Down Among the Dead Men

DESCRIPTION: "Here's a health to the king/queen and a lasting peace, To faction an end, to wealth increase; Come, let's drink it while we have breath, For there's no drinking after death." The singer has no interest in those who will not enjoy themselves
AUTHOR: Words: John Dyer (1700-1758)? (source: Shay-BarroomBallads/PiousFriendsDrunkenCompanions, Wikipedia)
EARLIEST DATE: 1728 (The Dancing Master)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad death
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Chappell-PopularMusicOfTheOldenTime, pp. 643-644, "Down Among the Dead Men" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell/Wooldridge-OldEnglishPopularMusic II, pp. 173-174, "Down Among the Dead Men" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shay-BarroomBallads/PiousFriendsDrunkenCompanions, p. 55, "Down Among the Deat Men" (1 text)
DT, DEADMEN*
Roud #9623
SAME TUNE:
Come, Comrades, Come ("Come, comrades, come, your glasses clink; Up with your hands a health to drink -- The health of all that workers be") (Foner, p. 322)
NOTES [112 words]: Harold Simpson, A Century of Ballads, 1810-1910, Mills & Boon, 1910, p. 36, suggests that this is from the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714), though this would seem to conflict with the age of John Dyer; on p. 37, Simpson writes, 'Down among the Dead Men' is supposed to have been written by a Mr. Dyer, and was first sung at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields. The composer is anonymous. It may be worth while recalling the first verse of this curious old song, in which the phrase 'dead men' of course refers o the empty bottles, which, as they emptied -- and our ancestors of that period thoroughly understood the art of emptying them -- were thrown under the table." - RBW
Last updated in version 7.2
File: SBar055

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography