“The Private Still (The Gauger's Song)”

Description

A guager believes a private (illegal) still can be found near Dublin. He asks Pat's aid, offering fifty pounds. Pat promises to lead him there. After a long trip, they see Pat's soldier brother: "They won't make him a corporal, so he's a private still"

Notes

Morton-Ulster: "A 'Gauger' was a member of the Revenue Police, who until their disbandment in the mid 1850s, had been charged with the suppression of illicit distillation - poteen making." - BS

Broadside LOCSinging sb30417b: H. De Marsan dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS

Broadsides

• Bodleian, Firth c.14(272), "The Private Still" ("An exciseman once in Dublin at the time that I was there"), H. Disley (London), 1860-1883; also 2806 b.11(41), 2806 c.16(279), Firth b.26(131), Firth c.20(100), Harding B 11(3991), "The Private Still"
• LOCSinging, sb30417b, "A Private Still," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878

References

1. SHenry H103, pp. 55-56, "The Private Still" (1 text, 1 tune)
2. Morton-Ulster 46, "The Gauger's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
3. Morton-Maguire 22, pp. 51-52,112,165-166, "The Gauger's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
4. O'Conor, p. 60, "A Private Still" (1 text)
5. DT, PRVTSTIL*
6. Roud #2342
7. BI, HHH103