Whiskey Johnny: A Song History

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"Whiskey Johnny," also sung as "Whiskey Is the Life of Man," is a sailors' work song catalogued as Roud 651.[1][2] The Traditional Ballad Index lists it as a shanty about drink, found in versions from the United States, the Canadian Maritimes and Ontario, and Ireland. It dates the earliest known text to an 1894 printing in Alfred M. Williams' Studies in Folk-Song and Popular Poetry, and notes that the song was mentioned as early as 1867.[1] Richard Runciman Terry placed it among the halliard shanties in The Shanty Book (1921), describing it as a great favourite known to every sailor.[3] It also appears in the 1927 sixth edition of Captain W. B. Whall's Sea Songs and Shanties, a book first published in 1910.[4]

Hand-colored lithograph of the clipper ship Flying Cloud under full sail, 1852

James E. Buttersworth, Clipper Ship “Flying Cloud”, hand-colored lithograph, 1852. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). A sailing ship of the shanty era, shown for atmosphere; it has no documented link to this song.

The shanty survives in several distinct versions. According to the Ballad Index, Stan Hugill's Shanties from the Seven Seas gives four storylines that share the familiar refrain: the joys and costs of drink, a shanghaiing tale, a "limejuice" skipper, and a sea-crab version. Frederick Pease Harlow describes yet another, about a barber and a lady. Printed collections containing it include Joanna Colcord's Songs of American Sailormen and David Bone's Capstan Bars.[1] A. L. Lloyd wrote that crews usually sang it when working aft, close to the skipper's cabin, "in the enduring hope that his heart might melt" and order drink for everyone. Lloyd also doubted the antiquarian claim that the song was first about malmsey wine, pointing out that no source was given for it.[2]

The song reached records early. The Minster Singers recorded it for Gramophone in January 1905 as part of a series of sea chanties.[5] In 1939, Captain Leighton Robinson was recorded singing it with three other singers.[1] The Library of Congress later included a "Whisky Johnny" on American Sea Songs and Shanties (AFS L27), an album in its Folk Music of the United States series.[6] In the folk revival, Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd sang it on Blow Boys Blow (1957), and Thames barge skipper Bob Roberts recorded it as well. Later versions came from Louis Killen, Danny Spooner and, in 2008, Bellowhead on Matachin.[2]

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Sources

  1. Traditional Ballad Index: "Whiskey Johnny".
  2. Mainly Norfolk: "Whiskey Johnny / Whiskey Is the Life of Man (Roud 651)".
  3. Project Gutenberg: "The Shanty Book, Part I, Sailor Shanties" by Richard Runciman Terry (1921).
  4. Mainly Norfolk: "W.B. Whall: Sea Songs and Shanties".
  5. Discography of American Historical Recordings (UC Santa Barbara): "Minster Singers".
  6. Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (EFDSS) Catalogue: "American Sea Songs and Shanties" (AFS L27).