Lyr Add: The Liquor Book Song

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LIQUOR BOOK SONG (trad. Newfoundland)
From: Bob Landry
Date: 03 Jun 97 - 08:02 PM

Another contribution. This song is about the trials and tribulations of a Newfoundlander trying to get a bottle of booze when the sale of liquor was strictly controlled. It also attests to the legendary inefficiency of government. I'm not sure of the exact music for the Liquor Book but I've been doing it to the tune of Kelligrew's Soiree. I must be on the right track since the last group of Newfies I sang this to gave me a bottle of Screech at our next gathering and I drank it :)

I think this song is traditional although the book I transcribed the lyrics from attributes this arrangement to Dick Nolan.

LIQUOR BOOK

After workin' all the livelong year, there finally comes a day:
My two weeks summer holiday and a trip around the bay.
And kickin' off my overalls, I marched out in my glee,
Determined to get a bottle of Screech to take along with me.

There were people there from everywhere: Grand Falls and Corner Brook,
From Joe Batt's Arm and Billy's farm all waitin' for their book.
From Greenland's icy waters and Tex's kitty brook,
All waitin' tired and thirsty to get their liquor book.

There were young men with curly hair and old men with bald heads,
And pretty little maidens, old maids with wooden legs,
Old men with whiskers on their chin who gave an awful look,
And their whiskers they grew longer as they waited for their book.

Well, along came a policeman, and he lines us up in twos.
He had a billy in his hand, so none of us refused.
"How much longer must we wait?" said one man to the cop.
He laughed and said, "I guess you'll be too old to take a drop."

An old man looked like Noah, hung down his weary head.
He said "My god! I'll have to send my grandson here instead.
I saw service in the Boer War and little did I think
I'd spend my last days tryin' to get a book to get a drink."

Well, after waiting two long weeks, goodness knows I tried.
With half a dollar in my hand, I finally got inside.
And walkin' to the wicket along with many more,
Such names and occupations, I never heard before.

There were tradesmen and mechanics, McIsaacs and McGinns,
A couple of men of eighty years who said that they were twins,
Grave diggers and undertakers, dishwashers, stewards and cooks,
Wooden-leg and glass-eye makers all waitin' for their books.

Too late to go around the bay, my book I finally got.
So I bought myself a bottle of Screech and drank the whole darn lot.
I passed out just like a light unto the world I seen.
Boy oh boy, while I was out, what a terrible dream I dreamed!

I saw Adam eat the apple, and Matthew chasing Mark,
Noah with the scrubbin' bucket scrubbin' up the Ark,
King Solomon tryin' to count his wives and Abel chasin' Cain.
So is there any wonder why I'll never drink again?

Subject: RE: Liquor Book
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 03 Jun 97 - 08:26 PM

Thanx