Rare Old Mountain Dew
(a.k.a. "The Real Old Mountain Dew")
Words: Samuel
Lover (1797-1869)
Music:
Possibly Traditional(?)
First published in 1917
For Americans, "Rare Old Mountain Dew" has
nearly the exact same tune as "Good Old Mountain Dew" -- that Prohibition-era
classic you heard on "Hee-Haw".
This is the original Irish or Scots(?) version, which likely traveled
over to America with the migrants.
It's enjoyed a resurgence in recent years with Irish & pub bands
like The Pogues or The Dropkick Murphys.
I've put it in the key of A, but this four-chord song is easy enough to
transpose to any key. Some
versions start with the chorus.
A
D
A
E
Let the grasses grow & the waters flow in a free and easy
way.
A
D
A E A
But give me enough of the rare old stuff that's made near
Galway Bay
A
F#m
Come, gangers all from Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim, too.
A
D
A E A
We'll give 'em a slip & we'll take a sip of the rare old
mountain dew.
CHORUS: [just
Irish "scat" over the tune - these words are approximate]
Hi di-diddly-idle-um, diddly-doodle-idle-um, diddly-doo-ri-diddlum-day.
Hi di-diddly-idle-um, diddly-doodle-idle-um, diddly-doo-ri-diddlum-day.
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 poit’n, boys, close by
For it fills the air with a perfume rare & betwixt both
me and you,
As home we roll, we can drink a bowl, or a bucketful of
mountain dew.
CHORUS:
Now, learned men as use the pen, have writ the praises high
Of the sweet poit’n from Ireland green, distilled from wheat
and rye.
Away with yer pills, it'll cure all ills, be ye Pagan,
Christian or Jew.
So, take off your coat & grease your throat
With a bucketful of mountain dew.
CHORUS: