Whiskey Johnny

DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Characteristic line: "Whiskey, Johnny, / Whiskey for me Johnny." The song details the sailor's love affair with whiskey: "Whiskey is the life of man / It always was since the world began...." "Whiskey killed my dear old dad..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1894 (Alfred M. Williams, _Studies in Folk-Song and Popular Poetry_, pp. 7-8); mentioned in 1867
KEYWORDS: shanty drink nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,NE,SE,SW) Canada(Mar,Ont) Ireland
REFERENCES (28 citations):
Doerflinger-SongsOfTheSailorAndLumberman, pp. 15-16, "Whiskey Johnny" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Walton/Grimm-Windjammers-SongsOfTheGreatLakesSailors, pp. 64-65, "Whiskey, Johnny" (1 composite text, 1 tune)
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, p. 304, "Whiskey Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bone-CapstanBars, p. 82-83, "Whis-key John-nie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord-SongsOfAmericanSailormen, pp. 49-50, "Whiskey Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow-ChantyingAboardAmericanShips, pp. 21, 63-66 "Whiskey" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Hugill-ShantiesFromTheSevenSeas, pp. 274-280, "Whisky Johnny" (4 texts & several fragments, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 202-206]
Hugill-SongsOfTheSea, p. 178, "Whiskey Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkChanteys, XLVIII, p. 53, "Whiskey For My Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kinsey-SongsOfTheSea, p. 104, Whisky Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 151-152, "Whisky Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Beck-FolkloreOfMaine, p. 198, "Whiskey Johnny" (1 short text)
Eckstorm/Smyth-MinstrelsyOfMaine, pp. 238-239, "Whiskey Johnny" (1 text)
Shay-AmericanSeaSongsAndChanteys, p. 55, "Whiskey for My Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, p. 403, "Whiskey Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Smith/Hatt/Fowke-SeaSongsBalladFromNineteenthCenturyNovaScotia, p. 30, "Whiskey For My Johnnie" (1 text)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 106, "Whisky Johnny" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Pottie/Ellis-FolksongsOfTheMaritimes, p. 83, "Whiskey Johnnie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Terry-TheShantyBook-Part1, #25, "Whisky Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 128, "Whiskey is the life of man" (1 text)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 311-312, "Whiskey Johnny" (1 text)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 486-487, "Whisky Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 785, "Whiskey Johnny" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Shay-BarroomBallads/PiousFriendsDrunkenCompanions, p. 70, "Whickey for My Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 231, "Whiskey Johnny" (1 text)
DT, WHSKJHN* WHISKJON*
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). "Whisky for My Johnny" is in Part 3, 7/28/1917.
Frederick Pease Harlow, _The Making of a Sailor, or Sea Life Aboard a Yankee Square-Rigger_, 1928; republished by Dover, 1988, p. 113, "Whiskey" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #651
RECORDINGS:
Bob Roberts, "Whisky Johnny" (on LastDays)
Minster Singers, "Whiskey Johnny" (Victor 61147, n.d., prob. c. 1903)
Capt. Leighton Robinson w. Alex Barr, Arthur Brodeur & Leighton McKenzie, "Whiskey Johnny" (AFS 4232 B1, 1939; on LC27 as "Whisky Johnny"; in AMMEM/Cowell)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rise Me Up from Down Below" (chorus, theme)
cf. "Supen Ut, En Dram Pa Man" (similar theme)
NOTES [83 words]: Hugill-ShantiesFromTheSevenSeas specifies four versions of this, each with a distinct story line though all using the same refrain: a) The advantages & disadvantages of drinking; b) the Shanghaiing version; c) The limejuice skipper; and d) the Crab, Crayfish or Lobster version (i.e. "The Sea Crab"). Harlow-ChantyingAboardAmericanShips cites yet another version, of a barber and a lady who are trying to impress one another and who eventually do get together despite the barber's drunkenness. - SL
Last updated in version 6.5
File: Doe015

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