Dummer Sheener's Gang, The

DESCRIPTION: "I'll sing you a song of a sheener's gang, I've got 'em all taped up to a man, There's long and short and thin and fat, But every man knows just what he's at." Each man's work is listed, from Jimmy Bailey "who runs the concern" to the lowest corn-fetcher
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1971 (Copper-ASongForEverySeason)
KEYWORDS: drink work moniker
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Copper-SongsAndSouthernBreezes, pp. 274-275, "The Dummer Sheener's Gang" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-ASongForEverySeason, pp. 278-279, "Old Threshing Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Browne-FolkSongsOfOldHampshire, pp. 46-49, "The Dummer Sheener's Gang" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #874
NOTES [73 words]: The first version I met was in Copper-SongsAndSouthernBreezes, which is pretty clearly a moonshining song, which was my original comment on it. But, interestingly, the Copper-ASongForEverySeasons text appears to be more of a true harvest song. Presumably the moonshining version is a modification of a song about machinery at harvest. Browne explains "sheener" as short for "machiner," in other words, manager of a threshing machine. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: CoSB274

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