Cultural Appropriation!
No, no, that should be a good American version, like this:
Er, no, wait...
All those old Prohibition songs end up being better advertisements for a drop of the pure.
It's because they were wrong, of course. But that was an American song first, you Irish cultural appropriators!
UPDATE:
Not that cigarettes are good for you. Tex Williams is dead now, more's the pity.
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Interestingly, that Tex Williams tune was number one on the country chart for 16 weeks (non consecutive), in 1947.
Which reminds me of the fact that somehow we're supposed to believe that the evil cigarette companies concealed the fact that cigarettes were bad for your health. Now of course they didn't out that information right up front on their own, but everyone knew that cigarettes- coffin nails- cancer sticks- were bad for you. And yet, a jury (maybe multiple, I don't know) were persuaded that the cigarette companies were liable for the behavior of people of free will.
I mean, the song makes it quite clear that nicotine is addictive and smoking will kill you eventually. Did I already mention it was a sixteen week number one hit? Lawyers for the tobacco companies should have played this song as evidence of general knowledge.
Okay, end of rant. Thanks, Grim, that was a lot of fun, those three videos.
The Tex Williams had some very good- nay excellent- instrumental work.
The beginning of Wild Rover reminded of of lyrics from a song I learned when I was 14.The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem: The Moonshiner. The melodies are also similar.
Wild Rover
I've been the wild rover for manys a year
and I spent all my money on whiskey and beer
and now I'm returning with gold in great score
and I never will play the wild rover no more CHORUS
Moonshiner
I've been a moonshiner for many a year
And I've spent all me money on whiskey and beer
I'll go to some hollow and I'll set up my still
And I'll make you a gallon for a ten shilling bill
I had memorized the lyrics of Moonshiner years before I got drunk for the first time. Drinking songs are fun- more so than the drinking.One way or another, I don't believe that a song has much influence on whether one drinks or doesn't drink.
Celtic drinking songs- great fun.
Celtic drunks (Scots or Irish)- at times, not so great.
Celtic drunks (Scots or Irish)- at times, not so great.
At times, maybe, but I've had some good fun with them over the years.
Not that I'm immune to what you're saying. I've seen some fights start, and some lives end. Even lives I valued. All I'm saying is: they ended on their own terms. They knew what they were doing, and they lived and died free.
When I worked in Maracaibo, I worked with some Scotsmen. They could drink. A lot. But they were sober for their work on the rig.
Years later, I was giving a class presentation. The school's Dean, a native of Scotland, came for the presentation. I mentioned to the Dean that I had worked in the oil field in Venezuela with some Scotsmen. The Dean replied, "Bunch of drunks, weren't they."
Stereotypes arise because they are often true.
While my Irish uncle by marriage liked to drink, he lived to 88- and worked as a consultant until he was 87- which indicates to me that he could handle it.
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