Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Haruo
Date: 08 Feb 02 - 10:28 PM

It's still not clear if this thread is really about songs for alcoholics, or about songs for drunks, or both. 'Tain't the same people and 'tain't the same songs, not 'tirely.

Of course for sober alcoholics both my Fremont Hymn and what Guest Hutzul, above and a year and a half ago, called Judy Henski's Salvation Army Song (I've always called it my Salvation Army Song, since I've never known whose it really was) come to mind, but the song I'm really surprised to see neither here nor in the DT is Let [Her] Sleep Under the Bar ("Her" is sometimes "Nellie"):

'Twas a cold winter's evening,
The guests were all leaving,
O'Leary was closing the bar,
When he turned 'round and said
To that lady in red,
"Go home! You can't stay where you are!"

She shed a sad tear
In her bucket of beer
As she dreamt of the cold night ahead,
When a gentleman dapper
Stepped out of the phone booth
And these are the words that he said:

Her mother never told her all the things a young girl should know,
About the ways of fancy men, and how they come and go ^{(mostly go)}...
Age has taken her beauty,
And sin has left its sad scar,
So remember your mothers and sisters, boys,
And let [her] sleep under the bar.

I'm pretty sure I learned it as a kid from the 1954 IOCA Dick/Beth Best Song Fest. And yes, there was an Esperanto version sung round the campfire at NOREK back probably about 1982, and I think printed in an ephemeral form. Some of the words are variable in my memory (not merely her/Nellie): "a sad/him a", "dreamt/thought", "told/taught", "fancy/college", at least.

Liland

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 08 Feb 02 - 11:41 PM

Didn't read the entire thread, so it may have been mentioned: LIVERPOOL LULLABY

O you are a mucky kid, dirty as a dustbin lid
When he finds out the things you did
You'll get a belt from your da'

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 08 Feb 02 - 11:46 PM

The only songs Jez and I know about alcoholics are rather rude and are best heard down the local pub after quite a few beers.........if you want to hear them u will have to feed us copious amounts of alcohol first!!!!

with love from two alcoholic catters!!!

Jez and Cat xxx

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST,SharonA at the library
Date: 09 Feb 02 - 02:04 PM

What about "OLD BLEVINS" by the Austin Lounge Lizards?

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST,Tracey Dragonsfriend
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 10:54 AM

And from the rockier end of the blues line:
One Bourbon, one Scotch, and one Beer...
(You got me on ) Milk & Alcohol

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 08:19 PM

Christmas In the Drunk Tank, or Fairytale in New York has already been mentioned. Little Hawk's poem, has been set to music and is called The PIG AND THE INEBRIATE and also The Pig Got Up and Slowly Walked Away. One of my favorites is D.W. Washburn, an old Coaster song, but my favorite version was recorded by Mike Dowling. Also THE NIGHT I STOLE OLD SAMMY MORGAN'S GIN, by Hank Snow.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: E.T.
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 10:03 PM

old camp song - 99 bottles of beer on the wall... old vaudeville - "CHAMPAGNE CHARLIE is my name"

Don't remember the formal title:

"Landlord fill the flowing bowl, until it doth run over (2x) For tonight we'll merry be (3x) Tomorrow we'll be sober!"

FYI - Francils Willard House in Evanston, IL 60201 may have WCTU songs. They started it, after all.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Genie
Date: 03 Apr 02 - 07:27 PM

Well, I was looking thru these old "drinking song" threads because that's the theme of an upcoming song circle in San Diego, so I thought I would add a couple of mentions that are relevant to this thread:

Nancy Whiskey
Friends In Low Places
The Midnight Choir
LITTLE BROWN JUG

Genie

Subject: Lyr Add: SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR (parody)
From:
Date: 04 Apr 02 - 08:57 AM

Yup the Kippers did some fine alcoholic songs.

Drink, boys, drink, and see that you do not spill,
For if you do, you shall drink two,
For that is our master's will.

My favourite is the parody of SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR which goes in this sort of vein. Apologies to Sid and Henry if I have mistranslated from the trunch original.

My young love said to me, "My father won't mind,
And my ma won't mind either, for with drink she is blind."
As she fell down atop me this was her refrain:
"O-o-o it will not be long, love, till they're open again."

And she moved away from me and fell down the stair,
And slowly I heard her trip here and crash there,
And she went away from me one over the eight,
And like a swan in the evening, she fell into the lake.

Last night she came to me. Dead drunk she came in,
And so softly she burped, I could scarce smell the gin,
And she fell down on top me. This was her refrain:
"O-o-o it will not be long love till they're open again."

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 04 Apr 02 - 10:20 AM

One tequila, Two tequila, Three tequila......give me some more!!!!!........well perhaps JD or Vodka!!!!

cat

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: The Walrus at work
Date: 04 Apr 02 - 12:39 PM

This is definitely songs for drunks (not for alcoholics)
Someone beat me to "Champagne Charlie", so I'll add the music Hall song "Another Little Drink (Won't do us any harm)" or one snippet I picked up from my late Father "More Beer and Bugger the Band of Hope!" or from the Great War "BOOZING, Boozing, Boozing (always bloody-well boozing)" or "DRUNK LAST NIGHT".

Walrus

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Gareth
Date: 04 Apr 02 - 01:22 PM

Sureley "One tequila, Two tequila, Three tequila, FLOOR !"

Gareth

PS Is it me being ignorant but we seem to have missed,
"CIGARETTES, WHISKEY AND WILD WILD WOMEN"

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Bobert
Date: 04 Apr 02 - 02:18 PM

Danged, howz about ol Tom T. Hall's "I LIKE BEER" which started out something like...ahhh..."In some of my songs I have casually mentioned, the fact that I like to drink beer."

Or the old blues song that Badboy George Thorogood rerecorded entitled "One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer" or the one he probably penned himself "I Drink Alone"...

Then there was one that Conway Twitty wrote. I can't remember the name but the chorus was: "I've been too busy drinking, She's been too busy thinking, About the man dadadada... And the man she never sees... Lord's she's allready stood for...More than I was ever good for... And this time I've hurt her more than she loves me."

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Genie
Date: 04 Apr 02 - 03:02 PM

Gareth,

Isn't it
"Cigareets, and Whuskey, and Wild Wild Women ? " [That's the way the main guy who recorded it pronounced it, anyway.]

Also, I forgot
"Jose Cuervo [You Are A Friend Of Mine]

Genie

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 04 Apr 02 - 06:05 PM

I'd rather have cigarettes,whiskey and wild wild MEN Garreth!!!!

Subject: Lyr Add: A Song of Water
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 07:38 AM

Mentioned earlier in the thread, but not quoted (or found in DT):

A SONG OF WATER
(adapted from the Platt-Deutsch) by Lord Neaves

(Intro.)
I'm very fond of water
And I drink it noon and night;
Not Rechab's son or daughter
Had therein more delight.

(Verse 1)
I breakfast on it daily,
And nectar it doth seem,
When once I've mix'd it gaily
With sugar and with cream
But I forgot to mention,-
That in it first I see,
Infused or in suspension,
Good Mocha or Bohea,
Infused or in suspension,
Good Mocha or Bohea,
(the last two lines of each verse should be repeated in this fashion)

(Chorus which follows each verse, including the last.)
I'm very fond of water
And I drink it noon and night.

(Verse 2)
At luncheon, too, I drink it,
And strength it seems to bring;
When really good, I think it
A liquor for a King.
But I forgot to mention,-
'Tis best to be sincere,-
I use an old invention
That makes it into Beer.

(Verse 3)
I drink it, too, at dinner,
I quaff it full and free,
And find, as I'm a sinner,
It does not disagree.
But I forgot to mention,
As thus I drink and dine,
To obviate distentsion
I join some Sherry Wine

(Verse 4)
And then, when dinner's over,
And business far away,
I find myself in clover,
And drink my eau sucrée.
But I forgot to mention,
To give the glass a smack,
I add, with due attention,
Glenlivet or Cognac.

(Verse 5)
At last, when evening closes,
With something nice to eat,
The best of sleeping doses
In water still I meet.
But I forgot to mention,
I think it not a sin, To cheer the day's declension
By pouring in some gin.


Notes: found in The Scottish Students Song Book (6th edition) 1897. Where the words were re-printed "by kind permission of Messrs William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh"
Music is given as by "Dr. T W Drinkwater" (There again, as the same source gives the music for Abdul the Bulbul Amir as by "Ali Baba" I feel we may be seeing some student humour slipping in here!)

NP

Nigel

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Allan Dennehy
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 09:33 AM

Shane Mc Gowans "That womans got me drinkin"

Dean Martin sang "LITTLE OLE WINE DRINKER ME"

Steve Earles "Copperhead Road"

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Mike
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 10:00 AM

Did anyone mention "THE TWO-HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD ALCOHOLIC"?

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Wolfgang
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 10:19 AM

'Le vin' by Georges Brassens

Wolfgang

Subject: Lyr Add: LE VIN (Georges Brassens)
From: Wolfgang
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 10:26 AM

LE VIN
(Georges Brassens)

Avant de chanter
Ma vie, de fair' des
Harangues
Dans ma gueul' de bois
J'ai tourné sept fois
Ma langue
J'suis issu de gens
Qui étaient pas du gen-
re sobre
On conte que j'eus
La tétée au jus
D'octobre...

Mes parents on dû
M'trouver au pied d'u-
ne souche
Et non dans un chou
Comm' ces gens plus ou
Moins louches
En guise de sang
( O noblesse sans
Pareille! )
Il coule en mon cœur
La chaude liqueur
D'la treille...

Quand on est un sa-
ge, et qu'on a du sa-
voir-boire
On se garde à vue
En cas de soif, u-
ne poire
Une poire ou deux
Mais en forme de
Bonbonne
Au ventre replet
Rempli du bon lait
D'l'automne...

Jadis, aux Enfers
Cert's, il a souffert
Tantale
Quand l'eau refusa
D'arroser ses a-
mygdales
Etre assoiffé d'eau
C'est triste, mais faut
Bien dire
Que, l'être de vin
C'est encore vingt
Fois pire...

Hélas! il ne pleut
Jamais du gros bleu
Qui tache
Qu'ell's donnent du vin
J'irai traire enfin
Les vaches
Que vienne le temps
Du vin coulant dans
La Seine!
Les gens, par milliers
Courront y noyer
Leur peine...

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Deda
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 03:27 PM

I may have missed a few spots but I didn't see anyone mention " I'M GONNA HIRE A WINO TO DECORATE OUR HOME". More about the effects of drinking on the drinker's family. Then that old mining song, "It's dark as a dungeon way down in the mines", has a verse about drunks -

Like a fiend with his dope or a drunkard his wine
A man must have lust for the lure of the mine

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: vectis
Date: 13 Jul 02 - 02:22 PM

CHEVALIERS DE LA TABLE RONDE
Sussex toast
LET UNION BE IN ALL OUR HEARTS
Most of my other ones have been mentioned by others.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 13 Jul 02 - 04:17 PM

Hard to believe no one has mentioned BEHIND THOSE SWINGING DOORS.

And at the Rosenmontag (Rose Monday, end of Fasching I believe) parade in Munich in 1955 I learned this scrap, given here in my best attempt at the German:

Mir schmeckt kein Rosenkohl
Mir schmeckt kein Blumenkohl
Mir schmeckt kein Sauerkohl
Mir schmeckt nur alkohol!

which is to say something like:

I don't like brussels sprouts
I don't like ??? (another of the brassica family)
I don't like sour cabbage
I only like alcohol!

You need to know that "kohl" is cabbage in German.

Maybe somebody with better command of German can improve my spelling and my translation.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 13 Jul 02 - 04:23 PM

A GREAT song for the alcohol/singing fraternity is "Billy Brink", lyrics posted by Spaw in November 2000. I don't see the "birdy" that would indicate that it's been harvested, but maybe I'm not looking right. In any case, you can find it with a forum search.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST,Leadfingers
Date: 13 Jul 02 - 05:19 PM

Robin Laing's CD The Angels Share is all songs about Whisky-Some of his own and some old classics like Shel Silverstein's Whisky and Women

Subject: Lyr Add: DOWN WHERE THE DRUNKARDS ROLL
From: allanwill
Date: 13 Jul 02 - 05:43 PM

Someone mentioned a Richard Thompson song earlier on. Here's another of RT's.

DOWN WHERE THE DRUNKARDS ROLL
Richard Thompson
Transcribed by Phil Saunders

(Capo 3rd fret to play with record. Song is recorded in Bb, but written here in G)

G
  See the boys out walking
      C                G
  The boys who look so fine
  C                   G
  Dressed up in green velvet
  C                    G
  Their silver buckles shine
  G
  Soon they'll be bleary-eyed
  D              C
  Under a keg of wine
  
  CHORUS
  C/G                      D
  Down where the drunkards roll
  C/G                      D
  Down where the drunkards roll

See that lover standing
Staring at the ground
He's looking for the real thing
Lies were all he found
You can get the real thing
It will only cost a pound

There goes a troubled woman
She dreams a troubled dream
She lives out on the highway
She keeps her money clean
Soon she'll be returning
To the place where she's the queen

You can be a gambler
Who never drew a hand
You can be a sailor
Who never left dry land
You can be Lord Jesus
All the world will understand

Allan

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: masato sakurai
Date: 14 Jul 02 - 01:45 PM

Look at the cover illustration of Papa, Don't Drink Any More, written by Arthur W. French and music by Chas. D. Blake (1874) (Also at Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, 1870-1885).

~Masato

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 14 Jul 02 - 02:27 PM

"They Oughta Name a Drink After You" - John Prine

"I GOTTA GET DRUNK (AND I SURE DO DREAD IT)" - Willie Nelson

"One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer" - George Thorogood

"I Like Beer (It Makes Me a Jolly Good Fellow)" - Tom T. Hall

And there's the verse in Si Kahn's "Wild Rose of the Mountain":

Whiskey from that white oak barrel, sure do make good liquor
Makes the night seem twice as bright and the day go by much quicker

Bruce

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Leeder
Date: 14 Jul 02 - 03:05 PM

Hamish Imlach wrote one with the refrain "As usual!". I don't know if hat was the title or not. I'll go looking. Hamish wrote of what he knew, I'm sure.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Leeder
Date: 14 Jul 02 - 03:10 PM

"AS USUAL" is on Hamish Imlach's recording "Ballads of Booze", although it appears he didn't write it.

A whole CD devoted to what you're looking for...

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Malachy
Date: 14 Jul 02 - 06:52 PM

Rich (stupidbodhran) just reminded me of 'Please Daddy Don't Get Drunk This Xmas'. My sister and I used to sing it around Christmas time as a bit of a piss-take.....but it used to go down really well. What about Squeezes'....'When The Hangover Strikes'? Not very folky tho....and maybe alcoholics dont get hangovers......

Subject: Lyr Add: WILDCATS HOWLIN' (Glen Reid)
From: GUEST,Glen Reid
Date: 14 Jul 02 - 07:36 PM

Here's an excerpt from the chorus of a song I wrote and recorded, called "WILDCATS HOWLIN'." Tongue in cheek!

In the shadow of the moonlight
In the glow of the firelight
Cooking up the moonshine, so fine
And we run a little brew
And we sip a little brew...

Hey look at the fire, its brimstone burnin'
What's that smell, the breath of Satan?
Well you work that still, through the night
Cook that brew, 'n' hear the cries of the...

Wildcats howlin' in the pale moonlight
Wildcats screamin' in the quiet of the evening
Devil in the brew, and we drink to the demons
And the god-awful howlin' in the quiet of the moonlight

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Joe_F
Date: 15 Jul 02 - 06:48 PM

"Chevaliers de la table ronde" (in the DT) expresses the wish to be buried in a wine cellar, two feet against the wall & head under the spigot.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST,northfolk/whose cookie has crumbled
Date: 15 Jul 02 - 07:46 PM

The lyric I find most poignant is from a song by Charlie King on his "FOOD, PHONE, GAS and LODGING", album... [He Couldn't Let Go]... listen and see if you don't see a friend....

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST,IB
Date: 16 Jul 02 - 06:01 AM

Red Wine and Promises by Lal Waterson

Subject: Lyr Add: WHILE I WAS OUT A DRINKING (from Bodleian
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 10:07 AM

I ran across this while looking for something else, and I found it so charming, I thought I'd add it here. If you want to sing it, I suppose you'll have to work up your own tune.

From Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads, Harding B 11(4149)

WHILE I WAS OUT A DRINKING
Pitts, Printer toy Warehouse 6 Grea[t] St Andrew streeter [sic], 7 Dials [London]
[between 1819 and 1844]

On Monday morning, I rose at eight
And in a queerish raking.
The over [?] night I'd been out late.
I found my head was aching.
"Old girl," says I, "I'm rather queer.
I feel my spirits sinking."
Says she, "I hope today, my dear,
You won't go out a drinking."

CHORUS: Whiddlem twiddlem, diddlee diddlem
Whacky ti wheedle, whoedle.

"Depend," said I, "by all above,
I mean to keep quite steady.
I'll go and have a cooler, love,
While you get breakfast ready."
But when I got unto the fleece,
I met my cousin Jenkin.
We had two goes of rum apiece.
Thinks I, this looks like drinking.

Now when I'm out upon the fly,
I never care for victuals.
Says I, "I know a ground just by.
Let's have a game at skittles."
But though he did begin to chaff,
I floor'd the pins like winking.
I won six pots of half-and-half
While I was out a drinking.

Now, having knock'd the pins about
For heavy and blue ruin,
My gentle creature found me out.
I heard the storm a brewing.
She said, while giving me such cracks
That set my eyes a winking,
"I'll sarve you out, my cock-o-wax,
For going out a drinking."

Misfortunes seldom comes alone,
And that you are aware of,
And so I think with me you'll own
That day I had my share of.
My nose had got a woeful knotch
And both my eyes were blinking.
Besides, some rascals stole my watch
While I was out a drinking.

But mark: my troubles didn't end
By losing of my ticker.
I in the station house got penn'd,
Being for the worse for liquor.
In a dirty hole they shov'd me down,
So dirty, dark and stinking.
Next morn, they made me drop a crown
For going out a drinking.

Now all you that take a drain at night,
Oh, take this friendly warning:
Keep out of the policemen's sight
Or you'll have to tip next morning.
But if you must go on the spree,
Away from business shrinking,
I wish you better luck than me
When you go out a drinking.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 12:20 PM

Loudon Wainwright IIIs 'White Winos'... Off his album, The Last Man on Earth....

"Sunday AM Coming Down", from Kris Kristofferson... the best hangover song ever

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST,Songster Bob
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 09:52 PM

"SEVEN BEERS WITH THE WRONG WOMAN" is one I like to sing.

And Bennett Hammond wrote a good anti-drinking song that I disremember except for the line in the first verse about how drinking songs would be more true-to-life "if they mentioned pissing on your shoes."

Bob

Subject: Lyr Add: THE REEL OF THE FLICKERING LIGHT (Moore)
From: GUEST,annemc
Date: 27 Nov 04 - 04:31 AM

As mentioned in a thread above - the hallucinations of an alcoholic. Song by Christie Moore.

THE REEL OF THE FLICKERING LIGHT

As I was walkin' home one evenin'--
I know this takes some believin'--
I met a group of creatures
With the strangest lookin' features:
A poor old dog with a worm and a weed,
And a fine old pigeon, yes indeed.
Daddy Longlegs jumped up sprightly
And danced a reel of the flickering light.

CHORUS: Oh, round we go, heel to the toe.
Daddy Longlegs jumped up sprightly,
And danced in the reel of the flickering light.

On his thin and wispy spindles,
He was deft and he was nimble.
His eyes were scientific,
And his dancin' was terrific.
The rats and the worms they made a din,
And the nettles in the corner took it in.
"Oh, God!" says I. "Tonight's the night.
We'll dance to the reel in the flickering light." CHORUS

Then he looked at me directly
With a gaze that could dissect me,
And he asked me in a whisper,
"Have you got any sisters?"
"Good God Almighty!" says I to him.
"What sort of a man do you think I am?
I've only one and she's not your type.
She wouldn't dance a reel in the flickering light." CHORUS

Says he, "Does she come from another planet?
Does she have a bee in her bonnet?
Does she do her daily duties?
You never know we might be suited."
And the rats and the worms began to laugh
And some of them started shufflin' off.
"We're going to have some fun tonight
Gettin' ready for the reel in the flickering light." CHORUS

I could see he had no scruples
When I looked into his pupils.
They were purple or magenta
Like a statue during Lent.
I said, "I'll get her right away."
"Good man," says he. "Now don't delay.
We're goin' to have some fun tonight."
Then he flipped his legs in the flickering light. CHORUS

Then up stepped a red carnation
And they gave her an ovation.
She was warm and enchantin'
As she slowly started dancin',
And the bright auld pigeon peeled his eye,
And the nettles and the weeds began to sigh.
Daddy Longlegs said, "My, oh my!
Are we ready for the reel in the flickering light?" CHORUS

She was gentle, she was charmin',
And I heard him call her Darlin'.
He was graceful as a whisper
On his delicate legs of silver,
And the rats and the worms were still as mice,
And the poor auld pigeon said, "That's nice:
A shimmering veil of a lovely bride."
And they danced to the reel in the flickering light. CHORUS (x2)

Subject: Lyr Add: DANNY FARRELL (Pete St. John)
From: GUEST,annemc
Date: 27 Nov 04 - 04:38 AM

This song is seriously about the alcoholic:

DANNY FARRELL (by Pete St. John)

I knew Danny Farrell when his football was a can
With his hand-me-downs and Welliers and his sandwiches of bran;
But now that pavement peasant is a full grown bitter man
With all the trials and troubles of his travelling people's clan.

CHORUS: He's a loser, a boozer, a me and you user,
A raider, a trader, a people police hater.
So lonely and only, what you'd call a gurrier,
Still now, Danny Farrell, he's a man.

I knew Danny Farrell when he joined the National School.
He was lousy at the Gaelic. They'd call him amadán - a fool.
He was brilliant in the toss school by trading objects in the pawn.
By the time he was an adult, all his charming ways had gone.

I knew Danny Farrell when we queued up for the dole,
And he tried to hide the loss of pride that eats away the soul.
But mending pots and kettles is a trade lost in the past.
"There's no hand-out here for tinkers," was the answer when he asked. CHORUS

I still know Danny Farrell, saw him just there yesterday
Taking methylated spirits with some winos on the quay.
Oh, he's forty going on eighty, with his eyes of hope bereft,
And he told me this for certain: there's not many of us left. CHORUS

Subject: Lyr Add: GOOD LIQUOR GONNA CARRY ME DOWN (Broonzy)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 09:43 AM

Transcribed from the sound file at Public Domain 4U: (Broonzy is backed up by some great blues piano on this recording.)

GOOD LIQUOR GONNA CARRY ME DOWN
(Bill Broonzy)

Now, I knowed a little girl 'bout sixteen years ol'.
She said, "Bill, stop drinkin' an' I will satisfy your soul,"
But I just keep on a-drinkin'. Yes, I keep on drinkin'.
Yeah, I just keep on a-drinkin' till good liquor carry me down.

Now, my woman told me, 'bout fifteen years ago,
"Bill, you gon' drink one these mornin's an' you'll never drink no mo',"
But I will just keep on a-drinkin'. Yes, I keep on drinkin'.
Yeah, I just keep on a-drinkin' till good liquor carry me down.

Now, I wake up in the mornin' hold'n' a bottle tight.
When I lay down at night, Mama, just a gallon out of sight, (?)
Because I just keep on a-drinkin'. Yes, I keep on drinkin'.
Now, I just keep on a-drinkin' till good liquor carry me down.

Yes, I went to the doctor with my head in my hands.
The doctor said, "Big Bill, I think I'll have to give you monkey glands,
Because you just keep on a-drinkin'." Yes, I keep on drinkin'.
I'm 'onna keep on a-drinkin' till good liquor carry me down.

Now, my woman tol' me to stop drinkin', an' come on home.
Say, "If you don't, Big Bill, some other man gwine carry your business on."
But I'm just gwine to keep on a-drinkin'. Yes, I'm 'on' keep on drinkin'.
I'm just gwine to keep on a-drinkin' till good liquor carry me down.

[The dialect fascinates me. This is one of very few instances where I've actually heard the word "gwine." Notice how many other ways he pronounces "going to" – gon', 'onna, 'on'. I didn't try to represent these pronunciations in the text because I thought it would be too confusing: "Now" is pronounced "nowd." "Carry" is one syllable: "car'."

[Broonzy's recording is available on several collections. Also recorded by Paul Geremia on "Gamblin' Woman Blues."]

Subject: Lyr Add: FOU THE NOO (Harry Lauder)
From: Bert
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 12:32 PM

Here's a good one from the Sir Harry Lauder website

"Fou the Noo"
or (Something In The Bottle For The Morning)
by Gerald Grafton and Harry Lauder


I just come frae a weddin', or a fun'ral,
A christ'nin' or somethin' of the kind,
And the stuff that I've been drinkin' took my noodle,
And to what or where I've been I can na mind.
I feel as brave as any highway robber;
I've the courage of a dozen men the noo;
I'm a miserable devil when I'm sober
But I'm very, very happy when I'm fou!

CHORUS: And I'm fou the noo! absolutely fou!
But I adore the country I was born in.
My name is Jock McGraw and I dinna care a straw
For I've somethin' in the bottle for the mornin'
And I'm fou the noo! absolutely fou!
But I adore the country I was born in.
My name is Jock McGraw and I dinna care a straw
for I've somethin' in the bottle for the mornin'!

2. If ye take a Five Pound Note to light your pipe with;
If ye think a bassinette's a motor car;
If ye lift the doormat up to wipe your nose with,
If you're in your hoose and don't know where you are;
If you kiss a policeman and say "Hoo dearly,
My dearest darlin' pet hoo, I love you"
Well then that denotes conclusively and clearly.
That, like me, ma freen's, yer absolutely fou! CHORUS

3. I felt quite mad when coming roon the corner,
A lamp post struck me richt between the eyes!
Ma blood got up I wanted to be fighting,
Because the thing did not apologize.
Just after that I tumbled oe'r a doorstep,
"Thieves!" "Murder!" and "Police!" I cried,
but I'm goin' to make the owner compensate me,
for his negligence in leaving it outside.

Patter (spoken) Yes, but at the same time the burnin' question is , when is a man fou? Eh? Of course, the cheaper the whiskey, the greater the burnin' question. The wife will swear whe I go home that I've been drinkin'. Would you notice I've been drinkin', eh? As I was comin' along the street th' noo, I met a half-cousin of the wife's : you "know one of these Dr. Dowie-chaps". said he "John! I'm surprised at you. are you aware the wicked stand on slippery places?"
"Well!" said I, "you should be just like me - keep slidin' along, and there's no fear of you"
Said he, "You are not fit for any society!"
Said I, "That's a lie the wife has me in the Prudential."
Ya see th' bird I've got in ma hand? (holding chicken up by the neck). D'ye know the way I got it? Ma hat blew off and I chased this for half-an-hour!

CHORUS

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Snuffy
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 07:01 PM

Looks like we just missed St Vincents day (22 Jan). According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable he is the patron saint of drunkards. This being a very arduous office, he has to share it with St Martin, who took on the task because his day (Nov 11) was formerly the Vinalia or feast of Bacchus.

Who but us drunkards could deserve two patron saints, and hence two golden excuses for a piss-up?

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 01:32 AM

And BOTH at the same end of the year...

Subject: Lyr Add: I AM NEVER GOING TO DRINK AGAIN
From: alanabit
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 02:56 AM

Merle Haggard's "THE BOTTLE LET ME DOWN" is probably my favourite song about a compulsive drinker. I also like a song called "Sick, Sober and Sorry," of which I have a recording by Sourdough Slim and Blackie. My own offering, "I Am Never Going To Drink Again," has regrettably not been taken up by the temperance movement.

I AM NEVER GOING TO DRINK AGAIN

Oh what a horrible feeling! I can hardly move my head.
My mouth is dry. I've got two red eyes. I fear I'm almost dead.
But at least that's some improvement – if my legs don't give.
In my neck, at last there's movement,
And I'm no longer scared I'll live...but

        I'm never going to drink again.
        I'm never going to drink again.
        Can't move me head. It feels like lead.
        It gives me too much pain.
        I'm never going to drink again.
        I'm never going to drink again.
        So until tonight when a pub is in sight,
        I'm never going to drink again.

The alarm clock has started drilling a hangover into my brain.
I'm going to smash it, then, God willing,
I'm going back to sleep again.
But first a couple of aspirin – I think I'll take before....
Excuse me now. I'm gasping.... I think I'm going to ... once more

        I'm never going to drink again.
        Can't move me head. It feels like lead.
        It gives me too much pain.
        I'm never going to drink again.
        I'm never going to drink again.
        So until tonight when a pub is in sight,
        I'm never going to drink again.

Last night has just about cured me. it pushed me over the edge.
I don't know how my girlfriend endured me.
I think I'll sign the pledge.
(spoken) No, I won't go that far.
From now on, I'll drink in moderation,
For my symptoms have gone down.
That calls for a small celebration,
So tonight I'll hit the town.

        I was never going to drink again.
        Couldn't move me head. It felt like lead.
        It gave me too much pain.
        I was never going to drink again.
        I was never going to drink again.
        So until tonight when a pub is in sight,
        I'm never going to drink again.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST,Snuffy
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 09:52 AM

Supersearch is down, but I think the Kipper Family's Are You Dry may be in the Cat somewhere

Are you dry? Are you dry?
Or will you go to hell where you will fry?
We are the little troop
Who will make the brewers droop
When they hear our battle cry
Are you dry?

Subject: Lyr Add: ALKIE'S LAMENT
From: Wrinkles
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 02:07 PM

Rather than being about "songs for alcoholics," this thread seems on the whole more like "drinking songs," so I thought I'd redress the balance with this little number I wrote about my recovery from alcoholism. It's got a bluesy/country feel to it.

ALKIE'S LAMENT

1. I woke up in this hospital bed.
All I know is the pain in my head.
Don't know how I got here; don't know how I came.
I'm back in the DT ward again.
Maybe I was busted after a fight,
Or a Samaritan's kindness to me in the night.
Who really knows? Who gives a damn?
I've ended up here all the same.
The doc says I'm dyin'.
She says she's quite sure
If I don't quit the drinkin', I'll be dead for sure.
Gives me an injection then puts me right out of her mind.

[Refrain:] And Lord, I miss my mama, and I want my teddy bear.
But both were lost, long time ago. They're memories in the air;
And Lord, I feel like dyin' but I don't wanna die alone,
Yet I've never found a single place that feels like I belong.

2. My bed is awash with my blood and my sweat.
I shake with a violence that ain't over yet.
My bowels and my belly don't know they are mine,
And my eyes cannot focus no more;
But I can still see the contempt in their eyes.
I put on a brave face but I wanna cry
When I hear, "Trash from the gutter," "an alkie," "a drunk."
Truth hurts when it burns in your ears.
For God knows I've tried, ten times or more,
But when each day before me's a tedious chore,
I only pass though it by drownin' my pain
And runnin' away from the night.

[Refrain]

3. I lie here and wonder what's worth livin' for
And remember the days when I was so young and sure.
Before I found my bottle, my treacherous friend,
Who steals while he's takin' away.
Now the junkies and whores look down on me
And the hobos avoid my company,
And even this place says I've blown my last chance,
And they will not treat me again.
Dear God, one more chance! I'll try very hard
If you can forgive me all my false starts.
Lord, I don't wanna die, with all that I've done,
Still hangin' guilty on me.

[Final refrain:] And Lord I miss my mama, and I want my teddy bear.
But both were lost, long time ago. They're memories in the Air;
And Lord I feel like dyin' but I don't wanna die alone,
Yet I've never found a single place that feels like I belong.
Yet I've never found a single place that feels like I belong.

FINIS

And lest I be accused of being a downer I'll share this little ditty I learned from that great tunemaster Osmosis;

I wish I could drink like a Lady,
But I can only have two at the most.
Three puts me under the table,
And four puts me under the host!

Barbara

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 07:11 PM

Good Liquor Gonna Carry Me Down

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: fogie
Date: 28 Jan 05 - 01:02 PM

Len Graham sung a good song called "whisky o whisky" youve led me astray- anybody got the words

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST,DHL
Date: 28 Jan 05 - 02:26 PM

Richard Thompson wrote a song called "God Loves a Drunk" Norma Waterson sings it on a solo album. Not sure of the CD name but it can be located on the Waterson/Carthy website.