Fatal Glass of Beer, The

DESCRIPTION: "There was a young man and he came to New York To find himself a lucrative position befitting his talents." He finds a job, but breaks his promise to his mother to abstain from drink. He breaks a Salvation Army tambourine and dies when its owner kicks him
AUTHOR: Charlie Case (source: Spaeth)
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Shay-BarroomBallads/PiousFriendsDrunkenCompanions)
KEYWORDS: humorous work music death drink
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Spaeth-ReadEmAndWeep, pp. 223-224 "The Charlie Case Songs" (1 text plus a parody, 1 tune)
Shay-BarroomBallads/PiousFriendsDrunkenCompanions, pp. 174-175, "Ballad of a Young Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GLASBEER
Roud #9546
NOTES [92 words]: What I presume is the original of this, in Spaeth, has a strange "tune" in which large portions are chanted to a single note. Shay's text still has recitation, but in different places, and it eliminates an accidental from the tune. It is also much more elaborate -- it looks like some other material (e.g. a slam on college graduates) has floated in. It's an amazing amount of folk processing for a piece that apparently was only once collected in the field.
The title I used here is from a short movie made by W. C. Fields in 1933 based on this plot. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.2
File: SBar174

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