Boozin', bloody well boozin' - additional verses

Subject: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 01:41 PM

what the hell is the name of this song? And what are the rest of the lyrics?!?!?!

Subject: Lyr Add: BOOZING - Additional verse
From: MMario
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 02:09 PM

Boozing and it can be found here in the DT.

I've also heard an additional verse:

What are the joys of the single young miss?
Why boozin' bloody well boozin'
And what is she doin' when she can't get a kiss?
why boozin' bloody well boozin!
She has no suitors, she's turned them all down
She's scared them away with a soul-chillin' frown
But what makes her happy when she's put a few down?
Why boozin' bloody well boozin'!

Subject: Lyr Add: BOOZING - Additional verse
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 02:46 PM

you beat me again, Mario....but.... here is one more verse which I added myself about 10 years ago...just 'cause I thought it was needed

"What are the joys of the whole laboring class?
Why, boozing, bloody well boozing.
And what is it robs a poor man of his brass?
Boozing, bloody well boozing.
It ruins the liver, it addles the brain,
It inspires our singing, again and again.
What gives such fair measure of pleasure and pain?
Why, boozing, bloody well boozing!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 02:48 PM

Thanks folks...

Yet another example of how a more fuzzy search would have saved some trouble... I woulda found it myself if my search for 'boozin' hada recognised 'boozing'...

One letter off, and the cat is stumped...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: MMario
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 02:54 PM

you could have searched on "boozin*" which is a safe method for any of the -ing words...

Bill - I like!

I learned the "young miss" verse from "Fergus" (can't remember his actual name) the innkeep at the Red Barrel Inn at the Georgia Ren-faire - years before they moved to their new site.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 03:10 PM

Mmmmm... wild cards...

What is this? The days of dos??

ha! We should be so lucky eh!!

;-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: Julia
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 10:41 PM

I've been wanting to write an "upwardly mobile" parody- "Shmoozin', bloody well shmoozin'" Anyone want to contribute?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: Frogge
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 11:02 PM

The first time I heard the song was the Mike Harding rendition in the mid '70s It began : Where do you think I have been all the day Boozing, bloody well boozing And where do you think I have spent all my pay Boozing, bloody well boozing

The rest is somewhat confused due to following the gist.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 02:16 PM

Care to suggest a few others who have recorded this song, folks?

;-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 05:43 PM

Jimmy Crowley and Hamish Imlach, for two ... Looks like I misheard the first line of the Salvation Army verse - Jimmy Crowley is not easy to understand!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: Jacqk
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 04:22 PM

Although this thread is old, I thought I would address Clinton's question about other groups who performed this song. I learned it from the Oak, Ash and Thorn album "Sewing Wild Oats".

They sell it online now at oakashthorn.com.

Jack

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 07:46 PM

John Roberts & Tony Barrand also do a bang-up version of the song on their live album (Live at Holstein's)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 09:42 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: Dave Swan
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 09:47 PM

John and Tony do a hell of a version indeed. OAT learned it from them!

D

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 09:48 PM

oops!---spatulate digits again....
   My first intro to any version of this song was through an old friend who was with the "Rats" across the North African Desert from El Alamein to Tripoli, and up thro' Italy to the river Po. Part of his rendition [can't recall any more, unfortunately--] --"...They stand in the corners, they sing and they shout, they talk about things they know f---all about, where are the airmen when Gerry's about?--Boozin, bloody well boozin!!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 10:48 PM

Boab...the line you mention is noted in the DT database(link in 2nd post)..though a slightly less earthy version

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 04:56 AM

What are the joys of the single young girl?
Why boozin' bloody well boozin'
And what gets her head in one hell of a whirl?
why boozin' bloody well boozin!
She starts off on tonics then to lager gets led,
She winds up on vodka - way out of her head,
And wakes up next morning in some strange fellas bed.
From boozin' bloody well boozin'!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 05:04 AM

No-one seems to have mentioned my old mate Dave Diamond's parody/altenative Skiving. It's more of a UK song, as Dave was working (or skiving) over here at the time he wrote it. It's worth doing a search in the DT for some of Dave's songs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: GUEST,ARROW-MAKER
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 05:27 AM

If there is one song that is guaranteed to drive people away from folk music clubs - this is it! Especially when it is raucously rendered by a group of people thoroughly enjoying their half pints of shandy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 05:47 AM

I'm usually drinking a quart (2 pints) of bitter when I sing it - and nobody's walked out - yet.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: GUEST,ARROW-MAKER
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 06:36 AM

Yes, but the door was locked and you had the key.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: MikeofNorthumbria
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 09:50 AM

Another verse - for the completists only.

Oh what makes the EFDSS go spare?
Boozing, bloody well boozing!

What gets them shouting and tearing their hair?
Boozing, bloody well boozing!

They trip dainty measures, they troll merry strains,
And ask you - so nicely - to join the refrains...
But where are the folk? They're all out of their brains...
They've gone boozing, bloody well boozing!

Wassail!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 05:44 AM

I don't think that that verse would have applied to Cecil Sharp House on Saturday (Remembering Fred), Mike. I must admit that Gerry didn't actually get the bar open until 11.45am - Linda and I had to nip along to "The Engineer" to fill our tankards the first time. From then on there was no shortage of excellent Greene King IPA. On another thread, Big Bird has said that by the evening concert she had "lost all ability to co-ordinate speaking and manipulating a pint glass at the same time".

I've never minded if the "Dance for Dancers" crowd stick to cups of tea - it leaves more room for us serious drinkers in the bar. Even during my days on the NEC there were quite a group of us (Malcolm Storey included) who would pop out for a pint or three at "The Spread Eagle" or the aforementioned "Engineer".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: MikeofNorthumbria
Date: 26 Nov 03 - 12:46 PM

I'm sure you're right Dave -

Obviously things have changed for the better since those dry days back in the mid-1960s, when I used to attend the singaround hosted by Jack and Margaret King in C# Cellar. (There was always a long, long, half-time break then, so that the thirsty ones could pop out to the Engineer for a pint.)

Wassail!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Boozin', bloody well boozin'
From: GUEST,Nogs
Date: 27 Nov 03 - 03:14 AM

An (of course) the morris has their version:

And what are the morris men doing tonight
Why boozin'.....
And why do you think that their dancing so tight?
Its boozin' .....
They galley and foray and caper around
They seldom are seen with their feet on the ground
Their rounds they are square and their squares they are round
They're boozin' .....

Subject: RE: Boozin', bloody well boozin' - additional verses
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 13 Apr 07 - 03:15 AM

The Yetties - ask Bonnie, he'd know........

They had a chorus to this one


something about Boozing all over town, boozing up , boozing down, we all love bloody well boozing. Not one for the family show, but Bonnie Sartin would have this one somewhere amongst his souvenirs!

Subject: RE: Boozin', bloody well boozin' - additional verses
From: Skip Henderson
Date: 29 Jul 10 - 12:01 AM

What keeps the old maids all pleasantly plowed?
Boozin' bloody well boozin'
And what in the sewing circle isn't allowed?
They all steal a nip from a handbag or purse --
In afternoon(they're), tipsy, besotted, or worse!!!
What is the Temperance Girl's ultimate curse?   
Boozin' bloody well boozin'!   

S.H.

Subject: RE: Boozin', bloody well boozin' - additional verses
From: GUEST,Bob almost 78
Date: 29 Aug 12 - 12:38 PM

I remember my dad singing just the one line...'What is it the Salvation Army shoots down' back in the 1940's or 1950's. He said 'runs down'. It's taken me sixty odd year to realise this was a real song. I shall carry on listening to Jimmy Crowley.

Subject: RE: Boozin', bloody well boozin' - additional verses
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 29 Aug 12 - 01:57 PM

This reminds me of when a good friend was asked to join some friends to sing to the good folks in a retirement home, and chose this song.
Maybe slightly ill-judged: there were a few choking on their false teeth, eyebrows hitting the ceiling, and a loud chorus of tut-tuts!