13. Keg of Brandy

Adapted with new music © Robbie O’Connell 1987 Slievenamon Music (BMI)

Pete Seeger’s father, folklorist Charles Seeger, is believed to have coined the term “folk process” to explain the variations and adaptations that certain folk songs undergo. A catchy melody is often used for multiple sets of lyrics. The tune of the English ballad William and Dinah is one of the most frequently attached to other lyrics. These include, Villikins and his Dinah, Sweet Betsy from Pike, The Old Orange Flute, Master McGrath, The Thrashing Machine, to name just a few.

Likewise, a good story is often adapted to various melodies. For instance, variants of The Frog’s Wedding, best known in the USA as Froggie Went A Courtin’, are found in many different countries. In this case, the story remains mostly the same but the melodies and lyrical structures differ.

We also find floating verses or phrases that can appear in multiple songs. “Who’s gonna shoe your foot, who’s gonna glove your hand” is frequently found as is, “As love grows older, love grows colder” and “What can’t be cured must be endured.”

Before the age of sound recordings, most people only encountered new songs when they traveled beyond their home place or came across broadsheet ballad sellers at fairs and markets. It is thought that variations mostly came about when singers substituted lines for parts of a song they could not remember in its entirety.

A Keg of Brandy may be the product of such a process. It appears to be related to the songs, Carrickfergus, Do Bhí Bean Uasal, and Peggy Gordon which, in turn, seem to be related to The Water is Wide. I first heard it sung by Annie Roche in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, when I was a teenager. I was drawn to the song but found that the same four line melody for the verses and the chorus didn’t seem right to my ear. I was never able to find another version for comparison, so I wrote a melody for the verses that I thought would be compatible with the chorus and added a musical break for contrast. It has since been recorded by Karan Casey, the High Kings and Nathan Carter among numerous others.

Lyrics:

Keg of Brandy

Adapted with new music © Robbie O’Connell 1987 Slievenamon Music (BMI)

I’m always drunk and I’m seldom sober,
I’m constant rovin’ from town to town.
Ah but I’m old now, my sporting’s over
So, Molly, a stóir, won’t you lay me down.

Refrain:
Just lay my head on a keg of brandy,
It is my fancy, I do declare,
For while I’m drinking, I’m always thinking’
On lovely Molly from the County Clare.

For the ripest apple is the soonest rotten
And the warmest love is the soonest cold.
And a young man’s fancy is soon forgotten,
So beware young maids and don’t make so bold.

It’s youth and folly makes young men marry,
And makes them tarry a long, long day.
What can’t be cured, love, must be endured love,
So farewell darling, I’m going away.