“The Night I Stole Old Sammy Morgan's Gin”

Description

Singer steals a jug of gin from Sammy (Sandy) Morgan, drinks it all, and hallucinates -- seven bears, an owl taking tickets, an ape in britches -- before passing out. When he awakes, "someone had stole my head/And left an elephant's there instead"

Notes

The Canadian country singer Hank Snow apparently wrote this before he first recorded in 1936, but didn't record it until 1947; before 1961, however, it had entered oral tradition, as Triggs notes "I learned this song in a logging camp in the Kootenays but know nothing of its origin." - PJS

Recordings

  • Hank Snow, "The Night I Stole Old Sammy Morgan's Gin" (RCA Victor 21-0356, 1950; rec. c. 1947)
  • Stanley G. Triggs, "Sandy Morgan's Gin" (on Triggs1)

References

  1. DT, MORGNGIN
  2. BI, DTMrggin

About

Alternate titles: “Sandy Morgan's Gin”
Author: C. E. (Hank) Snow
Earliest date: c. 1936 (composed)
Found in: Can(West)