This song has been going through my head since before I woke up today. Could definitely be worse.

[capri0mni]

Of all the nonsense drinking songs I know (and I know more than 5), this one has the sweetest, most lyrical, melody. If I didn't know the lyrics attached to it, I'd say it was the tune of a love song, or maybe a lullaby.

To hear the tune, copy and paste the emboldened text below into the text window at the ABC Convert-A-Matic, and click [submit]. That will bring up a page that will let you open a midi, or download a .pdf of the score.

X:1
T:Martin Said To His Man
M:3/4
L:1/4
K:G
G G A| B3/2 B/2 A| G2 D| G3| A A B| c3/2 d/2 B| A3/2 B/2 G| A3| B c d|\
c3/2 B/2 A| G G/2A/2 B/2c/2| A3/2 F/2 C| G G E| C3/2 D/2 E| B3/2 c/2 A|\
G3|

Martin said to his man, fie, man, fie
Martin said to his man, who's the fool, now
Martin said to his man, Fill thou the cup and I the can
Thou hast well drunken man, who's the fool now

I saw the man in the moon, fie, man, fie
I saw the man in the moon, who's the fool, now
I saw the man in the moon, Clouting of St. Peter's shoon
Thou hast well drunken, man, who's the fool, now

I saw the goose ring the hog, fie, man, fie
I saw the goose ring the hog, who's the fool, now
I saw the goose ring the hog, saw the snail bite the dog
Thou hast well drunken, man, who's the fool, now

I saw the hare chase the hound, fie, man, fie
I saw the hare chase the hound, who's the fool, now
I saw the hare chase the hound, Twenty miles above the ground
Thou hast well drunken, mn, who's the fool, now

I saw the mouse chase the cat, fie, man, fie
I saw the mouse chase the cat, who's the fool now
I saw the mouse chase the cat, Saw the cheese eat the rat
Thou hast well drunken, man, who's the fool now

I saw a flea heave a tree, fie, man, fie
I saw a flea heave a tree, who's the fool now
I saw a flea heave a tree, twenty miles out to sea
Thou hast well drunken, man, who's the fool now

I saw a maid milk a bull, fie, man, fie
I saw a maid milk a bull, who's the fool now
I saw a maid milk a bull, at every pull a bucket full
Thou hast well drunken, man, who's the fool now

Martin said to his man, fie, man, fie
Martin said to his man, who's the fool, now
Martin said to his man, Fill thou the cup and I the can
Thou hast well drunken man, who's the fool now

According to the folk geeks at Mudcat, this song dates back to at least 1588, if not earlier.

Comments

[spiralsheep]

Of all the nonsense drinking songs I know (and I know more than 5), this one has the sweetest, most lyrical, melody. If I didn't know the lyrics attached to it, I'd say it was the tune of a love song, or maybe a lullaby.

Which is exactly how I've always thought of the Seven Wonders:

http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=7718&messages=21

http://www.mudcat.org/midi/midifiles/Seven_Wonders.mid (this version of the tune is slightly more lively than the one I know and has an [accidental?] extraneous note but....)

http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/june.tabor/songs/thesevenwonders.html

[capri0mni]

*Toddles off to grab the tune, listens, and comes back*

Oh, yes. That is lovely. Though it doesn't have the incongruity of calling anyone a fool at the same time as singing so sweetly...

You know, the melody to the United States' national anthem was also originally a drinking tune, and, while stirring, wouldn't call it "sweet."

I guess some drinking songs are for maudlin drunks, and some for rowdy drunks...

Oh, another sweet drinking song:

Jug of Punch
http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=3324

[spiralsheep]

Non sequitur: ... and now I need a short outwitting tale by Wednesday night and my mind's gone blank.

[capri0mni]

Hm. Check out the motif of "Tortoise and Hare" There are different cultural versions of that story from all over the world. And in many, the slower animal "wins" by trickery, not virtue... Getting all your identical cousins to stand in for you, at different points along the race track, usually. Though I did come across one tale of a bug racing with a fox, and the bug jumped onto the fox's tail, rode on his back and then, jumped off the tip of his nose just as he came to the finish line... But I heard that retold on a kid's tv show, and I don't remember the details, or the culture of origin.

[spiralsheep]

I never would've thought of the tortoise and the hare as an outwitting tale but, you're right, it is. Unfortunately I'm telling to my regular group of fellow tellers so my pride is prompting me to try to keep up my record for telling funny tales they haven't heard before. I'm considering reciting the song We Never Mention Aunt Clara (in which AC outwits the whole of society, heh) as a spoken word piece but I don't know this audience well enough to guess whether it'll be well known to them or not. Either way the idea was probably partly inspired by your post above and you might like the song so:

http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=7641

It's a 1930s parody of an 1880s song.

P.S. if you think of any other outwitting tales then I'm interested cos they're my favourites (I set the theme for the next telling evening).

[spiralsheep]

Also, I think I know a fox and flea story although I don't know if it's the same as yours cos I expect canine 'n' flea has enough stories to be a theme.