Origins: O Landlord, have you any fine wine?

Subject: Origins: O Landlord, have you any fine wine?
From: Toby Eccles
Date: 03 Aug 12 - 06:01 AM

G'day,

I am researching a song that was sung by the great Australian poet C.J. Dennis, accompanied on his home-made banjo.

R.H. Croll writes, "We sang at nights ancient songs lke 'Samuel Hall' and 'O Landlord, have you any fine wine?' but with verses made on the spot to supplant the extremely frank statements of the original makers of those delectable ballads. Dennis was particularly good at improvization." (http://www.middlemiss.org/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&tag=R )

The only thing that comes up on a Google search for the latter song is 'Three Pirates Came to London Town', which is not an exact match in terms of wording. It's definitely a contender for the song sung by Dennis and friends, but why didn't Croll call it 'Three Pirates Came to London Town', 'Yo Ho, You Lubbers' or something similar? Only two verses out of ten or so involve asking the landlord for wine.

Has anybody come across any other songs that could be given this name?

Also, any suggestions on versions of 'Sam Hall' that might have been in circulation in Australia in the first three decades of the twentieth century?

Cheers,
Toby.

Subject: RE: Origins: O Landlord, have you any fine wine?
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 03 Aug 12 - 09:00 AM

The song is more likely to have been "Three German Officers Crossed the Rhine." After asking for wine, they ask for the landlord's "daughter fine."

Sometimes there are two officers, or just one.

During 1914-18 the song mutated into "Hinky Dinky Parlez-Vous."

The "Three Pirates" version looks like a chaste parody for children, and not very often encountered.

Impressive website, by the way!