Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Amergin
Date: 11 Aug 00 - 06:50 AM

CARRICKFERGUS....

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST,Michael in Swansea
Date: 11 Aug 00 - 06:30 AM

JOCK STEWART,

BARLEY MOW,

I'm a rover, seldom sober.....M

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: bflat
Date: 11 Aug 00 - 05:54 AM

Mary Gauthier has a song: "I Drink" on her Drag Queens and Limousines CD.

bflat

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 11 Aug 00 - 04:30 AM

John Prime's Daddy long legs song

The one about a drunken walk home and he talks to the creatures.

Round she goes heel to the toe etc

Sorry having a blonde moment and can't remember...

Ella (not blonde at all)

REEL IN THE FLICKERING LIGHT - posted below. --JoeClone, 30-Jan-05.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: mg
Date: 11 Aug 00 - 03:56 AM

DRY CARDRONA on Ed Trickett record, Moonshine can,

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 06:19 PM

The Kippers do a good one, vaguely about temperance, but I'm too "tired and emotional" to get to the CD rack and find out what it is..... They also do Wassail.

Wassail, wassail, we'll tell you wassail,
That comes in bottles brown and pale
Comes in bottles so bring some here,
And we'll have a happy new year!

LTS

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 04:18 PM

sometime ago I asked about a country western song called One Drink is One Too Many; a Thousand's [100??]Not Enough" I didn't find it here or at cowpie. It would be a good song for this thread if anyone knows it. And unfortunately, for a lot of opeople the title is very true.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 04:04 PM

I was thinking about that too, and wondered if the number of songs/tunes/posts on this thread says anything about (our? neaning musician/folkie/bloozie) lifestyle................

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 03:01 PM

Sorry,

I mean't here

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 02:58 PM

I don't want to spoil your fun, but as someone who works with people who have had their lives destroyed by alcohol, I thought I should suggest clicking here to give a bit of balance.

A member

(who has had enough of posting under her own name)

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: SINSULL
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 02:30 PM

WyoWoman suggested a Smothers Brothers ditty in another thread:
"CRABS WALK SIDEWAYS"

Subject: Lyr Add: LIQUOR, BEER, AND WINE^^
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 01:36 PM

LIQUOR, BEER, AND WINE
Reverend Horton Heat

The doctor says I'm livin'
On precious borrowed time,
With all the time I'm givin',
To liquor, beer, and wine.
The X-rays of my liver,
Look like molded old Swiss cheese,
My heart pumps blood and alcohol,
Through hardened arteries.

Everybody knows me,
Down at the local bar,
I drink until I can't see,
And I wonder where you are.
I guess I let my health go,
Since you quit bein' mine,
But there was nothing to replace you,
Except liquor, beer, and wine.

(Chorus)
Liquor, beer and wine,
Is the flashing sign I see,
Every single morning I get up,
It's buzzing down at me.
I look up to the heavens,
For a ray of hope to shine,
And there it is in neon,
Liquor, beer, and wine.

Ever since you've left me,
I've lived out of my car,
Parked between the liquor store,
And Uncle Bubba's bar.
Booze helps ease the heartache,
But you're constantly in mind,
As constant as that buzzing noise,
Of Uncle Bubba's sign.

(Chorus)

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 11:05 AM

THE HUMORS OF WHISKEY (Stick to the Crayture),

INTOXICATED RAT

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 05:54 AM

"GOOD ALE"

Mind you, the drunken students round my way like to sing "The Fields of Athenry" very loudly at 3 am, so perhaps that's a contender.

The Beer Necessities of Life....

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Ella who is Sooze
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 04:35 AM

ALL FOR ME GROG!

And it's all for me grog, me noggin nogging grog, All for me beer and tobbaco

And so on

Ella

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Lena
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 02:43 AM

Oggie,thanks for reminding me about that beautiful song.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE MAN BEHIND THE BAR^^
From: GUEST,Owlkat
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 02:29 AM

Hi,
I found some of this on a bartowel in a restaurant in Vancouver. I don't know the original author, and I've added liberally to the verses and added a chorus. The folk process; love it or leave it.
Cheers,
Owl.


THE MAN BEHIND THE BAR
(trad-anon, adapted by M. Waldman c97)

Now give me your attention, some quiet if you please,
There's something needing mention, so set yourselves at ease.
I've come to sing the praises of a man we all hold dear
The publican who serves to us, our whiskey, wine and beer.

CHORUS: He's the Rock of old Gibraltar, he's the road to Mandalay,
Eternally dependable, he works his life away,
Never failing in his duty, he's the best of us by far,
Good health to him, and wealth to him/ the man behind the bar.
(Raise beers to him, here's cheers to him/A pint or glass, full to the brim) For the man behind the bar

. He deserves a hero's medal for the many lives he's saved,
And upon the role of honour, his name should be engraved.
He deserves a lot of credit for the way he stands the strain
For the yarns he has to swallow would drive most of us insane.

He pays the highest license, he pays the highest rent,
He battles daily with the bank and pays their ten percent,
When it comes to paying bills he must be Johnny on the spot,
And he pays for all the drink he sells whether you pay him or not.

Though he's scorned by representatives in every parliament,
To blame for every stinking sot who ever drank the rent,
They'll gladly belly to his bar to tipple and relax,
And line their bulging pockets with his heavy liquor tax.

There's the clergy in the pulpit, and the preachers in the hall
Who assure him that the churches are against him one and all
But every time they plan to hold a ballot or bazaar
They start by selling tickets to the man behind the bar

Now when you walk into his bar, he'll greet you with a smile
Be you worker dressed in overalls or a banker dressed in style,
If you're Irish, English, Scot, or Welsh, it doesn't matter what
He'll treat you like a gentleman until you prove you're not

While pulling stout may seem to be his only lot in life,
You'd never even know he had a daughter or a wife,
But lest you get too tipsy and your flirting gets too far,
You'd better have a running start on the man behind the bar

When he retires a job well done, to await six feet of soil,
Discards his coat and apron, no more on earth to toil,
When St. Peter sees him coming, he will hold the gates ajar
For he'll know who's been through Hell on Earth, it's the man behind the bar.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: BigDaddy
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 01:50 AM

"Glasgow Mother's Lullaby." Definitely!

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: alison
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 01:33 AM

James/Jim, it's a version of 'seven drunken nights/ seven nights drunk etc.. I'm sure it's in the database.... and there are plenty of threads if you do a search

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST,Hutzul
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 01:20 AM

WHISKEY ON A SUNDAY or COME DAY, GO DAY

BEER BARREL POLKA

La Traviata, Act One

Follow the Fold, from "Guys & Dolls"

Judy Henske's Salvation Army Song G-L-O-R-Y I'm S-A-V-E-D I'm so H-A-P-P-Y To be F-R-Double E F-R-Double E From the ways of S-I-N Glory, glory, hallaluya Tra la la, Amen

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Elise
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 01:15 AM

THREE DRUNKEN MAIDENS and Get that child some porter

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: JamesJim
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 12:20 AM

Not sure of the name (Travelled this wide world over?), but first verse: I came home the other night, as drunk as I could be and I saw a horse in the stable, where my horse ought to be. I said to my wife, my pretty little wife, explain this thing to me, what's this horse doing here in the stable where my horse ought to be. She said, "you old fool, you blind fool, can't you plainly see, it's nothing but a milkcow, my mother sent to me. Well I've travelled this wide world over, a million miles or more, but a bridle and saddle on a milkcow, I never did see before.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Margaret V
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 11:43 PM

"Drinkin' in My Sunday Dress" is a grand, silly song by Maria McKee; starts off something like:

I can barely feel the sheets
For all these crumbs down in my bed
How can I get to sleep
With all this buzzing in my head?
And who'd have ever thought
I'd not complain about a mess?
Serves me right, I guess;
This is what I get for eating crackers with my gin
And drinkin' in my Sunday dress.
Cheers, Margaret

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Mark Clark
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 11:12 PM

Thanks Dick... I needed that! Of course there are several versions of "Rum by Gum" in the DT. I was not able to find any hint of the second snippet though. Maybe it will seem familiar to someone.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 11:11 PM

Those who are against sex had better be prepared for extinction. To the devil with the WCTU.

Och, I'll drink tae that!

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 11:02 PM

Most of the lyrics submitted here are in DigiTrad. Try a search for @drink, if you want some more.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Mark Clark
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 10:54 PM

Used to sing one years ago and now this is all I can remember:

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 Salvation Army.

Maybe someone else knows this or where it came from. A tongue in cheek temperance song that I only have a chorus for is sung to the tune of Wabash Cannonball:

We're against all forms of gamblin',
All sex and liquor too,
And by our name we'll all be known,
As the W C T U.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: MMario
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 09:38 PM

I din't say blue bleezzin blind drunk, I said blue bleedin' blind drunk, which is about husband beating if anything....

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Quincy
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 09:00 PM

What about the Dubliner's "SEVEN DRUNKEN NIGHTS?" (If you've got the money Ive got the time!!)
Also "The Pub Crawl" "GIVE THE WOMAN IN THE BED MORE PORTER" and of course "THE MOONSHINER"

-Yvonne

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: reggie miles
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 07:43 PM

Demon Alchohol, can't remember the author
I Want To Be In A Barroom, by Robert Oneman Johnson

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: thosp
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 07:21 PM

Little Hawk -----lolpeace (Y) thosp

Subject: Lyr Add: THE PIG GOT UP AND SLOWLY WALKED AWAY
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 07:02 PM

Wonderful...how about this...it's not a song, it's a poem:

'Twas in early last December
(as clear as I remember...?)
I was stumblin' doon the street in sodden pride,
When I fell into the gutter,
thinkin' thochts I dared not utter,
and a pig come up and lay doon by my side.
Two old ladies passin' by
cast on me a jaundiced eye,
and I thocht I overheard one o' them say:
"Ye can tell a man who boozes
by the comp'ny that he chooses."
And wi' that, the pig got up and walked away!

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WRECK ON THE HIGHWAY^^^
From: thosp
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 07:02 PM

THE WRECK ON THE HIGHWAY
(Dorsey Dixon)

Who did you say it was brother?
Who was it fell by the way?
When whiskey and blood run together
Did you hear anyone pray?

cho: I didn't hear nobody pray, dear brother
I didn't hear nobody pray
I heard the crash on the highway
But I didn't hear nobody pray.

When I heard the crash on the highway
I knew what it was from the start
I went to the scene of destruction
And a picture was stamped on my heart.

There was whiskey and blood all together
Mixed with glass where they lay
Death played her hand in destruction
But I didn't hear nobody pray.

I wish I could change this sad story
That I am now telling you
But there is no way I can change it
For somebody's life is now through.

Their soul has been called by the Master
They died in a crash on the way
And I heard the groans of the dying
But I didn't hear nobody pray.

peace (Y) thosp

---

HTML line breaks added. -JoeClone 17-Jan-2001.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Micca
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 07:00 PM

Morty, that blue clicky tells the author too.

Subject: Lyr Add: IN PRAISE OF ALCOHOL (Robert W. Service^^
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 06:51 PM

Bottle o' the Best for single malt fanatics.

Here's one I didn't see in the DT and could do the tune up (next week - I'm going away for the weekend) if anyone's interested.

In Praise of Alcohol
Words: Robert W. Service
Set to music by David Parry

Of vintage wine I am a lover
To drink deep would be my delight
If 'twere not for the bleak hangover
I'd get loaded every night
I'd whoop it up with songs and laughter,
Whoop it up with songs and laughter
Whoop it up with songs and laughter
If 'twere not for the morning after.

Although to soberness I'm given
It is a thought I've often thunk
The nearest that is earth to heaven
Is to get sublimely drunk
Is to achieve divine elation
To achieve divine elation
To achieve divine elation
By means of generous libation

Alas, the winecups claim their payment
And as the price is often pain
If we could know what morning grey meant
We never would get soused again
Rather than buy a hobnailed liver
Rather than buy a hobnailed liver
Rather than buy a hobnailed liver
I'm sure that we'd abstain forever.

But how I love that glow of liquor
As joyfully I drink it up
Hoping that unto life's last flicker
With praise I'll raise the ruby cup
So let me like a jolly monk
So let me like a jolly monk
So let me like a jolly monk
Proceed to get sublimely drunk.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Diva
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 06:47 PM

I've remembered another one...The Drunkard...used to sing it can't remember the words (could be the drink), anyway its on Steeleye Span's Rocket Cottage album.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Amergin
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 06:44 PM

Christy Moore's DELERIUM TREMENS

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: SINSULL
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 06:39 PM

SHOW ME THE WAY TO GO HOME that great ditty from "Jaws"
"Get Me To The Church On Time"

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Morticia
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 06:30 PM

bugger.....Micca and I must have submitted at the same time...could have done without the typing :)

Subject: Lyr Add: ALCOHOLIC'S ANTHEM^^^
From: Morticia
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 06:27 PM

ALCOHOLICS ANTHEM

Wahts the use of drinking tea, indulging in sobriety
Or tea-total perversity,it's healthier to booze
Whats the use of milk and water
These are drinks that never oughter
Be allowed in any quarter, come lose your blues

Mix yourself a shandy,drown yourself a brandy
Sherry sweet or whisky neat
Or any other liquor that is handy
Theres no blinkin' sense in drinking
Anything that doesn't leave you stinking
There is nothing quite like sinking blotto to the floor

Aberattions metabolic, ceilings that are hyperbolic
These are for the alcoholic lying on the floor
Put an end to all frustration
Drinking may be your salvation
End it all in dissapation, rotten to the core
Vodka for the arty, gin to make you hearty
Lemonade was only made
For drinking when your mother's at the party
Steer well clear of homemade beer
And anything that isn't labelled clear
There is nothing else to fear
Bottoms up me boys!

this is, I think, to the tune of Men of Harlech....no idea who wrote it.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: SINSULL
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 06:25 PM

THE FACE ON THE BARROOM FLOOR.

Perfect Nynia. Says it all. And Little Hawk, thanks for the thread. Finally found a place to make a sizeable contribution.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Micca
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 06:23 PM

And of course theres this one that Liz the Squeak sings: ALCOHOLIC'S ANTHEM

Subject: Lyr Add: O Come, Come Away^^
From: Burke
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 06:19 PM

O Come, Come Away
This is in the Sacred Harp. I've been told there is a drinking song that known to the same tune in England.

Oh come, come away,
From labor now reposing,
Our jubilee has set us free --
Oh come, come away!
Come, hail the day that celebrates
The ransom of th'inebriates
From all that does intoxicate,
Oh come, come away!

We welcome you here!
With heart and hand wide open,
Ye gallant sons of temperance --
We welcome you here!
Heav'n's blessings on your plans, we pray!
Ye come our sinking friends to save,
And rescue from a drunkard's grave;
We welcome you here!

We welcome you here!
Ye who with taste perverted
Have seized the cup, and drank it up --
We welcome you here!
Come, join us in our holy aim,
The poor besotted to reclaim,
The broken heart to cheer again,
Oh come, sign the pledge!

Lyrics: Bradbury's Orila, 1859

Music with same title but different words are in Southern Harmony. The melody is on the 2nd line. The midi is half the speed it should be done at.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Diva
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 06:17 PM

FATHOM THE BOWL,

JOHN BARLEYCORN

and forgive me for being pedantic but BLUE BLEEZING BLIND DRUNK which I sing as Mickey's Warning, is really about wife beating.

Subject: Lyr Add: Layin' in the Gutter(?)^^
From: Downeast Bob
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 06:14 PM

Dunno if I can make the lines break properly, but here goes:

Layin' in the gutter, pretzels in my beard;
Shirt all stained with whisky;
I thought the end was near;
'Til the Salvation Army comes;
And Saves me from the hearse;
Let's all bust a gut now and sing another verse:

Chorus:

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Throw a nickel on the drum, save another drunken bum.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Throw a nickel on the drum, and you'll be saved.

Way up in heaven where there is no snow;
And all year round, the watermelons grow;
Where the rich man, the poor man, the gentile and the Jew;
All sit together in the same damn pew.
Oh there'll be no distinctions there.
There'll be no distinctions there.
The Lord is good the Lord is just;
The Lord is head of the railroad trust.
There'll be no distinctions there.

Chorus

---

HTML line breaks added. -JoeClone 17-Jan-2001.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Nynia
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 06:09 PM

What about

Doh - the stuff that buys me beer
Ray - the guy who sells me beer
Me - the guy who drinks the beer
Fah - The distance to my beer
Soh - I think I'll have beer
La - La, la, la, la, la, la, beer
Tea - No thanks I'm drinking beer
That will bring us back to...........


Nynia.

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: SINSULL
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 06:00 PM

LANDLORD FILL THE FLOWING BOWL

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: GUEST,Rich(stupidbodhranplayerwhodoesn'tknowbetter
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 05:54 PM

"I Saw a Man at the Close of the Day" traditional associated with Doc Watson
"Wharf Rat" The Grateful Dead
"Nil se na La" Irish traditional song about the "fhear gan ciall, ce d'fhag me chios i mo scornach" literally the man without sense who left his rent($) in his throat
Rich

Subject: RE: Wanted: Songs for alcoholics!
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 05:49 PM

BOTTLE OF WINE (friend of mine...),

Keg O' Brandy. and do just tunes count? There is Farewell to Whiskey, Whiskey Before Breakfast, Whiskey You're the Devil.......

Subject: Lyr Add: ANOTHER DRINKIN' SONG^^
From: Mbo
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 05:26 PM

ANOTHER DRINKIN' SONG by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Gonna dive into a dive I've dove into before
Gonna haunt a haunt I've haunted like a million times before
A familiar joint where getting drunks' the only point
To frequent this place with any frquency at all

Counting on a remedy I've counted on before
Goin' with the cure that's never failed me
What you call the disease, I call the remedy
What you're calling the cause, I call the cure

Gonna sing a song, a song to you, a song I've sung before
Belt out a ballad that I've belted out a million times or more
The words I'm gonna scream, and getting drunks' the central theme
To the lyrics, if you can make the lyrics out at all

Just a devotion to a potion
Now please, no applause
A dedication to a medication
A crutch, a cure, a cause
What I've counted on to pick me up
Has knocked me to my knees
Before I hit the floor once more
I'll call it the disease

Counting on a remedy I've counted on before
Goin' with the cure that's never failed me
What you call the disease, I call the remedy
What you're calling the cause, I call the cure