Day the Pub Burned Down, The

DESCRIPTION: "Pull up a stump and lend and ear, A story I'll relate, About a sinful waste of beer I will elucidate." During a drought, the pub catches fire. There being no water, the fire brigade uses the beer to halt the fire. Residents seek revenge on the firemen
AUTHOR: Words: Bob Edwards (source: Colquhoun-NZ-Folksongs-SongOfAYoungCountry)
EARLIEST DATE: 1972 (Colquhoun-NZ-Folksongs-SongOfAYoungCountry)
KEYWORDS: humorous fire revenge drink
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Colquhoun-NZ-Folksongs-SongOfAYoungCountry, p. 91, "The Day the Pub Burned Down" (1 text, 1 tune) (p. 53 in the 1972 edition)
Garland-FacesInTheFirelight-NZ, pp. 244-245, "(The Day the Pub Burned Down)" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Phil Garland, "The Day the Pub Burned Down" (on NZSongYngCntry)
NOTES [168 words]: Colquhoun's notes point out that there is no such town as "Wapakiwi," so this is obviously fiction, mostly a vehicle for the line, "Oh, firemen, firemen, save the beer, And let the (bloody) pub burn down!"
The song reports that, after the fire, "morporks haunt the old pub site" and "shickers... hunt the firemen down." NewZealandDictionary, p. 247, has three definitions for "shicker" as a noun (and one for it as an adjective), but all involve alcohol; definition (c) is "a drunk or drunkard."
Morris, p. 301, claims that the original form of "morpork" is "mopoke" is an aboriginal name for a bird whose call sounds like MO-poke." He goes on to explain that "The New Zealand Morepork is assuredly an owl" (NewZealandDictionary, p. 172, describes it as the koukou or ruru or New Zealand owl), but explains, "The bird is heard far more often than seen, hence confusion has arisen as to what is the bird that utters the note." Thus a morepork will only be found at a place that has bee thoroughly deserted. - RBW
Bibliography

Morris: Edward E. Morris, A Dictionary of Austral English, 1898 (I use the 1972 Sydney University Press with a new foreword but no new content)
NewZealandDictionary: Elizabeth and Harry Orsman, The New Zealand Dictionary, 1994; second edition 1995 (I use the 2003 New House Publishers paperback)

Last updated in version 5.2
File: Colq053

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