Whiskey Is My Name (Donald Blue)

DESCRIPTION: A smith has a drinking wife, often found drunk in the street. One day, as his wife is asleep, he is called out to rescue her. He finds a drunken woman who looks so like his wife he cannot tell them apart. His wife quits drinking as a result
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: drink husband wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland) Ireland
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Ford-VagabondSongsAndBalladsOfScotland, pp. 47-49, "Donald Blue" (1 text)
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #77, p. 2, "Donal' Blue" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan3 581, "Donald Blue" (10 texts, 10 tunes)
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H835a, p. 512, "Whiskey Is My Name"; H835b, pp. 512-513, "Whiskey Is My Name/The Blacksmith" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 52-53, "My Name is Donald Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST HHH835 (Full)
Roud #3799
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.14(117), "Donald Blue" ("My names Donald Blue, you ken me fu' we'll"), unknown, no date
Murray, Mu23-y3:014, "Donald Blue," unknown, 19C
NLScotland, RB.m.168(145), "Donald Blue," unknown, c. 1870
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wee Wifikie"
cf. "Peggy in the Mornin'" (tune, per Greig/Duncan3)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Smith's Drunken Wife
NOTES [179 words]: What does "Donald Blue" have to do with this song? The singer is Donald Blue, who makes it clear that he is whiskey but that drunken mothers vex him. He says, "I'll tell you a trick I played" on the smith's wife who "liked me so well she put so muckle in her mouth, She was often carried home in the morning." He then goes on to spin the tale summarized above. - BS
Greig: "Like other lays with an 'in the mornin'" owreword, it sings to a variant of 'Johnnie Cope.'" - BS
Ford too lists this as being sung to "Johnnie Cope," but his text will not fit that tune without drastic violence, and Ord-BothySongsAndBallads uses another tune.
John Baynes with John Laffin, Soldiers of Scotland, Brassey's, 1988 (I use the 1997 Barnes & Noble edition), p.105, lists "Donald Blue" as a lights-out tune for several Scottish regiments, including the famous Black Watch; it's not clear which melody is meant.
For another song about Donald Blue, see "Did You Never Hear of Donald Blue?" - RBW
Broadsides Murray , NLScotland RB.m.168(145) and Bodleian 2806 c.14(117) are triplicates. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: HHH835

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