Rye whiskey, rye whiskey, rye whiskey I cry...

[dreamshark]

... if I don't get rye whiskey, I surely will die.

This little ditty was running through my head more or less non-stop during the trip to Europe. I not only didn't know why, I couldn't even identify the song.

Now it's playing on my iPod shuffle! However, I still don't know who's singing it or even what it's called. The strange thing about iPod-izing your albums is discovering how many songs are on them that you normally don't even notice when you play the album straight through. When they are playing right into your ear, however, they are impossible to ignore. This particular one seems to be nothing but a string of what trad music folks call "commonplaces" - floating verses that move from song to song without really adding anything to the story. I'm guessing that this song is identified as "Jack o' Diamonds," since that's the verse that leads it off. The tune is similar to the one that Chas knew, but just a little bit different. And it's missing that charming verse about the duck.

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I've always known the rye-whiskey song as "Rye Whiskey." (!!) The tune I know for "Jack o' Diamonds" is different. But I wouldn't be surprised if the words to both wind up combined and sung to either tune. Folk songs seem to do that a lot.

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

I know it as "Rye Whiskey, and it's here (one set of words and one tune) http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/pages/tiRYEWHISK;ttRYEWHISK.html

This is a mirror site for the Digital Tradition, which can be found at http://mudcat.org.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Couldn't you find it on your iTunes playlist and get information from there? (For a minute I thought it was "Moon Over Alabama", but it's too cheery...)

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Well, probably, if I had been at home when I wrote that.

Why Risky

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

Steve Brust pointed out to me a few years ago that the tune he and I know as "Rye Whiskey" (and there definitely is a song called "Rye Whiskey" -- don't know if you and I know the same one) was also used by Bob Dylan in his song "Farewell, Angelina." Dylan got a lot of flak in his early period for using trad tunes and not giving Ms. or Mr. Trad any credit -- well, here's a clear-cut example.

Nate

Re: Why Risky

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

This tune is definitely not the same as Farewell, Angelina (at least not the way Joan Baez sings it). It's a very generic tune, really. Calling it a 3-chord song would be generous. I suppose there's nothing really stopping you from playing a different chord for every note of a song if you really wanted to, but C-C-C-C-C-F-G-F-G-C would handle this one just fine, and is in fact a little flashier than necessary.

Fwye Chisky

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that doesn't sound like the same song. Joan Baez's rendition of "Farewell, Angelina" has five chords. Fare (A minor) well, Ange (E minor) lina, the (A minor) sky is (E minor) embarrassed, (F) and I must (C) do whatever. (I knew quite well that you used to play some guitar, but hadn't realized you were sensitive to chord progressions. Way cool!)

By the way, I'm probably going to suggest to Louie that we not swing by ConVergence at all -- music starting at 2 a.m. on Saturday/Sunday is just a bit late. But I'll be flexible; we'll see what her opinion is. (And it's not as if I haven't stayed up late for music circles before.)

Nate