Annotation:Rye Whiskey (1)
X:1 T:Rye Whiskey [1] S:Elmo Newcomer (fiddle with vocals recorded at his ranch home S:near Pipe Creek, Texas, May 1939 by John & Ruby Lomax) D:Library of Congress: AFS 02634b01 M:3/4 L:1/8 N:AEac# tuning N:Drones employed liberally throughout Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:A c2c2c2|(3BcB A2[A,2E2]|c2c2c2|+slide+c3(B AB)| c2A2F2|E2C2E2|(E<F [A2A2])[AA][AB]|[A3A3]([AB][AA]F)|| D2 (FE) FD|(CE3) EF|EF A2 AB|{B}c3 d cB| D2 (FE) FD|(CE3) EF|EF A2 AB|[A6A6]||
RYE WHISKEY [1]. AKA and see "Drunken Hiccups (1)," "Frosty Morning (3)," "Walls of Jericho (1)." American; Air, Waltz or Song tune (3/4 time). USA; Arkansas, Texas, Arizona. A Major. AEac# tuning (fiddle). The tune is from an old and distinguished family originating in the British Isles, but well-known in America (see notes for the alternate title "annotation:Drunken Hiccups (1)") where it is widespread in the South, Midwest and West. Most versions of the tune feature pizzicato, or plucked, notes (see also “Rye Whiskey Waltz”), and many fiddlers whoop or hiccough during in parts. Arizona fiddler Kenner C. Kartchner, who knew the tune, "converted the usual AEae tuning to standard" (Shumway). The usual tuning however, is AEac#. "Rye Whiskey" was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph from Ozarks Mountains fiddlers in the early 1940's, and from Texas fiddlers by John and Ruth Lomax in 1939. See also Magoffin County, east Kentucky, fiddler John Salyer's version, as "Frosty Morning (3)."
The "Rye Whiskey" title is from the chorus of a song set to the tune:
Rye whiskey, rye whiskey, rye whiskey I cried,
If I don't have rye whiskey I surely will die.
Other lyrics, incorporating any number of ‘floating’ couplets, go:
I'll eat when I'm hungry, I’’ drink when I’m dry;
If the hard times don’t kill me I’ll live till I die.
Beefsteak when I'm hungry, red liquor when I'm dry,
Greenbacks when I'm hard up and religion when I die.
Jack o' diamonds, jack o' diamonds, I know you of of old,
You've robbed my poor pockets of silver and gold.
Oh Whiskey, you villain, you've been by downfall;
You've kicked me, you’ve cuffed me, but I love you for all.
If the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck,
I'd dive to the bottom and get one sweet suck.
But the ocean ain't whiskey and I ain't a duck,
So we'll round up the cattle and then we'll get drunk.
Elmo Newcomer, of Pipe Creek, Texas, was a rancher and fiddler recorded in May, 1939, by John and Ruth Lomax on their Southern collecting trip. He played and sang similar words:
Oh, take up my fiddle and I rosin my bow,
I’ll make myself welcome wherever I go.
Rye whiskey, rye whiskey, rye whiskey I cry,
If I don’t get rye whiskey I surely will die.
Whiskey you villain, you’ve been my downfall,
You kicked me and stomped me, but I love you for all.
(Whoops)
If ocean was whiskey and I was a duck,
I’d dive to the bottom just to get one sweet suck.
Rye whiskey, rye whiskey, rye whiskey I cry,
If I don’t get rye whiskey I surely will die.
But the ocean ain’t whiskey, ner I ain’t a duck,
So play the old Jack-o-Diamonds and then we’ll get some.
(Whoops)
I’m a round-up cowboy, a long way from home,
The girls that don’t love me can leave me alone.
Rye whiskey, rye whiskey, rye whiskey I cry,
If I don’t get rye whiskey I surely will die.
Rye whiskey, rye whiskey, won’t wish you no harm,
Wish I had a bottle as long as my arm.
(Whoops)
I’ll eat beefsteak when I’m hungry, good liquor when I’m dry,
I’ll’ve a pretty girl when I’m lonesome and heaven when I die.
Rye whiskey, rye whiskey, rye whiskey I cry,
If I don’t get rye whiskey I surely will die.
Baby, oh baby, I so do need more,
So make me a pallet and I’ll lay on the floor.
(Whoops)
An interesting black variant was printed by the African-American collector Thomas Talley in his 1922 book Negro Folk Rhymes, although the song mostly appears in white collections. Talley’s version, called “I’ll Eat When I’m Hungry,” goes:
I’ll eat when I’se hongry,
An’ I’ll drink when I’se dry;
An’ if de whitefolks don’t kill me,
I’ll live till I die.
In my liddle log cabin,
Ever since I’se been born;
Dere hain’t been no nothin’
‘Cept dat hard salt parch corn.
But I knows whar’s a henhouse,
An’ de tucky he charce;
An’ if ole Mosser don’t kill me,
I cain’t never starve.
