“Pass Around the Bottle (As We Go Marching Home)”
Description
"Pass around the bottle and we'll all take a drink (x2) As we go marching home." "Pull out the stopper and fill it up again." "Hang John Brown on a sour apple tree." "Grasshopper sitting on a sweet potato vine." Etc.
Notes
Since this is almost entirely floating verses, with a floating chorus, it probably is actually a version of something else. But without a tune, we can't really tell what.
Paul Stamler tells me that Gid Tanner recorded this to the tune of "John Brown's Body." However, this does not fit the text printed by Brown (which is only three lines long rather than four). - RBW
Cross references
- cf. "Marching On" (lyrics)
- cf. "John Brown's Body" (tune & meter) and references there
Recordings
- Al Bernard, "Pass Around the Bottle" (Van Dyke 5115, c. 1930)
- Georgia Yellow Hammers, "Pass Around the Bottle" (Victor 20550, 1927; Montgomery Ward M-8054, 1939)
- Sim Harris, "Pass Around the Bottle" (Oriole 916, 1927)
- North Carolina Hawaiians, "Pass Around the Bottle" (OKeh 45405, 1930; rec. 1928)
- Ernest Stoneman, "Pass Around the Bottle" (Banner 2157/Domino 3985/Regal 8346/Homestead 16490 [as by Sim Harris], c. 1929/Oriole 916 [as by Harris]/Challenge 665/Conqueror 7064/Conqueror 7755, 1931/Paramount 3021/Broadway 8054, c. 1930; rec. 1927) Pathe 32278/Perfect 12357/Cameo 8217/Romeo 597/Lincoln 2882, 1927); "Hang John Brown" (on Stonemans01); (Edison, unissued, 1927)
- Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Pass Around the Bottle and We'll All Take a Drink" (Columbia 15074-D, 1926)
- Walter Williams, "Pass Around the Bottle" (AFS, 1937; on KMM)
References
- BrownIII 34, "Pass Around the Bottle" (1 text)
- Roud #7858
- BI, Br3034