Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Joe_F
Date: 25 Mar 18 - 09:48 PM

Here is another filker verse:

We never eat peaches, because they ferment,
And peaches will turn at the tiniest dent.
Oh, can you imagine a sorrier sight
Than a man drunk on peaches he thought were all right?

And here is one that I added a few years ago, for the Brits among us:

We shun Christmas pudding -- they souse it with brandy,
And one fiery bite turns a nice fellow randy.
If you think that's harmless, just contemplate this:
A man drunk on pudding might blow you a kiss.

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: JennyO
Date: 25 Mar 18 - 09:04 PM

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!

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 18 Jun 12 - 11:17 AM

Thanks Folks - the search gets wider and older

Cheers

L i C#
in Millau, France

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Uke
Date: 14 Jun 12 - 04:29 AM

I was curious, so did another search on Google Books for "Away with rum", limiting it to books published between 1850 and 1940.


There's a hit from the 1915 edition of "Michigan's Favourite College Songs". Unfortunately, no preview.

Another relevant hit was from "Yale Sheffield Monthly", vol. 21, 1915. Snippet view. Here the song is mentioned by title in some kind of article.

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Uke
Date: 13 Jun 12 - 05:54 PM

Haven't revisited this thread for some time, really interesting to see what's come up in the meantime.

Looks like 'Away with rum' was also printed in the 1919 edition of "Michigan's Favorite College Songs". Can see it listed on the contents page on Google Books, but only snippet view.

So that probably pushes it back another couple of years.

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Jun 12 - 01:33 PM

Away with rum, by gum, first appeared in print in 1921 in "Michigan's Favorite College Songs, according to Traditional Ballad Index.
They thank Jim Dixon for finding this reference.

Does this reference have an indication of whether it is based on Temperance Union or Salvation Army use?

(Perhaps explained somewhere above, but I have to go, and can't read the entire thread at this time,)

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Jun 12 - 01:29 PM

Amos... I always 'thought' it was changed by someone who decided no one would know what the "Temperance Union" referred to. I heard Salvation Army several years earlier and then found a reference to "Temperance Union" as being the original. Can't tell you now...50 years later... where I saw that.

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Amos
Date: 13 Jun 12 - 01:16 PM

I am curious how this migrated from the WCTU to the Salvation Army. I learned the "Temperance Union" version around 1958 or so from Peter Hall, and haver sung it occasionally ever since. The SA version is a new twist to me. Of course, I could have the sequence backwards, historically.


A

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Jun 12 - 11:08 AM

I'm not sure how I missed this 4 years ago.

The song has been around for many years, and is an obvious and easy one to add verses to...or change a few words when you forget exactly what was heard.

I heard it in Kansas in the early 60s, with the 'standard' tobacco, fruitcake, cookies and backrub verses...and soon after learned the "Temperance Union" title. Then, from somewhere this verse popped up, and 'our' little group in Kansas almost always ended with it.

♫"When you meet a folksinger, you haven't much choice,
But to sit there and listen while they prove they have no voice.
But the most shocking thing to imagine by faaaaarrr....
Is a girl with a G string upon her guitar."♫

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: r.padgett
Date: 13 Jun 12 - 04:46 AM

Been having a clear out and finally traced my Reprints from Out Volume 5 page 14

"The Salvation Army has always been fair game for 20th Century satirists ~~~~ Wobblies had nothing but contempt for the charitable hymn singing organisatio. Joe Hill's song "Pie in the Sky" was a direct response to Army groups who competed for street corners in teh struggle for men's souls and minds"

Joe Hill wrote

*And the Starvation Army they play and they sing and they clap and they pray,
Till they get all your coin on the drum, then theyll tell you when you're on the bum:

You will eat by and by in that glorious land above the sky,
Work and pray, live on hay, you'll get pie in the sky when you die*

A parody on Away with Rum, but which tune?
does it work?

3 main verses quoted tobacco, cookies and fruitcake with 6 extra verses of US origin

The Osmosis verse probably attributable to Mike Harding

Heard this song sung by Bert Cleaver (former Master of The Morris ring circa 1970) on Saturday and had not heard it live since Theresa Tooley some years ago. No other provenance stated in Reprints and other info sought!

Reprints from Sing Out6th print 1963 Oak Publications
Ray

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: GUEST,mert proctor
Date: 29 Mar 11 - 11:35 PM

The Armored Cruiser Squadron "Uke" above got two verses. Others were: The Maryland the Tennessee/the finest ships to sail the sea/they sailed around the Horn to be/in the armored cruiser squadron....The navigator's full of tar/he shoots the truck light for a star/then wonders where in the hell we are/in the armored cruiser squadron.

this song and other military ones were included in a book assembled and sold by the Field Artillery School at Ft. Sill, Okla., back in the 30's. It was a hand-held, narrow, stiff red paperback volume. I lost my ccpy years ago (lent). My dad was asst commandant of the school then.

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 02 Jan 11 - 01:42 PM

This song was the party piece of Eric Winter, Editor of "Sing" magazine, our equiv of "Sing Out", financed by the Workers' Musical Association which was one of the Marxist groups which jumped, inter alia, on to the 2nd [1950+] Folk Revival under auspices of such as Eric, John Hasted, Marxist physics professor at University College London (educ Winchester & New College Oxford!), et al. I met John's twin daughters last at a memorial party for Eric given by his wife Audrey, with whom I still exchange Xmas cards, when he died in 2002; John himself was also ill at the time & died soon after.

Anyhow, Eric probably learned the song from "Sing Out" & IIRC reprinted it in "Sing" c1960. He would always sing it to piano accompaniment provided by another guest at John Brunner's [sf writer & author of CND anthem The H-Bomb's Thunder] Hampstead (& later Somerset) parties; & it became popular on the London folk scene at the time. His version was pretty well analogous to most of those above: just the two verses, "We're coming...don't smoke tobacco" & "Never eat fruitcake for fruitcake has rum...Crumbs on his face".

~Michael~

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 02 Jan 11 - 12:36 PM

Sorry my mistake

L in C#

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 02 Jan 11 - 12:35 PM

Origins of a song below the line?

L in C#

Subject: RE: Origin: Away, Away with Rum, by Gum
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 02 Jan 11 - 08:02 AM

Just rediscovered this old thread of mine.

Anything new?

L in C#

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 12:55 PM

The song certainly has evolved since 1921.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 04:45 AM

Thanks for the reminder about this brilliant old song - memories of Pete McGovern singing it in the Washhouse Folk Club in Liverpool around 1965.

Cheers

L in C

Subject: Lyr Add: AWAY WITH RUM (1913)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 02:01 AM

From Michigan's Favorite College Songs edited by Roy Dickinson Welch, Earl Vincent Moore (Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Music House, 1921):

AWAY WITH RUM

1. Away, away with rum by gum
Here we come. Here we come.
Away, away with rum by gum,
The song of the Salvation Army.

2. We put Joe Parkers on the bum,
On the bum, on the bum.
We put Joe Parkers on the bum,
The song of the Salvation Army.

3. Put your nickels on the drum
On the drum, on the drum.
Put your nickels on the drum,
The song of the Salvation Army.

---

Song is copyright 1913 by University Music House, Ann Arbor, Michigan. -Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 21 Jul 08 - 01:49 AM

Thanks Bob.

I have a very small collection of those kind of song books. To call it a collection is to exaggerate, I have 3 or 4, but they are fascinating and throw up some good songs.

I keep meaning to re-read the whole of this thread and try to sum it up. But today the sun shines so it wont be today.

Cheers

Les

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 18 Jul 08 - 06:42 AM

Les and Uke,

I haven't done a detailed song-by-song comparison, but it looks at a glance as if the Blue Ox Song Book may have been a partial borrowing from the earliest versions of the IOCA [International Outing Club Association] Song Fest, which was circulating perhaps in the late 1930s, certainly by the early 40s, and endured in later editions under the editorship of Dick and Beth Best into the early 1960s.

We were all doing songbooks in those years. College students in dorms and out on the trail were singing scads of ski bum, hiking, and general party songs, traditional folk, oldtime pop, and lots of parodies thereof. (No radio & TV for college students in those days -- they had to make their own entertainment, and anything was better than studying.) This was a very active movement in Europe as well - source of such gems as "I Love to Go a-Wandering" and its parody "I Hate to Go a-Wandering."

That in turn was part of the larger ferment that was breaking loose from the work of folklorists and educators, which resulted in many folk and folk-like songs becoming part of school songbooks, plus numbers of early folksingers like J J Niles, Burl Ives, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie et al and publication of books by Sandburg, the Lomaxes, etc., so the songs were around and being actively sung, especially by those in their teens and twenties.

Young singers felt the need for songbooks to learn and sing from and circulate songs. So on campuses here and there they put together ad hoc collections, passed them out at sings. The IOCA Song Fest had become a classic by then, and was available in stacks for purchase through outing clubs, but we all knew hundreds more songs not included there, and issued them in mimeograph songbooks like the 1950s "Crud 'n Corruption" which circulated among New England hikers -- barely readable, but chock full of good songs (not bawdy songs, by the way, despite its title, just shoals of folksongs, ski songs, novelties and so on).

That's a capsule history of the milieu that produced the Blue Ox Song Book and many another like it. A good find, and a relatively early example of its kind.

Bob

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 06 May 08 - 07:57 AM

Thanks Uke I will do that

Les

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Uke
Date: 05 May 08 - 06:08 PM

Hi Les, no I don't know anything much about it - just what can be gleaned from the pages and the website. It looks like a homemade song book, probably an edition of 25 or less (?), kind of an underground folk tradition all its own. You could drop a line to the website owner John Patrick and ask him about it.

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 05 May 08 - 02:41 AM

Thanks Uke, that book is truly amazing. Can you tell us more about its origin?

Cheers
Les

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Uke
Date: 04 May 08 - 09:36 PM

There's this version called 'The Salvation Army Song' from the 1947 homemade Blue Ox Song Book.


It goes:

THE SALVATION ARMY SONG

We're coming! We're coming! Our brave little band,
On the right side of temperance we now take our stand.
We don't chew tobacco- because we do think
That the people who do so are likely to drink.

We never eat fruitcake; it's chuck full of rum,
And the least little bit puts a man on the bum.
Have you ever seen a more horrible sight
Than a man eating fruitcake until he gets tight?

Have you ever seen a more public disgrace
Than a man in the gutter with crumbs on his face?

Away! Away with rum, by gum!
With rum, by gum! with rum, by gum!
Away! Away with rum, by gum!
Is the song of the Salvation Army.

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: GUEST,Willliam Hite
Date: 14 Apr 08 - 07:28 PM

Kinloch of Kinloch is the tune Robert Burns used for his stunningly beautiful song "Sweetest May".

I shall post it when I get home.

It is on the Linn Complete Burns set sung by John Moran, I think

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Uke
Date: 03 Mar 08 - 07:35 PM

Here's another clue in the 'Away with Rum'-'North Atlantic Squadron' tune puzzle.

As posted above, 'North Atlantic Squadron' was published in 1931 in the book "Mud and Stars" where the tune was given as 'The Armormed Cruiser Squadron' or 'Away with Rum'.

According to the book "Mess Night Traditions" (2007, Charles J. Gibowicz), p.76, the 'Armored Cruiser Squadron' was connected to the banning of rum rations in the US Navy by teetotalling Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, in mid-1914:

"For one of the [New York] Tribune's cartoons, some verses had been composed to fit an old song of the times and these accompanied the cartoon. The verses became a hit and were popularly sung throughout the fleet.

Away, away with sword and drum,
Here we come, full of rum,
Looking for someone to put on the bum,
In the Armored Cruiser Squadron.

Josephus Daniels is a goose,
If he thinks he can induce
Us to drink his damn grape juice
In the Armored Cruiser Squadron."

(This book is available on Google Books.)


From this piece of information and the lyrics it might be deduced that 'Away with Rum' (complete with rollicking chorus tune) predates the 'Armored Cruiser'/'North Atlantic Squadron' songs. After Harrigan and Brahan wrote the original in 1882 it probably changed tunes and went into oral tradition - Randolph's informant was probably correct in dating 'Away with Rum' to around 1900. Certainly by 1914 it was being adapted and parodied itself.

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 03 Mar 08 - 06:00 PM

A great lady from Fresno, CA, Linda Rau, performed that fine piece of music on one of the very first evenings I ever spent in our local coffee house, "The Renaissance," circa 1958-60. She also did another iconic masterpiece,"Logger Lover," as I recall. Having learned the song from Linda (and having embellished it freely) I am still asked to do "The Salvation Army Song" by the occasional odd person (emphasize odd).

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Flash Company
Date: 03 Mar 08 - 09:56 AM

Hi Les.. Malt Shovels in Altrincham in the years when it was a music pub.
Frank's response to 'What key is this in?' was usually 'Yale!'
The group would start playing, Frank would start singing, Kenny would laugh and change key to suit Frank, leaving the rest of them floundering. Happy Days!

FC

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: vectis
Date: 03 Mar 08 - 09:51 AM

I can't remember when I was told it was a 1920s song or by whom. The date is the only thing that stuck in what passes for my mind.

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 03 Mar 08 - 12:27 AM

This verse

"Oh! We never send clothes to be dry cleaned or pressed,
'Cos ether and alcohol are used in the quest."

Has the possibility of some scientific dating - due to the technical nature of the 'dry cleaning process'. The ' 'dry cleaning' may have been been a 'home done' process - the gradual tightening of the free availability of ether and 'untreated' alcohol' would be a note. Of course, if it is just satirical, this may not be relevant anyway.

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Uke
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 05:19 PM

Here's another piece of the puzzle:

One of the posts near the start of this thread mentions that 'The North Atlantic' might derive from 'The Old Destroyer Squadron'. A google search has turned up this - The Old Destroyer Squadron - from the 1931 book 'Mud and Stars - An Anthology of World War Songs and Poetry (ed. Dorothea York), pp.41-42. It was reprinted from an earlier book called 'The Book of Navy Songs', first published in 1926 by the Trident Society and the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. Here is the song in a later reprint, copyrighted to 1926, with tune (pp.40-41): The Old Destroyer Squadron (1926)

Most importantly, the tune is given by York as 'The Armored Cruiser Sqadron' or 'Away with Rum'! Meaning that 'Away with Rum' (with the popular chorus tune) goes back to 1926 at least...

(BTW: The google book links I've made don't seem to link to the specific pages, but I've given the numbers so it should be easy enough).

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Uke
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 04:33 PM

This is turning out to be a truly excellent thread.

Thanks Joe for the verse tune from 'Sing Out' - it differs quite markedly from the DT version. Whereas the chorus part aligns pretty closely with 'North Atlantic Squadron'.

Bob, thanks for your detective work! Here is a link to the sheet music for the 1882 song by Ed Harrigan and Dave Brahan, Salvation Army.

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 04:13 PM

Again, Randolph's source claimed she learned it around 1900. Sure wish he had drawn her out on the subject. Randolph always did informative headnotes to each song where he had anything to go on, citing previous publication, etc., but in this case no more info is given.

I'm convinced this was either a parody of a hymn, or an original satirical song, composed either in England or in the US, c. 1890-1900. There's a good chance it may have been intended as a parody of Harrigan and Braham's "Salvation Army", but there's no real paper trail and intervening versions 1900-1940 are entirely missing. No documentation to prove the 1900 timing, either apart from that remark of hers.

Also we have no good sources for anything but the first verse previous to the 1950s. Yet I doubt Brigger or anyone he knew wrote additional verses. Frustrating!

Best bet: It may yet turn up in one of those folios of comic songs that were so popular in both Britain and America around the turn of the century. Or on an obscure 78 rpm record maybe. Music hall origin is possible, given the Harrigan-Braham tie.

Can anyone knowledgeable about the British, American (or Canadian, Australian, etc.) music hall suggest a research route?

Bob

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 01:19 PM

Thanks Frank. I think we have a good trail going back to the early 50's. the song seems to consolidate to its present form by then.

The interesting bit is where it came from before WW2. Perhaps Barbara Dane could help. I tried her website but couldn't find an e-mail address. She is busy celebrating 80 years of life so she sure has some experience to draw on.

Cheers

Les

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Stringsinger
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 01:15 PM

The song was popular in the folk coffee houses and clubs in the Fifties. The Limelighters did a version of it. Bud and Travis and many others at the time. Barbara Dane did her version of it and I think so did the Chad Mitchell Trio.

There were many rewrites from the early Temperance Union song.

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 01:05 PM

Vectis,

"I was told it dated from the 1920's"

Any source for this?

Cheers

and thanks

Les

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: vectis
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 12:01 PM

I've been singing this one for over 30 years but have no idea of the true origins. I was told it dated from the 1920's but that new verses got added all the time. The reference to cookies rather than biscuits suggests that it is American in origin.

AWAY WITH RUM

CHORUS
Away!Away! With rum, by gum.   With rum by gum, with rum by gum.
Away! Away! With rum by gum,   That's the song of the Salvation Army

We are coming! We are coming our brave little band
On the right side of temperance we come for to stand
We don't smoke tobacco for this we do think,
That the people who do so are liable to drink

Oh! We never eat cookies 'cos cookies have yeast
And a bite from a cookie turns a man to a beast.
Oh! Can you imagine a sorrier sight,
Than a man eating cookies until he gets tight?

Oh! We never eat fruit cake 'cos fruit contains rum,& a bite from a cake turns a man to a bum.
Oh! Can you imagine a sadder disgrace,
Than a man in the gutter with crumbs on his face?

Oh! We never send clothes to be dry cleaned or pressed,
'Cos ether and alcohol are used in the quest.
There's nothing so sorry or sad I suppose,
Than a man getting drunk from the smell of his clothes

Oh! We do not go hiking 'cos it gives you sore feet,   'Tho surgical spirit will cure it a treat.
Because it gets through the skin by osmosis,
And you end up with ten drunk little toeses

Oh! We never use 'Brylcreem' as it's got bay rum,
And too many rubbings turn a fellow quite numb.
And now here's a thought that should have you in fits,
Just imagine those millions of paralytic nits...

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 11:24 AM

But, Barbara:

http://www.barbaradane.net/


Barbara

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 11:22 AM

Frank O'Reilly used to do it with the Union Folk,

Where was this then, Flash?

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Flash Company
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 10:14 AM

First saw this printed in 'Sing Out' circa 1963, no mention of authorship, although they said 'popularized by Barbara Dane'.
Frank O'Reilly used to do it with the Union Folk, usually in a different key to what the band were playing in!

We don't allow massage, stiff muscles to cure,
Those alcohol rubs turn a man to a boor,
Oh can you imagine the terrible fate,
Of a man being massaged 'til he can't stand up straight!

Sung with (un)suitable gestures it usually brings the house down.

FC

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 06:11 AM

Thanks Bob, you have confirmed what I thought. I am still reading all the posts and trying to come to some conclusions. As with many of these songs the origin may well be lost but it looks like it was brought to life by a burst of creativity in the 50's and well sung from then on

Cheers

Les

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 01:13 AM

Les, yes, I have (access to) a copy locally. I've already put in this thread nearly everything that's to be gained from looking at the song in Randolph Vol 2. But here goes.

The song is nothing but a single verse on page 414 of Volume 2. It reads, in full:

TEMPERANCE SONG
Sung by Miss Rose O'Neill, Day, Mo., Sept 2, 1941. Learned about forty years ago.

We're coming, we're coming, our brave little band,
On the right side of temperance we loyally stand,
We don't use terbacker, for this is what we think,
Them that does use it most always does drink.

That's all: just that single verse. No chorus. You now have the complete Randolph entry, except for the tune.

Does that answer your question? Bob

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 01 Mar 08 - 05:15 PM

Thanks Charlotte,

I wondered if anybody had a copy they could look in.

Les

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive)
Date: 01 Mar 08 - 04:58 PM

RANDOLPH, VANCE (COLLECTED AND EDITED BY). Ozark Folksongs (Four Volumes).
Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1980. Hardcover. Complete in four volumes. Volume I: British Ballads and Songs, Volume II: Songs of the South and West, Volume III: Humorous and Play-Party Songs, Volume IV: Religious Songs and Other Items. Introduction by W. K. McNeil. Second, revised edition. Firs t printing thus. Volumes I and IV are fine in very near fine (slight sun fading to title portion of spine) dust jackets. Volumes II and III are fine in fine dust jackets. A clean, bright, and attractive set. ISBN: 0826202977, 0826202985,. Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket .

Offered for US$ 350.00 by: Grendel Books

I'm sure there must be a Dover Edition of this set.

Charlotte (the view from Ma and Pa's piano stool)

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 01 Mar 08 - 02:32 PM

I am just trying to pull this thread together. Can anyone throw new light?

Does anyone have a copy of Randolph's Ozark Folksongs Volume 2?

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 09:17 AM

From the sublime to the silly:

Hand Sanitizer Found to Pose Abuse Risk
Associated Press | February 1, 2007

BALTIMORE — Prison officials and poison control centers can add a new substance to their list of intoxicants — hand sanitizer. A usually calm 49-year-old prisoner prompted a call to the Maryland Poison Control Center after guards found him red-eyed, combative and "lecturing everyone about life." Other inmates and staff reported the unidentified prisoner had been drinking from a gallon container of hand sanitizer, which is more than 70 percent alcohol, or over 140 proof, the center's director wrote in an article appearing in the February issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

That call was one of about a half dozen the Maryland Poison Control Center has received involving hand sanitizers, said Dr. Suzanne Doyon, the poison center's director and co-author of the article. Doyon wrote the article along with Dr. Christopher Welsh, assistant professor in the University of Maryland School of Medicine, to raise awareness of the potential for abuse of hand sanitizers.

While the hand sanitizer contains other chemicals in smaller amounts, it is primarily the same type of alcohol found in liquor, and acts on the body in the same way, said Doyon.

"I don't think a lot of people realize these are ethanol containing, or alcohol containing. They are really no different than a really concentrated liquor," Doyon said. ....

Well I just couldn't resist adding this:

We never use hand sanitizer, it's an ethanol punch,
And prisoners take it for breakfast and lunch,
Have you ever seen any vision so vile
Than a man with clean fingers and a dim goofy smile?
Have you ever seen a more disgusting scene
Than a sanitized drunk with his hands bright and clean?

Bob

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 09:06 AM

Okay, all I had to do was check the Fiddlers Companion website.

"Kinloch of Kinloch" isn't noticeably the "Away With Rum" tune -- given that the writeup says "'Blow the Wind Southerly' is a song based on the 'Kinloch' tune."

"Blow The Wind Southerly" (not the shanty "Blow Ye Winds Southerly," which is a different kettle of fish) is a 19th century English pop song but though the scansion matches, the "Away With Rum" tune differs substantially.

Where to from here, brave little band?

Bob

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 08:39 AM

I think the verses may be a parody of a hymn -- just a guess. The tune as a whole sounds hymn-like, and the phrase "we're coming, we're coming, our brave little band" especially so.

The only occurrence of "we're coming, we're coming" I've been able to turn up occurs in the following 1844 anti-slavery hymn. The meter scans right -- but I can't find the melody "Kinloch of Kinloch" in my (admittedly limited} tune sources. Can anyone help? There's a slim chance it might be the tune to "Away With Rum!"

WE'RE COMING! WE'RE COMING.

AIR--Kinloch of Kinloch. From Geo. W. Clark, The Liberty Minstrel, 1844 (an anti-slavery songbook).

We're coming, we're coming, the fearless and free,
Like the winds of the desert, the waves of the sea!
True sons of brave sires who battled of yore,
When England's proud lion ran wild on our shore!
We're coming, we're coming, from mountain and glen,
With hearts to do battle for freedom again;
Oppression is trembling as trembled before
The slavery which fled from our fathers of yore.

We're coming, we're coming, with banners unfurled,
Our motto is FREEDOM, our country the world;
Our watchword is LIBERTY--tyrants beware!
For the liberty army will bring you despair!
We're coming, we're coming, we'll come from afar,
Our standard we'll nail to humanity's car;
With shoutings we'll raise it, in triumph to wave,
A trophy of conquest, or shroud for the brave.

Then arouse ye, brave hearts, to the rescue come on!
The man-stealing army we'll surely put down;
They are crushing their millions, but soon they must yield,
For _freemen_ have _risen_ and taken the field.
Then arouse ye! arouse ye! the fearless and free,
Like the winds of the desert, the waves of the sea;
Let the north, west, and east, to the sea-beaten shore,
_Resound_ with a _liberty triumph_ once more.

(By the way, Dave Braham's tune to "Salvation Army" is a modest rework of an Irish dance tune ... can't think of the title, but anyone who wants can check the Levy Collection sheet music for "Salvation Army" and see if you can identify it. It partly resembles the Brigger tune for "Away With Rum" but there are lots of differences too.)

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 07:38 AM

Harrigan and Braham may have originated at least the refrain in an 1882 vaudeville song ... though the verses are different:

SALVATION ARMY

Words by Edward Harrigan, music by Dave Braham, 1882

Oh, Cleveland and Folger they went out to fight,
And Cleveland hit Folger with all his might,
The winner he lives in Buffalo,
And the loser's joined the Salvation Army, oh!

CHO
Away, away with rum and gum!
Here we come, hear the drum!
A reg'lar proper lum tum-tum,
As we join'd the army, oh!

I'll give you a pointer that's on the square,
The guy in the middle's a millionaire,
He does this for fun, 'cause he's stuck on the show,
And he follows the Salvation Army, oh!

Ol' Jonahy he lived away down in a whale,
In a little back room very close to the tail,
Don't give it away, for he's out on bail,
And he sings in the Salvation Army, oh!

Spinola he started a rousing big scheme
To heat up the city and county by steam,
He's block'd up the streets I would have you to know,
And he'll blockade the Salvation Army, oh!

Subject: RE: Origin - Away away with rum
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 22 Feb 08 - 07:19 AM

Seeing the more modern versions of "Away With Rum" in the DT, which feature many newly written verses, I thought it might be useful to put in Brigger's core version as I remember it. These were the only verses I ever heard sung in the 50s, either by Brigger or others.

AWAY WITH RUM

As sung by Brigger, 1955. He sang all the verses straight through if I recall correctly, using the chorus only at the end.

We're coming, we're coming, our brave little band,
On the right side of temperance we now take our stand,
We don't use tobacco because we do think
That the people who use it are likely to drink,
We never eat fruit cake, it's chock full of rum,
And the least little bite turns a man to a bum!
Have you ever seen a more pitiful sight
Than a man eating fruit cake until he gets tight?
Have you ever seen a more public disgrace
Than a man in the gutter with crumbs on his face?

CHO   Away, away with rum by gum, with rum by gum, with rum by gum
          Away, away with rum by gum, that's the song of the Salvation Army.