“Moonshiner”

Description

"I've been a moonshiner for sev'nteen long years, I've spent all my money for whiskey and beer, I'll go to some holler, I'll put up my still...." "I'll eat when I'm hungry and drink when I'm dry; If moonshine don't kill me I'll live till I die...."

Supplemental text

Moonshiner
  Complete text(s)

          *** A ***

From Carl Sandburg, The American Songbag, pp. 142-143. Apparently from
the singing of Gilbert R. Combs.

1 I've been a moonshiner for seventeen* long years,
  I've spent all my money for whiskey and beers.
  I'll go to some holler, I'll put up my still,
  I'll make you one gallon for a two dollar bill.

2 I'll go to some grocery and drink with my friends,
  No women to follow to see what I spends.
  God bless those pretty women, I wish they were mine,
  Their breath smells as sweet as the dew on the vine.

3 I'll eat when I'm hungry and drink when I'm dry,
  If moonshine don't kill me, I'll live till I die.
  God bless those moonshiners, I wish they were mine,
  Their breath smells as sweet as the good old moonshine.

* The spelling "seventeen" is used in the text; the text in
  the printed music spells it "sev'nteen."

Notes

An early 1960s recording of this song by Bob Dylan, long circulated as a bootleg but released in the 1990s, became justly famous in the folk revival as one of his finest performances, and inspired multiple covers of his version. Listening to the Daw Henson field recording, it seems very likely that this was Dylan's source. - PJS

Cross references

• cf. "Country Blues" (words)
• cf. "The Wagoner's Lad" (floating lyrics)
• cf. "Wild Rover No More" (floating lyrics)

Recordings

• The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "The Moonshiner" (on IRClancyMakem01)
• Daw Henson, "Moonshiner" (AFS, 1937; on KMM)
• Roscoe Holcomb, "Moonshiner" (on Holcomb-Ward1, HolcombCD1)
• New Lost City Ramblers, "Moonshiner" (on NLCR08)

References

1. BrownIII 291, "Cornbread When I'm Hungry" (2 fragments; the "A" text combines "Moonshiner" with "Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor"; "B" mixes "Moonshiner" with what appears to be a minstel song)
2. Sandburg, pp. 142-143, "Kentucky Moonshiner" (1 text, 1 tune)
3. Combs/Wilgus 187, p. 189, "Moonshiner" (1 text)
4. Ritchie-Southern, p. 38, "God Bless the Moonshiners" (1 text, 1 tune)
5. Lomax-FSNA 134, "Moonshiner" (1 text, 1 tune)
6. Silber-FSWB, p. 229, "Moonshiner" (1 text)
7. ST San142 (Full)
8. Roud #4301
9. BI, San142