ADD: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling

Subject: Oh Good Ale though art my darling
From: GUEST,Helen
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 04:48 AM

Can anybody help with the words of "Oh good Ale though art my darling" much to my surprise it did not come up on a search.

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale though art my darling
From: moocowpoo
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 05:01 AM

This looks like it!!

http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/displaysong.asp?SongID=344

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale though art my darling
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 05:01 AM

It's in the DT under the title Good Ale (browse G for example)

Mick

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale though art my darling
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 05:10 AM

Here's a link to it. As the DT entry says this version is from the Copper family, and you can find it (with music) in the songs at the end of Bob's book "A song for every Season" which is well worth reading.

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale though art my darling
From: GUEST,Eoin O'Buadhaigh
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 06:10 AM

recorded as 'The Brown and the Yellow Ale' by The Voice Squad on their album 'Holly Wood'. by far the best version I have ever heard.
             cheers eoin o'buadhaigh

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale though art my darling
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 06:31 AM

Like most drinking songs "the best version" is the one in a pub session when you've all got pints (or quarts) in your hands.

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale though art my darling
From: Morticia
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 08:12 AM

The Brown and the Yellow Ale is a completely different song to my knowledge.....in the Digitrad shows completely different words and I certainly thought I knew both songs.

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale though art my darling
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 10:50 AM

Searching hint:

Don't look for too much at a time. In this case, a mis-spelling of "thou" prevented a hit. "Good Ale" would have worked jes' fine.

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale though art my darling
From: GUEST,Hugh Jampton
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 11:19 AM

This was one of the songs that done so well by "Four Square Circle".
I wonder if they are still involved in the music scene?

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale though art my darling
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 11:33 AM

You can find remnants in "Elsie's Band". If you knew Four Square Circle - it seems likely that we've met - Mr Big Prick.

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale though art my darling
From: GUEST,Hugh Jampton
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 11:37 AM

Ah, at last, another Michael Bentine fan!

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale though art my darling
From: GUEST,JOHN FROM ELSIE`S BAND
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 11:59 AM

Dave, Your memory does you credit.
      I`m with Elsie`s Band.
      Ken Barton sings with a choral group in Cuxton, kent.
      Robin Gray lives in Wells, Somerset.
      Stephen Gray lives in Hassocks, Sussex.
      Tony Field died tragically some years ago.
      Our last performances together were in the early 80`s.
      One CD from a tape produced by Carey Roberts around.

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale though art my darling
From: Schantieman
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 12:58 PM

I was practising this song in the car the other day and the redoutable Ms Lemon told me that it was extolling the virtues of alcoholism:

"I love you in the early morn"
"It's you that helps me with my work"

etc etc.

Good song though. I once sang it in the 'Big Sing' at the end of Warwick FF. The chorus featured Dave Webber and all the Wilsons, amongst others. A Big Sing indeed!

Steve

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale thou art my darling
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 01:22 PM

Don't most drinking songs extoll the virtues of alcoholism? Though they damn with faint praise.

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale thou art my darling
From: GUEST,Helen
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 02:04 PM

thanks for the feedback, I see know why I couldn't find it. A friend, Denis Ward who used to run a folk club in the Yorkshire Dales and is now disabled, has been trying to get the words and now together we have helped him out.
Helen

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale thou art my darling
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 02:51 PM

It extols wife-beating too, but that just goes with the alcoholism....

Kitty

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale thou art my darling
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 06:40 PM

I can't see a connection between "Good Ale" and "Brown and Yellow Ale," but I crosslinked them at least temporarily because one makes a person think of the other.
-Joe Offer, who likes his ale golden-

---

Here's the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index:

Good Ale

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, good ale, thou art my darling, Thou art my joy both night and morning." Drink encourages the singer to work, to dream, to enjoy. But also "It is you that makes my friends my foes, It is you that makes me (wear old/pawn my) clothes...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1790 (The Banquet of Thalia)
KEYWORDS: drink hardtimes poverty
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kennedy 273, "Good Ale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell/Wooldridge II, p. 179, "Good Ale, Thou Art My Darling" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GOODALE*
Roud #203
File: K273

---

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions

The Ballad Index Copyright 2003 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale thou art my darling
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 07:10 PM

No connection whatever, beside the fact that, like hundreds of other songs, they both include the word "ale".

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale thou art my darling
From: GUEST,dbgrate
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 11:28 PM

'"Many's The Foolish Youth",a Voice Squad CD,has a wonderful version,titled,"Oh,Good Ale".

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale thou art my darling
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 28 Jan 04 - 07:03 AM

Did they say where they got it? Generally, people record arrangements of the Copper Family set. The song has also been found in oral currency in Scotland, but under another name: Greig-Duncan III has two examples, Braw Black Jug and Aul' Black Jug.

The song was printed on broadsides, generally without music of course; but Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time II, 660-661) quotes the tune from a song-sheet, and Baring-Gould prints it with most of the text (English Minstrelsie, VII, 60). Other broadside examples can be seen at  Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:

[O] good ale thou art my darling

Beside being available on various recordings, the Copper Family set is in Bob's book A Song For Every Season, which is now in print again.  http://www.thecopperfamily.com/

Subject: RE: Oh Good Ale thou art my darling
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 28 Jan 04 - 08:20 AM

Tell Mrs Lemon that you'll make a shandy out of it with some of her lemonade - that should satisfy her !

Subject: Lyr Add: O GOOD ALE THOU ART MY DARLING
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Jan 04 - 11:09 PM

From the Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads, Harding B 16(180a).

O GOOD ALE THOU ART MY DARLING

Long time I have been seeking thee,
But now we've met, we'll both agree;
For thou'rt the darling of my heart,
Though thou make'st my clothes look much the worse.

CHORUS: Singing, ale, good ale, thou art my darling.
I will enjoy thee night and morning.

Sometimes thou make'st my friend my foe.
Sometimes thou make'st me pawn my clothes.
But if I get thee to my nose,
I'll turn thee up and down thou goes. CHORUS

Now if my wife should thee despise,
Blame her! I'll give her two black eyes,
For if she loves me as I love thee,
A happier couple there could not be. CHORUS

Now since we've all met in this place,
Assembled after Adam's race,
I would part with all without a tear,
Before I'd part with thee, my dear. CHORUS

In came the landlord, stout and big,
With his cocked had and powdered wig,
And the fat landlady shakes with fat,
Crying, "Now, my lads, who pays for that?" CHORUS

Now to conclude and end my song,
My money's done—I must begone;
But I will go and earn some more,
To fill this empty tub once more. CHORUS

Subject: Lyr Add: O! DEAR GROG THOU ART MY DARLING
From: radriano
Date: 30 Jan 04 - 12:01 PM

Here's an interesting variation on this song I found at the Bodleian site:

O! DEAR GROG THOU ART MY DARLING
Broadside at Bodleian Library (University of Oxford website)


Long time I've been in search of thee
Now since we've met let us agree
Thou art the enemy of my purse
You make my clothes look much the worse

Chorus:
Oh, oh, oh! dear grog
Thou art my darling
I love thee well
Both at night and morning

Now, if all the rest of Adam's race
Was assembled together in this place
I'd part with all without one tear
Before I'd part with you my dear

If my mother dear had given such suck
As this good liquor in this cup
I'm sure I ne'er should quit her breast
Until I'd starv'd out all the rest

And if my wife should me despise
By Jove, I'd pluck out both her eyes
For if she loved me, as I loved thee
What a loving couple we might be

You oft have made my friends my foes
And you oft have made me pawn my clothes
But since you've come so near my heart
I'll pawn my shirt before we'll part

Our landlord, he grows mighty big
Besides, he wears a powder'd wig
And when our money he has got
He says – Go home, you drunken sot

The brewer, he brews it in his pan
And the tapster draws it in his can
But since you've come so near my nose
It's up, dear grog, and down she goes

Now since this good liquor's all drank up
Methinks to you I'll hand the cup
And when you've fill'd it up with sling
I'll drink your health all round again

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 30 Jan 04 - 12:46 PM

Are you quite sure you found that at the Bodleian? You don't give any sort of reference, and I certainly can't find it there. There is a copy, however, at  America Singing (Library of Congress):

The sea-faring man, and Oh! dear grog. Printed by L. Deming, Boston, Massachusetts, n.d. American Song Sheets, Series 1, Volume 8.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: radriano
Date: 30 Jan 04 - 07:06 PM

Malcolm,

That's what my notes say but I haven't tried re-locating it there yet.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 30 Jan 04 - 07:35 PM

Perhaps you'd have a go, then, when you have the opportunity. I've spent a great deal of time at the Bodleian site in the last few years, and the possibility that there are things there which can't be found in the usual ways is a worry. My suspicion is that your notes are wrong, but I'd like to be sure.

Mind you, I'm rather glad that I had to go looking elsewhere for a source for that broadside text. It turns out that the other song on the sheet, The sea-faring man, is a variant of The Husbandman and the Serving Man (Singing the Travels) that I'd never come across before.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: GUEST,Peacehaven'r
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 09:12 AM

Also the song is said to have been a favourite of Joseph Grimaldi, the celebrated clown around the early 19th century. The reference to wife beating is now treated with a recognition of its repugnance but acknowledgement that these are indeed the lyrics whenever Bob (Copper) sings the song these days. It's nearly always requested as his encore.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 09:23 AM

Just to note that the song (verses, at least) resurfaced in the US "Little Brown Jug"

Subject: Lyr Add: BROWN JUG (from Bodleian)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Jul 04 - 10:49 PM

No relation to "Little Brown Jug" by Winner.
Neither is this one, also from England. About ale, so I will post it here.

Lyr. Add: Brown Jug

Dear Tom, this brown jug that now foams with mild ale,
(Of which I will drink to sweet Nan of the vale)
Was once Toby Philpot, as thirsty a soul,
As e'er crack'd a bottle, or fathom'd a bowl,
In boozing about 'twas his *praide to excel,
And among jolly topers he bore off the bell

It chanced in the dog days, as he sat at his ease,
In his flow'r woven arbor, as gay as you please,
With a friend and a pipe, quaffing sorrow away,
And with honest old stingo was smoaking his clay,
His breath-doors of life on a sudden were shut
And he died full as big as the Dorchester butt.

When long in the ground his old carcase had lain,
And time into earth had resolv'd it again,
A potter found out, in his covert so snug,
And with part of fat Toby he form'd this brown jug;
Now sacred to friendship. to mirth, and mild ale,
So here's to my lovely sweet Nan of the vale.

Bodleian Ballads Catalogue, Harding B17(40b), printed by T. Birt, London, 1828-1829. *Spellings not changed. Also printed by J. Pitts, London, ca. 1819-1844.
Another website dates the song to 1761, and says it may have given the Toby Jug its name. Brown Jug (error here- 'soaking' substituted for smoking). No tune mentioned at either website.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: GUEST,eoin o'buadhaigh
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 11:28 AM

Morticia You are correct! I humbly apologise. don't know what came over me!
    (mental note - must not rush in without first engaging brain)
cheers Eoin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: Billy Weeks
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 04:38 PM

At the risk of drifting away from the original matter of this thread, I offer the following note on the song 'Dear Tom This Brown Jug' given above by Q from a Bodleian broadside..

This appears in a late eighteenth century songster as 'Dear sir, this brown jug' with the lady named as Kate of the Vale, rather than the more usual Nan of the Vale. The source is given as "the comic opera of 'The Poor Soldier'".

Eric Walter White's 'First Performancesof English Operas' lists 'The Shamrock or the Anniversary of St Patrick', 1783, by W Shield and John O'Keeffe, revived later in the year as 'The Poor Soldier' . The same opera included 'How happy the soldier who lives on his pay'.

Like 'A Flaxen Headed Cow Boy','The Captain with his Whiskers' and many other songs found in oral traidition, this one seems to have passed through, if it did not actually originate in, the theatre.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 05:40 PM

I was guessing it was an advert. for a Staffordshire pottery pushing its Toby jugs.

The opera appears in 2-3 current printings. A new edition of "The Poor Soldier" with scores and discussion here: Poor Soldier

The comic opera was performed in America soon after its opening in the British Isles.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Aug 04 - 04:43 PM

Subject: Lyr Add: CHRISTMAS CAROL (GOOD ALE) (from Chappell
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Aug 04 - 07:01 PM

Lyr. Add: CHRISTMAS CAROL (Good Ale)

The burden or chorus:
Nowell, nowell, nowell, nowell *[Nowell, nowell, nowell all]
This is the salutation of the angel Gabriel.
Tidings true there be come new, sent from the Trinity,
By Gabriel to Nazareth, city of Galilee:
A clean maiden and pure virgin, Through her humility
Hath conceived the person second in Deity.

Bring us in good ale, good ale, *[And bring us in good ale:]
For our blessed Lady's sake, bring us in good ale.
Bring us in no brown bread, for that is made of bran,
Nor bring us in no white bread, For therein is no gain.
But bring us in good ale, good ale, And bring us in good ale.
For our blessed Lady's sake, Bring us in good ale.

About 1460, from William Chappell, The Ballad Literature and Popular Music of the Olden Time, vol. 1, p. 42 (Dover reprint), with music, section on English minstrelsy.
* [] May be omitted at pleasure; "added, because there would not otherwise be music enough for the "Wassail Song."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: Billy Weeks
Date: 14 Aug 04 - 06:47 AM

Continuing the drift - the song 'Dear Tom This Brown Jug' did, indeed.like many another song, pass through the theatre, but the version in 'The Poor Soldier' was, it would seem, slightly adapted for the play. The 'DearTom' song was written by Francis Fawkes in 1761 (said to be a translation from an Italian original) and is generally believed to have inspired the craze for Toby Philpot jugs. I will now shut step aside.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: Billy Weeks
Date: 14 Aug 04 - 07:28 AM

After 'shut' read 'up and'.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: Artful Codger
Date: 07 Mar 09 - 02:09 PM

This morning I woke up with a new verse for "O, Good Ale" muddling about in my head. I scribbled it down, and pretty soon I had this:

My fine good ale, you make me smile
And when I drink, life seems worthwhile;
But an ale-less life I'd never bear
For it's only sweat and fret and care.

I love to tipple 'neath the moon
With friends around to join and croon
And spin a tale that's long and tall
And find relief against a wall.

They say ale has me in its yoke:
It kills my drive and keeps me broke;
But who'd leave his fields, his friends, his cheer
For an easy life with bottled beer?

There is ale that comes from factories:
That feeble bilge can never please.
A good home brew's robust and stout;
It heals within; I'd die without...


I also rewrote the first verse of the text in The Banquet of Thalia ("The Landlord he looks very big...") to sound less dated and awkward:

The landlord in fine clothes does strut
And scarce can see beyond his gut;
He wears flash rings on fingers fat--
It's you and I he thanks for that.

This pairs nicely with the second Thalia verse (only slightly revised):

The brewer brewed you in his pan;
The tapster draws you in his can;
So with them I will play my part
And nestle you next to my heart.

Neither verse appears in the Coppers' version.

Subject: Lyr Add: O GOOD ALE! THOU ART MY DARLING
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Mar 09 - 04:01 PM

From The Banquet of Thalia, Or, The Fashionable Songsters Pocket Memorial by Frederick Atkinson (York: Wilson, Spence and Mawman, 1790):


O GOOD ALE! THOU ART MY DARLING.

1. The landlord he looks very big
With his high cock'd hat and powder'd wig;
Methinks he looks both fair and fat,
But he may thank you and I for that.

CHORUS: For, O good Ale! thou art my darling,
Thou art my comfort night and morning.

2. The brewer brew'd thee in his pan,
And the tapster draws thee in his can;
So I with them will play my part,
And lodge thee next unto my heart.

3. And if my wife should thee despise,
By Jove I'll beat out both her eyes!
But if she loves me as I love thee,
A happy couple we shall be.

4. Thou oft hath made my friends my foes,
And often made me pawn my clothes;
But since thou art so near my nose,
Come up my friend—and down it goes.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: Mr Happy
Date: 07 Dec 13 - 11:18 AM

Seems the original [unadulterated by Coppers]version's here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAxZu8tIi4Q

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 07 Dec 13 - 05:19 PM

It I nice to see that folks remember me.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 07 Dec 13 - 09:01 PM

Oh

So what's this latest bit about then?

Sad people with nothing better to, is it?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: MartinRyan
Date: 08 Dec 13 - 03:21 AM

… or just the art that conceals Art?

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: GUEST,Waddon Pete
Date: 08 Dec 13 - 03:29 AM

That's the trouble with guest guest I guess. You missed the subtlety of the great punnists Art. Good to know he's out there!

Peter

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: Mr Happy
Date: 08 Dec 13 - 06:16 AM

If you regard research as 'nothing better to, is it?' then I'd agree that there's nothing better than acquiring knowledge

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: Mr Happy
Date: 08 Dec 13 - 06:26 AM

.....oh & what exactly does 'nothing better to, is it?' mean?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 06:00 AM

Not sure about the relevance of "in" jokes or "in" anything on a public forum!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 10:16 AM

And then, there's the whole "being able to read" thing. It's damned elitist, I say!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: Jeri
Date: 09 Dec 13 - 10:30 AM

Mr Happy, thanks for posting the link to that gem.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 21 May 18 - 01:01 PM

At a singaround last night, I heard a version of Oh Good Ale I hadn't heard before. As well as the "fat landlord" verse, there were verses about giving the singer a drink on his deathbed and burying him under a barrel (compare "Ye Mariners All").

Also, there was a different "Adam's race" verse; instead of specifying "all my friends in Adam's race", in this version the singer pictures himself surrounded by the whole of "Adam's race" after the Day of Judgment, then says

"Another trump I'd have to hear
Before I'd part with you, my dear"
- the last line directed towards his beer glass, of course.

I'd only ever heard the Coppers' version of OGA, and all the versions I can find online (including the 1790 text in "The Banquet of Thalia") are pretty close to it.

Anyone recognise this version?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Oh Good Ale Thou Art My Darling
From: Reinhard
Date: 21 May 18 - 01:40 PM

Little Brown Jug (from the Traditional Music Library website)
Oliver Titson Company, Boston.

My wife and I live all alone in a little brown hut we call our own;
She loves gin and I love rum-tell you what it is, don't we have fun!

Chorus.
Ha, ha, ha! 'tis you and me, little brown, don't I love thee!
Ha, ha, ha! 'tis you and me, little brown jug, don't I love thee!

If I had a cow that gave such milk, I'd dress her up in the finest silk,
Feed her on the choicest hay, and milk her twenty times a day.-Chorus.

'Tis you that makes my friends, my foes, 'tis you who makes me wear old clothes;
But, seeing you are near my nose, "tip her up and down she goes! "-Chorus.

When I go toiling on my farm, take little brown jug under my arm.
Sit it under some shady tree-little brown jug don't I love thee!-Chorus.

Then came the landlord tripping In, round-top hat and peaked chin;
In his hand he carried a cup -says I: "Old fellow, give us a sup! "-Chorus.

If all the folks in Adam's race were put together in one place.
Then I'd prepare to drop a tear before I'd part with you, my dear.-Chorus.