Good Ale (I)

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, good ale, thou art my darling, Thou art my joy both night and morning." Drink encourages the singer to work, to dream, to enjoy. But also "It is you that makes my friends my foes, It is you that makes me (wear old/pawn my) clothes...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1790 (The Banquet of Thalia)
KEYWORDS: drink hardtimes poverty
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "O, GOOD ALE"
Greig/Duncan3 590, "The Braw Black Jug" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 273, "Good Ale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, p. 91, "Old Brown Ale" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Ox 263)
Copper-ASongForEverySeason, pp. 276-277, "O, Good Ale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell-PopularMusicOfTheOldenTime, pp. 600-601, "O Good Ale, Thou Art My Darling" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell/Wooldridge-OldEnglishPopularMusic II, p. 179, "Good Ale, Thou Art My Darling" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GOODALE*
ADDITIONAL: Frederick Atkinson, The Banquet of Thalia, Or, The Fashionable Songsters Pocket Memorial (York, 1790 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 84-85, "O Good Ale! Thou Art My Darling" ("The landlord he looks very big") (1 text)
Roud #203
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2212), "O Good Ale Thou Art My Darling ("Long time I have been seeking thee"), H. Such (London), 1863-1885; also Harding B 25(1393), Harding B 15(225b), "O Good Ale! Thou Art My Darling"
LOCSinging, as112320, "O! Dear Grog Thou Art My Darling," L. Deming (Boston), no date
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Aul' Black Jug
NOTES [49 words]: Greig/Duncan3: "Learnt at Kinaldie about 1855.... Noted 19th December 1906." As Duncan writes, in the same note, his version has "some affinity in words" with "O Good Ale Thou Art My Darling." Some verses agree and the chorus is close enough that I don't think Greig/Duncan3 should be split. - BS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: K273

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