A comic song that makes for a good polka, 1869.
words and music by Joseph Eastburn Winner
As a drinking song this one is bluntly stated. It flies in the face of respectability and things like the Temperance movement and Prohibition. It harkens back to old-time rural areas where drinking was important. The memorable, simple tune is a polka which was popular at that time.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by Benjamin R. Tubb:
Lyrics
- My wife and I lived all alone
In a little log hut we called our own
She loved gin and I loved rum
I tell you what, we’d lots of fun
Chorus
Ha, ha, ha, you and me
“Little Brown Jug” don’t I love thee
Ha, ha, ha, you and me
“Little Brown Jug” don’t I love thee
- ’Tis you who makes my friends my foes
’Tis you who makes me wear old clothes
Here you are, so near my nose
So tip her up, and down she goes - When I go toiling to my farm
I take little “Brown Jug” under my arm
I place it under a shady tree
Little “Brown Jug”, ’tis you and me - If all the folks in Adam’s race
Were gathered together in one place
Then I’d prepare to shed a tear
Before I’d part from you, my dear - If I’d a cow that gave such milk
I’d clothe her in the finest silk
I’d feed her on the choicest hay
And milk her forty times a day - The rose is red, my nose is, too
The violet’s blue, and so are you
And yet I guess before I stop
We’d better take another drop
Sung here by Fred Feild: