The Rare Old Mountain Dew

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Lyrics

Chorus
Let the grasses grow and the waters flow,
In a free and easy way,
But give me enough of that rare old stuff,
That's made near Galway Bay.
Come gougers all,
From Donegal,
Sligo and Leitrim too,
And we'll give you the slip as we take a sip,
Of the rare old mountain dew.

At the foot of the hill there's a neat little still,
Where the smoke curls up to the sky;
By the whiff of the smell you can plainly tell
There's poitin boys nearby.
For it fills the air, with a perfume rare,
That betwixt both me and you,
And as on we roll, we'll drink a bowl,
Or a bucketfull of mountain dew.

Now learned men who use the pen
Have wrote the praises high;
Of the sweet poitin from Ireland green,
Distilled with wheat and rye.
Forget your pills,it will cure all ills
Of the Pagan, Christian or Jew,
Take off your coat and grease your throat
With the rare old mountain dew.

"The Real Old Mountain Dew" is a traditional folk song, first printed in "Irish street Ballads" 1916. It was later recorded under the title "The Rare Old Mountain Dew". It is about the intoxicating properties of Irish moonshine, or Poitín. The earliest recording is by John Griffin, 1927 on the Columbia label, New York, under its original title. The song is also known in Canada. A somewhat different song, Good Old Mountain Dew was written by Bascom Lamar Lunsford, a noted folklorist and lawyer, who defended some moonshiner clients.

[edit] Recordings

"The Joys and Curse of Drink" (various artists) 1998
Four to the Bar on their live album Craic on the Road.
Sam Hinton on "the Wandering Folksong"
Serbian band Orthodox Celts on their album Green Roses 1999

The song itself is referenced in The Pogues song "Fairytale of New York":

And then he sang a song
The Rare Auld Mountain Dew
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you.

The interesting contrast to make in this reference is in the melancholy tone of the Pogues song marked to the up-beat and positive sound of The Rare Auld Mountain Dew song.

The Pogues also recorded a version of the song with Ronnie Drew from The Dubliners sang together with Shane McGowan.
The Dubliners themselves have recorded it as well.
The Clancy Brothers preformed it on several albums, in some versions also together with The Dubliners.

[edit] Lyrics

Let grasses grow and waters flow

In a free and easy way

But give me enough of the rare old stuff

That's made near Galway Bay

And policemen all from Donegal,

Sligo and Leitrim too

We'll give them the slip and we'll take a sip

Of the real old mountain dew.

There's a neat little still at the foot of the hill

Where the smoke curls up to the sky

By a whiff of the smell you can plainly tell

That there's poteen boys close by.

For it fills the air with a perfume rare

And betwixt both me and you

As home we roll, we can drink a bowl

Or a bucketful of mountain dew.

Now learned men as use the pen

Have writ' the praises high

Of the rare poteen from Ireland green

Distilled from wheat and rye

Away with your pills, it'll cure all ills

Be ye pagan, Christian, or Jew

So take off your coat and grease your throat

With a bucket of the mountain dew.

Vocables are often sung with the song, either after every second verse or once at the beginning and once at the end, to the same tune as the lyrics. While these vocables vary with the singer, one typical version is "hi dee diddley idle dum, hi dee doodle dydle dum, hi dee doo dye diddly aye day", repeated once.