."

My theory: Separated from the rest of the song, Harrigan and Brahms's "Away with Rum" chorus became widely popular in the late 19th century. A version of it (with "put on the bum" and "North Atlantic Squadron") evolved around 1900 and was widely sung in the USN by 1906.

Then,some time before 1939, the American "North Atlantic Squadron" chorus, possibly with ribald verses already, was adopted in Canada and vastly expanded.

The phrase "put on the bum" was easily parodied.

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Lighter
Date: 20 Apr 25 - 04:33 PM

Never trust Wikipedia, even in its improved version.

The U.S. North Atlantic Squadron was in existence in 1861 - long before the song, however.

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Jack Horntip
Date: 20 Apr 25 - 07:09 PM

"We're coming, we're coming, a brave little band,
On the safe side of temperance we've taken our stand;
We don't like tobacco. Do you know what we think?
The boys who will use it are quite sure to drink."

May, 1889. Home Mission Monthly. Vol. 3, No. 7. Published by
the Woman's Executive Committee of Home Missions of the Presbyterian
Church.

The opening header poem for the second part of a short story.


See here: https://books.google.com/books?id=INtMAAAAMAAJ