ADD Versions: Seven Drunken Nights-languages

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From: SteveF
Date: 19 Nov 98 - 02:32 PM

The song is sung by Oscar Brand on "Bawdy songs and Backroom Ballads."

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From: rechal
Date: 19 Nov 98 - 01:57 PM

This song is also known as "Cabbagehead," at least in the Appalachians. I've also seen it in songbooks as "four nights drunk."

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From:
Date: 19 Nov 98 - 04:01 AM

From Des Geraghty's memoir of Luke Kelly (1994):
The song which made The Dubliners famous was Seven Drunken Nights, an English version of a light-hearted Irish song that the group had picked up from Seosamh O hEanai long before in O'Donoghue's pub. It was released as a single on St Patrick's Day 1967 and promptly banned on RTE as offensive to public decency. Sometime later Seosamh himself gave a straight-faced interview to an evening paper stating that the song was about an Irishman who'd worked away from home for twenty years - a commonplace situation for men from rural Ireland in those years - and returned to find he had a full-grown son. And who are we to differ? In fact, the tongue-in-cheek way in which the song is composed [...] is typical of a sly ambiguity in many Irish songs about sex.
Intrigue was added to the incident by the fact that the song actually mentions only five nights, and some play was made afterwards of speculation that the 'missing' verses might have been too shocking for even The Dubliners. What was true was that the song had been recorded by Seosamh himself in Irish years before and played on RTE without a murmur of protest; while the Irish establishment were conservative and puritanical in English, they were quite often indifferent to how irreverent and unorthodox our culture was in Irish.
But [...] Radio Caroline gave Seven Drunken Nights saturation airtime. The hypocrisy and the foolishness of RTE's decision was too much for a generation already chafing under censorship and prudery, and within two days the record had sold 40,000 copies. It didn't take long to reach the music industry's Silver Disc status, the award for sales in excess of 250,000. The letters pages of the papers were inundated with letters of indignant protest at censorship; the British papers picked up on Ireland's banned song, and not long afterwards, Seven Drunken Nights reached Number Five in the British pop charts.

Roy Palmer gives a couple of soldiers' last verses in his book on soldiers' songs 'Oh What A Lovely War' (1990). I'm not going to quote them, but they could be described as fairly graphic... - Susanne

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: OUR GOODMAN CAME HAME AT E'EN
From: Bruce O.
Date: 13 Nov 98 - 06:53 PM

In David Herd's Scots Songs, 1776 (also in Herd's MSS, and as Child ballad #274). No earlier copy has yet been discovered, in spite of considerable effort to do so. Herd gave no music nor did he indicate a tune. David Clarke, musical editor of SMM, and Johnson the engraver and publisher didn't know the tune, but heard of a man in Edinburgh, a Mr. Geikie, who sang the song. They visited Mr. Geikie, and recovered the tune, and gave it as SMM #454 (1797). They also got some corrections to Herd's text, and for that reason I give here the SMM text.

1. Our goodman came hame at e'en,
  And hame came he;
And then he saw a saddle-horse,
  Where nae horse should be.
O how came this horse here?
  How can this be?
How came this horse here,
  Without the leave o' me?
      A horse! quo' she:
      Ay, a horse, quo' he.
Ye auld blind dotard carle,
  Blind mat ye be,
'Tis naething but a bonny milk cow,
  My minny sent to me.
      A milk cow! quo' he:
      Ay, a milk cow, quo' she.
Far hae I ridden,
  And meikle hae I seen,
But a saddle on a cows back
  Saw I never nane.

2. Our goodman came hame at e'en,
  And hame came he;
He spy'd a pair of jackboots,
  Where nae boots should be.
What's this now goodwife?
  What's this I see?
How came these boots there
  Without the leave o' me?
      Boots! quo' she:
      Ay, boots, quo' he.
Shame fa' your cuckold face,
  And ill mat ye see,
It's but a pair of water stoups
  The cooper sent to me.
      Water stoups! quo' he:
      Ay, water stoups, quo' she.
Far hae I ridden,
  And farer hae I gane,
But siller spurs on water stoups
  Saw I never nane.

3. Our goodman came hame at e'en,
  And hame came he;
And then he saw a [siller] sword,
  Where a sword should nae be.
What's this now goodwife?
  What's this I see?
O how came this sword here,
  Without the leave o' me?
      A sword! quo' she:
      Ay, a sword, quo' he.
Shame fa' your cuckold face,
  And ill mat you see,
It's but a parridge spurtle
  My minnie sent to me.
      [A parridge spurtle! quo' he:
      Ay, a parridge spurtle, quo' she.]
Weil, far hae I ridden,
  And muckle hae I seen;
But siller handed [parridge] spurtles
  Saw I never nane.

4. Our goodman came hame at e'en,
  And hame came he;
There he spy'd a powder'd wig,
  Where nae wig should be.
What's this now goodwife?
  What's this I see?
How came this wig here
  Without the leave o' me?
      A wig! quo' she:
      Ay, a wig, quo' he.
Shame fa' your cuckold face,
  And ill mat you see,
'Tis naething but a clocken hen
  My minnie sent to me.
      [A] clocken hen! quo' he:
      Ay, a clocken hen, quo' she.
Far hae I ridden,
  And muckle hae I seen,
But powder on a clocken-hen,
  Saw I never nane.

5. Our goodman came hame at e'en,
  And hame came he;
And there he saw a muckle coat,
  Where nae coat shou'd be.
O how came this coat here?
  How can this be?
How came this coat here
  Without the leave o' me?
      A coat! quo' she:
      Ay, a coat, quo' he.
Ye auld blind dotard carl,
  Blind mat ye be,
It's but a pair of blankets
  My minnie sent to me.
      Blankets! quo' he:
      Ay, blankets, quo' she.
Far hae I ridden,
  And muckle hae I seen,
But buttons upon blankets
  Saw I never nane.

6. Ben went our goodman,
  And ben went he;
And there he spy'd a sturdy man,
  Where nae man should be.
How came this man here?
  How can this be?
How came this man here
  Without the leave o' me?
      A man! quo' she:
      Ay, a man, quo' he.
Poor blind body,
  And blinder mat ye be,
It's a new milking maid,
  My mither sent to me.
      A maid! quo' he:
      Ay, a maid, quo' she.
Far hae I ridden,
  And muckle hae I seen,
But lang-bearded maidens
  Saw I never nane.

X:1
T:Our Goodman came hame at e'en. &c
S:Scots Musical Museum, #454
Q:160
L:1/8
M:2/4
K:A
"Recit."E A A A|A A .A c|"in time"B2c3/2A/2|F3 "Recit."E|\
E A A A|A A Az/2"in time"c/2|B3/2A/2 B3/2 c/2|.A2c3/2d/2|\
e2c f|{f/2}e2 c3/2 A/2|B3/2A/2 B3/2 c/2|.F3 "Recit."E|\
E/2A3/2 A A|A2 A3/2 "in time"c/2|B3/2 A/2 B3/2 c/2|.A3 "Recit."A|\
A3z/2 A/2|.e3 E/2 E/2|E3z/2 E/2|.A2 "in time"c3/2d/2|\
e2 c/2f3/2|e e c A|B3/2 A/2 c3/2 A/2|{G/2}F3 "Recit."E|\
E A A A|A2 A "in time"c|B/2 A3/2 B3/2 c/2|.A3 "Recit."A|\
E2 E3/2 E/2|.A2 zA/2 A/2|A2 A3/2 A/2|.e2 "in time"(c3/2d/2)|\
e2c3/2 f/2|e2c3/2 A/2|B3/2 A/2 B3/2 c/2|.F3 "Recit."E/2 E/2|\
E A A A|A2 A3/2 "in time"c/2|B3/2 A/2 B3/2 c/2|A4|]

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From: Doctor John
Date: 13 Nov 98 - 04:41 PM

Peter Seeger has a version on one of the American Favourite Ballads LP's. Cuts off just as it gets interesting though!

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From: Connor
Date: 12 Nov 98 - 11:01 AM

I ken of at least three different verses fur tha Sunday. Guess there's alot gaeing on at that time!

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From: Jo Taylor
Date: 04 Nov 98 - 06:14 PM

Ah but I just read your bit on the 'who are we' thread last night. Owing to the time of night & consumption of wine I couldn't remember who I was.

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Nov 98 - 11:33 PM

Well, I got my education in a Catholic seminary, Jo, so I really don't understand the goings-on of the sixth and seventh nights. Five verses is just fine for me. As for who I really am, I cannot reveal that, lest I bring shame upon my poor, long-suffering parents.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From: Jo Taylor
Date: 03 Nov 98 - 07:37 PM

Well I have a French friend (I am English living in France) who doesn't seem to see the necessity of separating the verses and sings the wrong responses to each verse. ."Who is that flowerpot where my old head should be..." ....really creases us up, it's so bizarre! Who are you Joe Offer? Where?

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From: Liam's Brother
Date: 03 Nov 98 - 07:07 PM

Not surprised the Dubs were 2 nights short because the 5 they got through were probably pretty long. Seriously, the Irish bar version mryan asked for above undoubtedly derives from the Dubliners.

All the best.

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From: Rob O
Date: 03 Nov 98 - 02:20 PM

On the Dubliner's CD, at least the one I have, only has 5 verses, though its billed as "Seven Drunken Nights". In fact its a live recording that they start off with "Now're we're going to do a little song that seven verses to it, but we only have to sing 5 of them."

Rob O

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From: Liam's Brother
Date: 02 Nov 98 - 09:52 PM

mryan, it's the Dubliners you want!

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From:
Date: 02 Nov 98 - 06:39 PM

Steeleye Span's version is on Seven Man Mop. They don't sing all the nights.

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Nov 98 - 01:23 PM

If you search the database under #274 (it's Child Ballad #274), you'll find three versions. I guess the best way to find it in the forum would be to put drunk, drunken, or goodman in the subject line - putting it in the message body area would bring up far too much material, since we talk about our besotten brethren quite often here. I'll betcha there are half a dozen versions of the song posted in the forum, including the salacious details of the sixth and seventh nights....
Now, the recording of the song I like best is called "You Old Fool" by the Weavers - Ronnie Gilbert and Lee Hays sing it, and I can see the twinkle in Lee's eye as I listen to the recording. It's on their Vanguard box set, and I'm sure it's on a number of other Weavers recordings. Sorry kids, I think the Weavers song covers only the first five nights.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From:
Date: 02 Nov 98 - 11:42 AM

This has also been recorded by Martin Carthy. I am not sure if it is on a solo album or on of the Steele Span Albums on which he appears.

aldus

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From: Big Mick
Date: 02 Nov 98 - 08:41 AM

There was a thread on this recently and it comes up every so often. I was going to look it up for you buut this is a good chance to learn about the search tools. First you can go to the top of this thread and search the DT database. Put in a key word (drunken, maybe?). You will get a number of songs. BTW, one of those will be about 5 drunken nights, same song w/ a few less verses.

You can also search the threads by going to the homepage and doing a key word search in the discussion forums. Look at the top of the page and you will see what I am talking about. If you search there, you will find what you are looking for.

If you have no luck, re-post here and one of us will assist you.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: seven drunken nights
From: AndreasW
Date: 02 Nov 98 - 07:46 AM

What about The Dubliners?
Seven drunken nights is for example on their album
20 Greatest Hits
or on the album
Live in Carre, Amsterdam
I also got it on an album without an explicit title, the label is Compacts for Pleasure
cu, Andreas

Subject: seven drunken nights
From: mryan
Date: 02 Nov 98 - 05:53 AM

I have been looking for the artist and an album on which to find the song, "Seven Drunken Nights". It's a song that is typically played in Irish pubs. The lyrics go something like, "...as I came home on Monday night as drunk as drunk could be. I saw a horse outside the door where my old horse should be..." and proceeds through a week of similar situations and responses.

If you know of a good album on which to find this song, please let me know.

Thanks.