Private Still, The (The Gauger's Song)

DESCRIPTION: A guager believes a private (illegal) still can be found near Dublin. He asks Pat's aid, offering fifty pounds. Pat promises to lead him there. After a long trip, they see Pat's soldier brother: "They won't make him a corporal, so he's a private still"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1879 (broadside, LOCSinging sb30417b)
KEYWORDS: money drink soldier trick humorous
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H103, pp. 55-56, "The Private Still" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-FolksongsSungInUlster 46, "The Gauger's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton/Maguire-ComeDayGoDayGodSendSunday 22, pp. 51-52,112,165-166, "The Gauger's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, p. 60, "A Private Still" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1936, p. 130, "A Private till" (1 reference)
DT, PRVTSTIL*
Roud #2342
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.14(272), "The Private Still" ("An exciseman once in Dublin at the time that I was there"), H. Disley (London), 1860-1883; also 2806 b.11(41), 2806 c.16(279), Firth b.26(131), Firth c.20(100), Harding B 11(3991), "The Private Still"
LOCSinging, sb30417b, "A Private Still," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
NOTES [68 words]: Morton-FolksongsSungInUlster: "A 'Gauger' was a member of the Revenue Police, who until their disbandment in the mid 1850s, had been charged with the suppression of illicit distillation - poteen making." - BS
Broadside LOCSinging sb30417b: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 3.5
File: HHH103

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