Old Keg of Rum, The

DESCRIPTION: "My name is old Jack Palmer, I'm a man of olden day, And so I wish to sing a song To you of olden praise. To tell of merry friends of old...." The singer describes his mates who gathered around "the old keg of rum," their work and their drinking
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Paterson's _Old Bush Songs_)
KEYWORDS: drink moniker
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Paterson/Fahey/Seal-OldBushSongs-CentenaryEdition, pp. 249-253, "The Old Keg of Rum" (1 text)
Ward-PenguinBookOfAustralianBallads, pp. 78-79, "The Old Keg of Rum" (1 text)
Stewart/Keesing-FavoriteAustralianBallads, pp. 14-16, "The Old Keg of Rum" (1 text)
NOTES [59 words]: The text in Paterson/Fahey/Seal-OldBushSongs-CentenaryEdition appears likely to be based on "The Days of Forty-Nine," but without a tune, it's impossible to be sure. John S. Manifold, Who Wrote the Ballads? Notes on Australian Folksong, Australasian Book Society, 1964, p. 94, reports the tune as "Widgegoara Joe" or "The Hut That's Upside Down." - RBW.
Last updated in version 5.2
File: PFS250

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