“We Won't Go Home Until Morning”

Description

"We're all met here together (x3) To eat and drink good cheer." "(For) we won't go home until morning (x3) Till daylight does appear." "We'll sing, we'll dance and be merry (x3) And kiss the lasses dear." "The girls they love us dearly (x3)..."

Supplemental text

We Won't Go Home Until Morning
  Complete text(s)

          *** A ***

From sheet music published 1842 (?) by Oliver Ditson.
The music is on three sheets, with no title sheet. The
heading of the first page reads
WE WON'T GO HOME TILL MORNING
              A
FAVORITE GLEE FOR THREE VOICES
 Partly Written and Arranged
          for the
        PIANO FORTE
            by
      WILLIAM CLIFTON

We're all met here together,
We're all met here together,
We're all met here together,
To eat and drink good cheer;
CODA
To eat and drink good cheer,
To eat and drink good cheer,
For we wont (sic) go home till morning,
We won't go home till morning,
We won't go home till morning,
Till day light does appear.

     2
We'll sing, we'll dance and be merry,
We'll sing, we'll dance and be merry,
We'll sing, we'll dance and be merry,
  And kiss the lasses dear;
  And kiss the lasses dear;
  And kiss the lasses dear;
          For we wont go home &c.

     3
The girls we love them dearly,
The girls we love them dearly,
The girls we love them dearly,
  And they love us, tis clear;
  And they love us, tis clear;
  And they love us, tis clear;
          For we wont go home &c.

After singing the last Verse, finish with the Coda, Away away &c.

          *** B ***

We'll All Go Down to Rowser's

From Louise Pound, American Ballads and Songs, #119, pp. 237-238.
Collected 1914 from E. R. Harlan of Des Moines, Iowa.

We'll all go down to Rowser's,
We'll all go down to Rowser's,
We'll all go down to Rowser's,
  For there they keep the beer,
  For there they keep the beer,
  For there they keep the beer,
We'll all go down to Rowser's,
  For there they keep the beer.

My father and mother were Irish,
My father and mother were Irish,
My father and mother were Irish,
  And I was Irish, too,
  And I was Irish, too,
  And I was Irish, too,
My father and mother were Irish,
  And I was Irish, too.

They kept the pig in the parlor,
They kept the pig in the parlor,
They kept the pig in the parlor,
  For that was Irish too,
  For that was Irish too,
  For that was Irish too,
They kept the pig in the parlor,
  For that was Irish too.

Notes

The earliest dated example of this tune ("Malbrouk") comes from 1783, though there are hints that it was in circulation in France for some decades before this (it is reliably reported to have been sung to one of Marie Antoinette's children in 1781, and see the tune cited for BBI, ZN1337, "I sing not the battle (so famed) of Lepanto"). Its origin is unknown, though fanciful stories (e.g. of Spanish or even Arabic origin) are common. (Spaeth compares it with a Chanson of 1563, "Le Convoi de Duc de Guise.")

After 1783 the tune became popular in France, and was used by Beethoven in 1813, but no evidence of English versions is found until the 1840s. The American sheet music of "We Won't Go Home..." dates to 1842; the English is undated but probably dates between 1841 and 1846.

By 1854, the song was popular enough that crowds were using it to heckle Senator Douglas when he spoke in favor of the Kansas/Nebraska Act in Chicago. (Douglas said he would silence the mob if it took all night, and the crowd answered with this song.)

"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" appears to have been first printed in 1870; "The Bear Went over the Mountain" is not attested until 1920, but is probably older.

All four of Randolph's versions mention "Rowser" or "Rowser's" in the first verse, but the only tune given is this one, three of the four are about drink (the fourth, Randolph's "D" text, could possibly be a separate piece), and the "A" text has the "We won't go home until morning" stanza.

Pound describes her text (also a "Rowser's" version) as a "game song," but offers no further details.

Linscott, in her notes to "A Bear Went Over the Mountain," claims the tune "is said to have been sung by Crusaders under Godefrey de Bouillon in the latter part of the eleventh century." Uh-huh. - RBW

Same tune

• The Bear Went Over the Mountain (File: DTbearmt)
• Malbrouck (File: K108)
• For He's a Jolly Good Fellow (File: FSWB250)
• Christ Was Born in Bethlehem (File: MA189)
• Old Tippecanoe (File: Wa073)
• The Reformed Drinker (Logan, pp. 231-232)
• I'll Never Get Drunk Any More (III) (File: CrPS096)

Cross references

• cf. "Malbrouck" (tune)
• cf. "The Bear Went over the Mountain" (tune)
• cf. "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" (tune)
• cf. "Christ Was Born in Bethlehem" (tune)"
• cf. "Old Tippecanoe" (tune)
• cf. "Pig in the Parlor" (floating lyrics, form)
• cf. "Chickens They Are Crowing" (floating lyrics in a few texts)
• cf. "I'll Never Get Drunk Any More (III)" (tune)

References

1. Randolph 528, "We'll All Go Down to Rowser's" (3 texts plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
2. Cambiaire, pp. 141-143, "The Game of 'Howsers'" (1 text with game instructions, seemingly most closely related to Randolph's version but probably a combination of several game songs)
3. RJackson-19CPop, pp. 226-228, "We Won't Go Home Until Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
4. LPound-ABS, 119, pp. 237-238, "We'll All Go Down to Rowser's" (1 text, with "Rowser's" and "Pig in the Parlor" verses)
5. Fuld-WFM, pp. 231-233, "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow -- (Malbrouk -- We Won't Go Home till Morning! -- The Bear Went over the Mountain)"
6. ST RJ19226 (Full)
7. Roud #4251
8. BI, RJ19226